We began from a dream of beloved relationship in a sinless paradise. But then our security met with unexpected interruption when our eyes opened to a scene east of Eden.
There we discovered dependence on prayer and seeking the Lord’s direction.
What if there is no escape from this misdirected chaotic place, even from a prison of isolation not of our making?
Our own prayer as one after God’s own heart longingly pleas:
Turn to me and be gracious to me, For I am lonely and afflicted.
Psalm 25:16
Prayer, and then.. ?
Jesus illustrates how prayer’s persistent knocking will guarantee relationship with our loving Heavenly Father.
I illustrated what it must have been like for our beloved friend David who awake to the knock of a friend.
Luke does not tell us anything from Jesus’ parable about the man who journeyed many miles to meet his friend late in the day. But you know him.
Most know Luke’s second scroll from which today I will take our illustration of a pilgrim with frequent traveler credentials.
Acts of Good News
He had an encounter with with the Risen Christ Jesus, then journeyed the rest of his mortal life from place to place teaching the Gospel to beloved friends in distant lands.
Saul of Tarsus – Breaking through Social Boundaries
How can we be in relationship with our beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord when we will not break the virtual bonds of artificial relations?
Saul of Tarsus was a socially connected leader of traditional religion and traditional values imprisoned by his zeal for righteousness of others; that is, until the Lord Jesus called him along a road to Damascus as an Apostle.
Paul preached the Gospel from prisons to public squares.
Saul (Hebrew name) or Paul (Greek name) encountered more social distancing by way of imprisonment and avoidance of former friends determined to kill him than any of us ever will. The instances are too numerous to mention here.
[They] instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. – 13:50
.. the crowds .. stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. –14:19
[leading businessmen of the town] .. seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities… But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.. – 16:19b,25
||| — A.D. 2021 — | | | – Now what?
Prayer to the Father.
the Lord Jesus taught us that
Read God’s Word and open your heart to the Holy Spirit.
Reach out to fellow believers in faith, as so often the Apostle did by letter from prison.
and finally,
when you are released from your prison,
like Paul:
GO to those brothers and sisters,
who with you are members of Christ’s body the Church, beloved friends on a journey who love you and embrace the Good News.
Paul calls himself ‘a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.’ + Romans 1:1
He confesses that he is ‘called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.’ 1 Corinthians 1:1
Are you willing to be a slave of Christ rather than a leader of the worldly?
Like Saul of Tarsus can you admit that your own zealous works are nothing without confirmation of the will of God?
The Apostle writes a second time to the Church at Corinth:
Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!
Sojourners become clarions of news to uninformed ears in new places from the places where they have witnessed life.
The ‘rumour‘ to which the Gospel-writer Luke refers (above) is Jesus’ raising a young man from his coffin along his own funeral procession in Nain in remote Galilee. Other English translations of the same Greek word [λόγος] use “report.”
When we return to John’s Gospel (Good News) we will encounter such reports again, some stories which veer from the truth.
Good News/Bad News: True or False?
The Disciples who traveled with Jesus from town to town reported the Good News of Jesus the Messiah of Israel to many who had not heard in places distant from the events they had witnessed. Reliable reports from other witnesses also reached the ears of thousands who had not yet seen Jesus in Person.
The four written NEWS accounts of JESUS CHRIST are not the only news of the Savior. Many reports are oral, even many first-hand stories from witnesses to Jesus’ many miraculous events recorded by the Apostles.
Picture the Apostles after Jesus’ death and resurrection as reporters and add to their number every saint of the Church who consequently believed their report of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you may realize why John and others had to address false reports of their time.
While reading the Gospels we discover many who reject the “Good News” of Jesus which challenges one or more of their earthly embraces of sin. Many reject God and refuse to acknowledge or let go of their sins.
Some will believe in anything in order to deny the Truth.
Roger Harned – talk of Jesus .com
All the REPORTERS of Jesus had to be taken at face value for their rumors (stories) of the Messiah. Those who did not witness an event had to ask themselves the same questions we would ask today.
Is this even possible?
Is their report TRUE or FALSE in some way?
If it is true, is this GOOD NEWS or BAD NEWS for me?
How should I react? (What must I do?)
What is my response to this NEWS to others who have not heard?
