Choose two main themes/insights that you have gained about Our Lord's Passion and Death and its significance for our lives

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Choose two main themes/insights that you have gained about Our Lord's Passion and Death and its significance for our lives. Be sure and provide page numbers from the assigned reading and make sure you use the commentary from The Navarre Bible to support what you choose and do not include any outside knowledge you may have prior to the course.

The reading material is as followed:

 

THE PASSION AND DEATH OF JESUS

 

18:1-19:42 The Gospel of St John portrays the passion and death of Christ as his glorification. It goes into great detail in order to demonstrate that these events constitute the supreme manifestation of Jesus as the Messiah King. For example, when he replies, "I am he", those who have come to arrest him draw back and fall to the ground (18:5-8); when he is before Pilate, he declares himself to be a king (18:33-37; cf. 19:2-3, 19-22); and, throughout, his dignified serenity shows his complete understanding and control of events (18:4; 19:28), all of which are in keeping with the Father's will (18:11; 19:30).

The passion is also the point when Jesus' enemies and the world vent their hatred most savagely: it is the hour of a darkness that engulfs even his disciples, for they run away and deny they know him (18:25-27). But at the foot of the cross we witness the supreme act of faith: it is made by Mary, his Mother, whom he makes a Mother to all mankind in the person of the beloved disciple (19:25-27). Christ is the new Passover Lamb, by whose redemptive death the sin of the world is washed away (19:31-42; 1:29, 36). And there flows from our Lord's side, along with blood, water that symbolizes Baptism and the Holy Spirit that Jesus has promised (see 7:37-39), that is to say, the sacramental life of the Church.

 

Arrest of Jesus

18:1-12 On the other side of the Kidron valley (v. 1) is situated what the Synoptics call Gethsemane. It is the first of five settings where the sufferings of Christ take place. St John does not record Jesus' agony in the Garden of Olives, but he is the only one to report that the people who come to arrest Jesus draw back and fall to the ground when Jesus identifies himself (vv. 4-6). This passage is reminiscent of Psalm 56:9, the first part of which reads, "Then my enemies will be turned back in the day when I call." Our Lord's majesty is clear to see: he surrenders himself of his own free will. "Had he not allowed himself to be taken by them, they would have been unable to effect their plan, but neither would he have done what he came to do. They in their rage sought him to put him to death; but he also sought us by dying for us" (St Augustine, In Ioannis Evangelium, 112, 3).

It is moving to see how Jesus is concerned about the fate of his disciples when it is himself who is in danger (v. 8). He promised that none of his own would perish, except Judas Iscariot (see 6:39; 17:12); although that promise was a promise to protect them from eternal punishment, our Lord is also concerned about their immediate safety, for they are not yet ready to face martyrdom.

Once again we can see Peter's impetuous nature and his loyalty: he comes to Jesus' defence, risking his own life (v. 10). However, Peter still does not understand God's plan of salvation:  p 433 he cannot come to terms with the idea of Christ's self-sacrifice, any more than he could when Jesus first announced his passion (see Mt 16:21-22). Our Lord does not tolerate Peter's turning to violence on his behalf; he refers back to what he said in his prayer in the Garden of Olives (see Mt 26:39), during which he freely accepted his Father's will in order to carry out the Redemption; then he gives himself up to his captors without a show of resistance. This passage tells us that we should seek to do God's will as readily and as obediently as Christ accepted his passion.

 

Jesus before the chief priests. Peter's denials

18:13-27 The second scene of the passion takes place in the house of Annas. Jesus, who had unbound Lazarus (11:44), is led here bound. Isaac, too, was bound in preparation for being offered in sacrifice (see Gen 22:9), and he put up no resistance, thereby prefiguring Jesus' voluntary self-offering. During the interrogation (vv. 19-24), Jesus lays stress on the fact that he has acted openly: everyone has had an opportunity to listen to him and to witness his miracles—which is why people have acclaimed him as the Messiah. The chief priests themselves have seen him in the temple and in the synagogues, but, not wishing to believe, they allege that he has a hidden, sinister agenda.

