Meditation on John
A “New” Look At The Cross
In the Fourth Gospel Jesus' death is a free laying down of life for those whom he loves, and in this consummate act of love Jesus offers liberation from the slavery of sin. It is love rather than sin which is the dominant power leading to Jesus' death:
No-one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father (15: 13-15 NRSV).
The liberation Jesus offers is only possible to those who recognize who Jesus is, and the Father whom he makes known. "The Jews, "who are described in this narrative as those children of Abraham who are slaves to sin (8:34) and children of the devil (8:44), do not recognize Jesus and his word finds no room in them (8:37). The disciples, by contrast, are those in whom Jesus' words abide (15:7), who abide in Jesus' love (15:9, 10) and Jesus' love means they are no longer slaves (15:15). The disciple recognizes the Father in Jesus (14: 10) and is called to live as a son/daughter of this Father by doing the same works as Jesus, the son (14: 12).
In his entire life Jesus was God's gift to the world, given in love for salvation (3: 16). God's love, expressed in Jesus, achieves what Israel's sacrificial system could never achieve, a way of being one with God. No longer does humanity need to do cultic acts to remove the barrier which sin creates between humanity and God. For love of humanity God has crossed the barrier (3: 16). God has come to the world through the incarnate Son (1: 14). In the Son, those who choose to believe this gift of love have a way of access to the Father (14:6). The way of the Son is utter gift from God, and not a human cultic action. In the Hour, the fullness of this gift of love is revealed as Jesus gives himself over to death as a new Passover lamb, whose death creates a new household/Temple of God, and whose blood is the sign of those belonging to this household. In belonging to the household of God, the believer is freed from the household of slavery, the dominion of sin. The "doing" now required of the believer is to do as Jesus, the Son, did (13: 15), to love "as I have loved" (15: 12). Living in a communion of love is the way of manifesting the ongoing presence of God in the world (17:23), the only way of being a free son/daughter of the household/Temple of God (8:35; 14:23).
Introduction To Christianity
J. Radzinger
In the Fourth Gospel Jesus' death is a free laying down of life for those whom he loves, and in this consummate act of love Jesus offers liberation from the slavery of sin. It is love rather than sin which is the dominant power leading to Jesus' death:
No-one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father (15: 13-15 NRSV).
The liberation Jesus offers is only possible to those who recognize who Jesus is, and the Father whom he makes known. "The Jews, "who are described in this narrative as those children of Abraham who are slaves to sin (8:34) and children of the devil (8:44), do not recognize Jesus and his word finds no room in them (8:37). The disciples, by contrast, are those in whom Jesus' words abide (15:7), who abide in Jesus' love (15:9, 10) and Jesus' love means they are no longer slaves (15:15). The disciple recognizes the Father in Jesus (14: 10) and is called to live as a son/daughter of this Father by doing the same works as Jesus, the son (14: 12).
In his entire life Jesus was God's gift to the world, given in love for salvation (3: 16). God's love, expressed in Jesus, achieves what Israel's sacrificial system could never achieve, a way of being one with God. No longer does humanity need to do cultic acts to remove the barrier which sin creates between humanity and God. For love of humanity God has crossed the barrier (3: 16). God has come to the world through the incarnate Son (1: 14). In the Son, those who choose to believe this gift of love have a way of access to the Father (14:6). The way of the Son is utter gift from God, and not a human cultic action. In the Hour, the fullness of this gift of love is revealed as Jesus gives himself over to death as a new Passover lamb, whose death creates a new household/Temple of God, and whose blood is the sign of those belonging to this household. In belonging to the household of God, the believer is freed from the household of slavery, the dominion of sin. The "doing" now required of the believer is to do as Jesus, the Son, did (13: 15), to love "as I have loved" (15: 12). Living in a communion of love is the way of manifesting the ongoing presence of God in the world (17:23), the only way of being a free son/daughter of the household/Temple of God (8:35; 14:23).
Introduction To Christianity
J. Radzinger
posted by Pat | 5:20 PM
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