May 13th, 2017

​The timing of the Gospel according to John is significantly different from the other accounts. That Gospel account used the Roman time system, whereas the others followed the Hebrew time system. Having a different time system obviously may throw a person off, and I think that is meant to be the point.

The three similar accounts--Matthew, Mark, and Luke--all work together in a very similar way. And the living creatures that are most often connected to those three accounts are ones that are usually found on the ground--man, lion, and ox. But the symbol connected with the Gospel according to John is the eagle, and that is in a completely different category. As I have said before, this Gospel account starts at very beginning of time, and it ends with the writer talking to the reader or listener--the present. The timing of this account is significantly different.

So I am not too surprised when Jesus says the hour has come and he is not yet on the cross. The point at which this happens is even quite unusual, that some Greeks have come to Jerusalem to worship and they ask to see Jesus (John 12:20ff).

And it seems like time slows down significantly after that. After a person reads the first three accounts of Maundy Thursday, he or she can get the idea that Jesus does not have a lot of time to waste. The Lord's Supper has to get instituted, and Judas has to get sent on his special mission. But Jesus says some significantly different things in this account on that special evening--an evening that seems to drag on for several chapters. Again, I think time is getting all messed up.

But I do not think that to be a bad thing. A person can be proud to know the exact time, down to the very second, but what good is that? I remember writing previously about the expression 'to HAVE time', and I think that expression can be easily misused by people; they can easily think that they are in control.  

I think I have mentioned before that Luther wrote an excellent sermon on time, based on the saying in Matthew, 'Do not be anxious'; it is not a matter of how much of it a person has, but what the Lord blesses that makes the difference.

The Gospel according to John, with its special 'farewell discourse' (John 14ff), disrupts our shameful ideas of time and builds a stronger foundation. In the first parts of that chapter, Jesus is helping his disciples to get a better perspective, one that will last through all the bad things ahead.

Peter will end up betraying him (and does not think he will), Thomas admits he does not know where Jesus is going, and Philip is wanting to see the Father. Jesus could have done a few miracles. Instead he says a few words. And that should be enough for now--for them and for us.