OEM ONLINE
  • ABOUT US
    • Our Vision & Beliefs
    • Onnuri Church - Parent Church
  • WORSHIP
    • Adult Worship
    • AMPD Ministry
    • Children's Ministry
  • CONNECT
    • College/YA Ministry
  • SERVE
    • Sunday Service
  • NEWS

Blog: Portraits of Christ: John’s Gospel, part 2

11/16/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
In John’s Gospel we have an emphasis on Jesus that is unique compared to the other gospels. John not only emphasizes his deity, but his mysteriousness. The reader is left with an impression of Jesus as a mystical teacher, in the sense that his words and actions are not only those of a profound religious teacher, but of one who is other-worldly. So often in this gospel we read of Jesus making statements that the crowds, the religious teachers, and even his own disciples sometimes could not fathom.
For starters, there are the “I am” statements (e.g., I am the bread of life; I am the living water; I am the good shepherd; I am the way, the truth, and the life), which were clearly claims to divinity, for these statements in the Jewish context referred to God’s title “I am,” given when Moses inquired of his name at the burning bush. Jesus makes much use of mystical metaphors like these and others, like all the ‘day’ and ‘night’ references in this book, which portrays him as mystical or mysterious sounding.

Jesus then makes some statements that are paradoxical, turning traditional religious language on his head. For example, he told Nicodemus that one must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven, which left poor Nicodemus confused. While such expressions were novel at the time, they might make some sense to a religious person who has had some genuine personal encounter with God. Nicodemus’ lack of understanding is meant to show that he hadn’t, for he could not make any sense of Jesus’ metaphors. And we thus see that the religious teachers of that day as a whole did not really know or understand God.  

Then there are statements from Jesus that are just enigmatic. For example, he proclaimed that one must eat his flesh and drink his blood to enter the kingdom of heaven - scandalous sounding to pious Jewish listeners who would avoid blood or unkosher food or dead bodies. He talks about God being his Father, or the kingdom, or what will happen when he goes to Jerusalem, but often in cryptic language. Even up to his last days before his crucifixion, the disciples cannot make sense of his enigmatic statements about where he is going.

Throughout the entire book, John repeatedly emphasizes how mysterious Jesus is, and how mystical he seems. This emphasizes his holiness, which means not only moral perfection, but ‘holy’ at its heart means ‘completely different from us or the world.’ He is not only on a completely different level morally, but in his essence, his personality, his nature, and his wisdom, for he is God. The other gospels emphasize his humanity, which we must embrace more than we have been willing to, but we must embrace his divinity in the full sense that John wishes to convey - that he is so different and beyond our understanding, that we are to respond with a sense of awe and wonder, as well as love, for who Jesus is.

-- K. Lee
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    OEM News

    For the latest news and happenings in OEM, please bookmark or follow our RSS Feed.

    RSS Feed

    Opportunities to Serve

    Archives

    June 2022
    February 2022
    June 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    August 2020
    April 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    March 2018
    November 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    Blog

Picture
​Service Location: 347-11 Ichon-ro Yongsan-gu Seoul
Questions? Email at [email protected]
(02)3215-3684

2024 © ONNURI COMMUNITY CHURCH. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
  • ABOUT US
    • Our Vision & Beliefs
    • Onnuri Church - Parent Church
  • WORSHIP
    • Adult Worship
    • AMPD Ministry
    • Children's Ministry
  • CONNECT
    • College/YA Ministry
  • SERVE
    • Sunday Service
  • NEWS