John 15-19
Right off the bat this morning I was distracted by this section--not by anything in the text, but by the song that kept running through my head! "Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, his banner over me is love..."
It is a song I learned somewhere in my distant past; one of those catchy songs that after it runs through your mind the first 789 times you are ready for a complete lobotomy! But it sticks! and for many of us, that is how we remember scripture--only "his banner over me is love" isn't in the scripture! That is what we so often do. We know the scripture that we know--whether or not it is what the text actually says. Just another incident in where I have become conscious of this during this discipline of hearing the text.
As the lesson continued, I gave myself some grace. This is "Rambling Jesus." I am convinced that john did what some of the other gospel writers did--just put a lot of sayings together in one spot that may or may not have anything to do with one another. It's just that we are nearing the climax of the story!
Aren't we all caught up with the same question that the disciples were asking, "What does he mean by a little while?" I had a professor who said that he asked a church history question on an exam. One question--"What is the most significant event in the history of the church?" One student answered quickly, turned his test in with the answer, "The non-occurrence of the paraousia. Everything was changed." He got an "A."
I am sure that some of the people who were reading John's text were wondering the same thing! How much longer? Aren't we? Isn't that why we have the "Left Behind" novels, the fascination with the Mayan calendar, Nostradamus? We just want things to be scheduled! But those who were hearing this needed to know that their suffering would soon be over. Someone in prison hears this differently than someone planning a wedding!
This is also the section that gives us "the Lord's Prayer" the one Jesus prays, not the one he used to teach us to pray. Here we are able to eavesdrop on Jesus as he pours out his soul--or at least the way John recalls it!
The arrest and trial of Jesus is SO different here! There is no earnest prayer time in the Garden of Gethsemane. There is no betrayal with a kiss. Instead we have a Jesus who is rather forceful, facing down his captors. We have Peter named as the one who is cutting off ears. When Jesus goes before the High Priest and Pilate we don't have a silent Jesus, but one who is forceful, almost belligerent. Even the date is different in John. This is the day before the Passover! Why the discrepancy? What is John trying to say?
I was caught with the speed of Jesus death--just a few verses it seemed--especially after the long supper speech.
This is a different Jesus--one that doesn't allow capture in a set image, and definitely in a catch song. He is a complex and intriguing man--perhaps that is why we are listening to his story centuries after his life.
1 comment:
Listening to this section, I thought of how little time I've spent studying the differences between the Gospels and what that might mean. Jesus does not heal the soldier after Peter cuts off his ear in this version - was that fact just not significant enough for John to include? When I think of the many, many hours I've spent in Sunday School, I don't remember trying to understand why the Gospel writers' versions differ or what the meaning is behind some of the less quoted sayings of Jesus' teachings. Perhaps that is left to seminarians alone?
I've spent a lot of study time in Paul's writings, by comparison! Why is that?
Any wise words out there by you Seminary grads?
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