Brief Vitae of the Good News Reporters
As mentioned previously in Witnesses to Jesus Risen! John and the Apostles continue to report their GOSPEL to others until the end of their lives and John writes to some who have witnessed even more miracles than he reports in his Gospel.
Briefly from our Gospel archives take a look at these dates of the reports.
Jesus was crucified around the year AD 30
John Mark’s Gospel – before AD 49; martyred AD 68
Matthew’s Gospel – as early as AD 50, before martyrdom ~AD 60
the physicianLuke’s Gospel/Acts – AD 60-61, prior to the great persecution that began under Nero in A.D. 64; Luke likely martyred in AD 84
John writes his Gospel to the churches after AD 85 [~AD 90-100]
2nd c. AD – many Church fathers, disciples of John, Peter & others, testify to the truth of their Gospels and oppose false reports by false teachers.
Countering False Reports
So this rumor spread to the brothers and sisters that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not tell him that he would not die, but, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? ”
5 So Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish to eat, do you?” .. 7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”
Peter enthusiastically dove into the water and swam to meet Jesus on shore before the other Disciples came onshore in a boat filled with fish.
Simon Peter and Jesus have a conversation about feeding His sheep and Simon hesitates in his answers to the Lord (our Shepherd).
Jesus asks:
“Simon, son of John, do you agapaō Me more than these?” then, “Simon, son of John, do you agapaō Me? and finally,
“Simon, son of John, do you phileō Me?”
Peter’s hesitates in answering Jesus call to agapaō and each time confirming that he loves Him (phileōdiffering slightly in meaning).
The Lord commands him with some subtlety after each response:
Tend My lambs.
Shepherd My sheep.
Tend My sheep.
And to the reader knowing that Peter has already died for his Lord, (Peter’s dearly departed friend) John offers an explanation.
17 .. Peter was hurt because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You..
Good News, Bad News
John gives the reader some ‘bad news,’ which is no longer NEWS to most and the ‘good news,’ which the other Apostles also witnessed. (Most of them had also died for their witness of the risen Christ Jesus!)
Rumor vs. TRUTH
Who said it?
What is the RUMOR?
Where were they when it happened?
When might this have taken place?
Why would your NEWS source tell you?
How does this impact you?
WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?
As the last surviving Apostle, John witnesses the Good News of Jesus Christ and His resurrection for decades!
What happens when a rumor creates a myth short of truth?
This would happen later when the Church tells stories not supported by Scripture.
When the saying (or story or myth) multiplies, then eventually encounters truth what most certainly will happen? The rumor is crushed and faith along with it (when the aging Apostle dies).
And remember, regardless of when or how the saying had started, it has already been around for a time since the original witness is some fifty years before John writes his Gospeltruth.
Many disciples of The Way and saints of the church might easily elevate John (or for that matter, Simon Peter, other Apostles or even family of Jesus) to glory and worship due only the LORD.
John’s simple approach to false witness
The always esteemed and ever truthful Disciple does two things:
John states the false witness (translated: saying, rumor, story)
He refutes it by his own authoritative true witness.
WHO DO YOU BELIEVE? It’s as simple as that.
The incident in question involves what JESUS said to Simon Peter. Only six other Disciples including John witness it first hand. So John states:
21:23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die:
yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die;
(FALSE rumor – John categorically states: – Jesus said NOT)
but,
(here is the truth I witnessed, says John)
[Jesus said ..],
If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? [KJV] or
“If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” – NASB
The Disciple by quoting Jesus refutes the rumor of John’s alleged immortality told in this story circulating among early Christians.
John squashes this rumor before it can multiply into false teaching which will cause us to doubt the ‘Gospel Truth.’
His own witness, true to facts unknown through rumor, states what happened (decades ago):
20 Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them—the one who also had leaned back on His chest at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who is betraying You?”
So Peter, upon seeing him, said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?”
Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”
Peter turned around, John was following him and Jesus.
Peter asked the Lord about John, because Jesus had just told Peter:
18b “.. when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will put your belt on you, and bring you where you do not want to go.”
John tells the reader, who likely knows of Peter’s crucifixion, why Jesus said this.
After having refuted the rumor with the truth, John puts his seal on the whole truth of restating the ‘story.’