Peter's denials are treated in less detail here than in the Synoptics. Peter's repentance is not mentioned, but it is implied by the reference to cock crowing (v. 27): the very brevity of John's account points to the fact that that episode was well known to the first Christians. After the Resurrection, the full scope of Jesus' forgiveness will be evident when he confirms Peter in his role as guide of the Church (cf. 21:15-17). There is a lesson to be learned here: "In this adventure of love we should not be depressed by our falls, not even by serious falls, if we go to God in the sacrament of Penance contrite and resolved to improve. A Christian is not a neurotic collector of good behaviour reports. Jesus Christ our Lord was moved as much by Peter's repentance after his fall as by John's innocence and faithfulness. Jesus understands our weakness and draws us to himself on an inclined plane. He wants us to make an effort to climb a little each day" (St Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 75).

 

 p 434 18:28-19:16 St John gives a longer and more detailed account of the trial before Pilate than those found in the Synoptics. This trial is the third of the five scenes in John's passion account. What comes across very clearly here is the majesty of Jesus the Messiah King, and his rejection by the Jews.

There are seven stages in the trial, marked by Pilate's entrances and exits. First (18:29-32), the Jews indict Jesus in a general way as an "evildoer". Then follows the dialogue between Pilate and Jesus (18:33-38), culminating in Jesus' statement: "You say that I am a king" (or "You have said it: I am a king"). In the third stage Pilate tries to save our Lord (18:38-40) by asking the people if they want him to release "the King of the Jews". The central scene, the fourth stage, is the crowning with thorns, when the soldiers mockingly make obeisance to Christ as "King of the Jews" (19:1-3). Then comes the point when our Lord is introduced by the words "Ecce homo", crowned with thorns, a purple cloak draped around him; and the Jewish authorities change their accusation and charge Jesus with having made himself the Son of God (19:4-7).

In the sixth stage, Pilate has a further conversation with Jesus in the praetorium (19:8-11) and tries to discover who exactly he is: this is the point when the crowd concentrate their hatred in an explicitly political indictment: "every one who makes himself a king sets himself against Caesar" (19:12). Eventually Pilate shows them Jesus and says, "Here is your King!" (19:14). The solemnity of this moment is signalled by the fact that we are told the precise place—the Pavement (Greek, lithostrotos), the day (the day of Preparation for the Passover, the Parasceve) and  p 435 the time (around midday). The chief priests openly reject the One who is the true King spoken of by the prophets.

"Praetorium" (18:28, 33; 19:9): the official Jerusalem residence of the procurator or prefect. Pilate's main residence was on the coast, at Maritime Caesarea, but he usually moved to Jerusalem for the major festival periods, bringing additional troops to be called upon in the event of civil disorder. In Jerusalem, at this time and later, the procurator resided in Herod's palace (in the western part of the city). However, it is not known for certain whether the praetorium mentioned by St John was that palace or some other building in the city.

 

The trial before Pilate: Jesus is King

18:28-40 When Jesus appeared before the high priest, the charge laid against him was a religious one (that he claimed to be the Son of God; cf. Mt 26:57-68). Now, before Pilate, the charge against him is political. Jesus' accusers seek to involve the authority of the Roman empire in the affair: they make out that, by declaring himself to be the Messiah and the King of the Jews, Jesus is a revolutionary who conspired against Caesar. It is not part of Pilate's brief to interfere in religious matters, but because the charge now laid against Jesus has to do with public and political order, his interrogation begins with a question that goes to the central issue: "Are you the King of the Jews?" (v. 33).

In replying with another question, Jesus is not refusing to answer, but he wants to make quite clear, as he has always done, that his mission is a spiritual one. And really Pilate's was not an easy question to answer, because, to a Gentile, a king of the Jews meant simply a subverter of the empire; and to a Jewish nationalist, the Messiah King was a politico-religious liberator who would obtain independence from Rome. The true character of Jesus' role as Messiah transcends both these approaches—and that is the  p 436 point Jesus is making to the procurator (v. 36), although he knows how very difficult it is for Pilate to grasp what this different kingship really involves. "Truth and justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That is the kingdom of Christ: the divine activity which saves men and which will reach its culmination when history ends and the Lord comes from the heights of paradise finally to judge men" (St Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 180). This is what Jesus' kingship really is: his kingdom is "a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace" (Roman Missal, Preface of the Mass of Christ the King). Christ reigns over those who accept and practise this truth revealed by him—the fact that his Father loves the world (3:16; 1 Jn 4:9-11).