Gospel of John 09.vp

Session 7 Giver of the Spirit, High Priest of Heaven, and the Shorn and Silent Lamb (John 16-18)

Certain Grief, and the Fullness of Joy

Death not a catastrophe. Death was not a catastrophe, that came abruptly into the life of Christ. His message, life, and death form a radical unity. Violent death is in one way or another implied in the demands of his preaching. In a celebrated text from Plato’s Republic , we read: “The just will be whipped, stripped of their skin, tied and blinded with fire. When they have suffered all these pains, they will be nailed to a cross” (2, 5, 361 E). Jesus never read Plato. Nevertheless, better than this great philoso pher, he knows what people and their religious and social security system are capable of doing. He knows that whoever tries to change the human situation for the better and free people for God, for others, and for themselves must pay with death. He knows that all the prophets died a violent death (Luke 11.47-51; 13.34; Mark 12.2). He also knows of the tragic end of the last and greatest of all the prophets, John the Baptist (Mark 9.13). ~ Leonardo Boff. Jesus Christ Liberator. Trans. by Patrick Hughes. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1989, p. 111. Developing a passion to present Jesus as he really is. No other lips but Christ’s could utter such words as this, “Draw all men unto me ” (John 12.32). Thus he declared his deity and equality with the Father. As the crucified Savior he is the Center and Circumference of all things. It was in the “midst of a throne” that John beheld him. Christ cannot give his glory to another. All must turn to him, “Come unto me.” Is there not a modern tendency to bring men [sic] to his works, words, and ways, rather than to himself as the Redeemer? Is it not sadly possible to draw people to a church, but not to Christ? But nothing must obscure or misplace him, and our ultimate goal must ever be the bringing of souls to him who alone can bestow eternal life. . . . May it always be our passion to present Jesus in all his grace and charm, that hearts will be overwhelmed in contemplation of his majesty.

~ Herbert Lockyer. The Man Who Died for Me . Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1979, pp. 26-27.

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I. The Certainty of Hatred and Suffering to Come, 16.1-6

As it has been called, the Upper Room Discourse (John 13-17) outlines Jesus’ last-minute instruction to and prayer on behalf of his disciples before his arrest, trial, and crucifixion. The level of

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