This is the disciple who is testifying about these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
John 21:24 NASB
John’s closing is comparable to Paul writing, “I sign this in my own hand.” At stake is the Authority & Truth of the Lord Jesus
Rather than adding questions on this section of John,
I leave you to question Truth vs. fiction.
Please click PG 2
.. this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Acts 2:23 And how is this the Spirit of Grace?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that He might suffer and die on a Cross for sinners like us, that we should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com – on Christ’s Crucifixion & John 3:16
The Apostle John presents the Good News of Jesus Christ in light of the love of God the Father.
Yes, the LORD of Old Testament Scripture to which John will point IS the Almighty God who must judge sin! Yet John testifies of Jesus who reveals God as the Father, the One of relationship who willingly shows mercy for the sake of the Son and saves sinners like you and me by grace.
A brief reintroduction to John
John had unique access to witness the questioning of Jesus by the High Priests of Jerusalem. At the beginning of our journey through the Gospel of John we introduced the Apostle, this youngest Son of Zebedee who we now know was also known in the house of Herod.
It is important to note here that the Apostle John later became the last surviving Disciple of Jesus Christ, living more than fifty years more until nearly the next century.
John wrote the gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia Minor when he was advanced in age (Against Heresies 2.22.5; 3.1.1) – source
John’s Good News is NOT a News Alert to our phone, a BREAKING NEWS HEADLINE interrupting our life at home or even a well-researched story for an Ephesus News Courier.
The Apostle, therefore, has not written the Gospel of John as events unfolded at the horrific scene of the crime of Jesus’ Crucifixion.
In Conclusion
The beloved Apostle and recognized authority of witness to these historical events some decades ago will soon assure the reader of John’s Good News (Gospel): Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
.. but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John now begins the conclusion of his Gospel even before the climax of the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection.
Intermingled with John’s conclusive evidence, he includes reporter-like facts (which we will address in a later post), but his purpose now is to reveal why Jesus did some of what the Lord came to accomplish.
Every mention of Scripture (of course) refers to the Old Testament. John links the events of Jesus’ crucifixion to Old Testament prophesy.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe. 3 And they kept coming up to him and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” and were slapping his face.
6 I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pull out My beard; I did not hide My face from insults and spitting. 7 For the Lord God helps Me, Therefore, I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have made My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.
14 It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon…
17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24 So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it.
This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled, John tells us.
Scripture includes more than the Law, which Jesus promises will be satisfied; but also the Psalms (or songs of worship), historical scrolls and also writings of the Prophets who Jerusalem’s religious leaders seldom heeded and like now, rarely taught.
Here is this Scripture, a Psalm most descriptive of Jesus’ crucifixion.
READ ALL of Psalm 22, if you dare. And looking upon the scene of the Place of the Skull, with Jesus’ Blood pouring forth from His broken Body on the middle Cross, know His suffering for our sin endured for the grace of God’s love.
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, Struck down by God, and humiliated. 5 But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed.
John’s Testimony is True
Jesus replied [to Pilate]. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Here is John’s Gospel GOOD NEWS of Scripture fulfilled.
“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;
and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
John began his Good News speaking of grace. He begins his conclusion by quoting Zechariah’s imagery of the Spirit of grace and of supplication.
For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
Even Pilate would share some understanding of this Greek concept of grace.
that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech
of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues
(This, of course, is that love of the Lord Jesus which John frequently shares freely as grace.)
John later greets his fellow beloved believers in his second letter(mailed in about A.D. 90–95):
Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
About 5-10 years earlierin about A.D. 80–90 John would have had his Gospel delivered to these same saints of the churches where he quotes Zechariah (from about 520 BC, five centuries after David and before Christ), whose name means: “The LORD remembers.”
“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace..,” John encourages from Scripture, as one who witneesed and had mourned for his beloved friend Jesus near the foot of the Cross.
In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.
John began his Gospel by hope in the Messiah who was hung on a Cross.
No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him.
John 3:13-15 NASB
As Jesus gave up His Spirit while John and other witnesses sat beneath the Bloodied Cross with the corpse of their Messiah and Savior they must have wondered why.
John 3:35–36 “.. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand.
The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
“It is finished.”
Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit…
They will look at the one they pierced.
The Gospel of John 19:30b,37b NASB
To be continued...
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