Gospel of John - Chapter 18
- Christ’s prayer for union brings to an end the farewell discourses (Cf Moses Deut 13-17; Jacob Gen 49; Paul Acts 20:17-38). Structure has similarities to the Our Father - not found as such in this gospel: address and praise the “Father”; Doing God’s will (v 4); seek support and success (“thy kingdom come”) for the disciples’ mission; protect them from the evil one. Can also be seen liturgically as a Preface to the eternally offering on the Cross. As outside Lazarus’ tomb, we are privileged to hear an ongoing conversation between Father and Son. Jesus reports on his activities to the sender, and reminds the sender what he now has to do. Only makes sense within “descent/ascent” framework. A de-briefing. A grand summary of Jesus’ teaching of what we already know.
- 1 Vv 1-5 addressed directly to the Father. The hour has come. Glorification, ie manifesting - making known - the divine presence. Jesus can now be the source of eternal life: only when Jesus is glorified is the glory of the Father fully evident. The Son became man to reveal the Father whom no-one had ever seen: only now is that task fully accomplished, for only now can people know (ie be in intimate union with) the Father as he is reflected in his Son.
- 2 “so that your Son may glorify you, ... so that he may give eternal life ....”: the first part of v 2 may be either “since” or “just as”. The greek has “authority over all flesh” - to give life and judge (5:20-27). Cf “born of the will of flesh” (1:12-13) - contrasts the glory that comes from God with human glory. Jesus’ moment of glory linked with his divine authority over “flesh”. From this authority Jesus will give his community “eternal life”.
- 3 Eternal life - heaven and the beatific vision - consists in recognising - intuitively knowing - the divine presence - in God and in Jesus, completing the imperfect knowledge begun on earth. Greek word “know” implies a relationship, not knowledge or awareness. As reminded during foot-washing, this “knowing” has to do with intimacy with Jesus and with each other. In Bible “heart” includes “mind”. The relationship that God hoped for during the exile is fulfilled in John’s community (Jer 24:7; 31:33-34). Verse probably added during later editing, to explain the meaning of eternal life in v 2, since nowhere else does Jesus refer to himself as Jesus Christ. May have been a creedal formula. Corrects possible impression that this may be just a promise of the afterlife.
- 4 Jesus has made God’s presence known in the world, and has finished the work God gave him to perform. His earthly ministry is past. (Cf “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”) The true nature of God, ie love, is about to be manifested in Jesus’ self-sacrifice.
- 5 As God, Jesus never left the Father; but now Jesus’ human nature is to be glorified in the Father’s presence. “glorify me” goes further than previous affirmations about Jesus’ glory. Recalls prologue (1:14), glory ultimately to be shared by the disciples (v 24). Prologue reference reminds us that Jesus is much more than a righteous, obedient human being, he is “from God” in an unimaginable radical sense, with pre-existent glory “before the world came to be”.
- 6 Jesus now talks about the disciples, and what his work has been. Jesus has made God’s name known to them - ie presumably “I AM” (8:24). Revelation of God’s name is a key element in the covenant between God and Israel (Ex 3:14-15). Jesus has made the power of God’s name accessible to his disciples. The disciples have accepted the word. The disciples have remained true by believing that Jesus is the one sent by God. Those who are Jesus’ people became so through God’s giving: committing oneself to God is to go with the flow of God’s will.
- 7 Vv 7-8: long sentence claiming far more: “they have known that all things” which you gave me are from you, and they “received”, and they “truly knew” that I cam from you, and they “believed” that you sent me. To truly know is to believe. Parallelism: That Jesus came from God means that God sent him. Basic acceptance of Jesus will lead them to continue to struggle to discern its meaning for their own lives, as it does for us.
- 8 The disciples have also accepted the message - that Jesus has come from God, and is divine. Those who receive Jesus are the ones already chosen by the Father. The disciples have been given to Jesus “from the world”, - they have been chosen by God and have accepted the revelation which Jesus brought - the opposite of the unbelief Jesus has received in his public ministry (8:23-28).
- 9 Jesus now refuses to pray for the world, which has rejected him, (how could it be otherwise - it would then be coercive: the invitation remains open), but prays specifically for the dedication and protection of the disciples, who belong both to Jesus and to the Father: “keep them in your name” (v 11); “that they may be one just as we are” (v 11); “that they may share my joy completely” (v 13); “that the Father keep them from the evil one” (v 15); “that he consecrate them in the truth” (v 17).
- 10 Jesus is glorified both “in sight of” his disciples, and “through” their community showing God’s love to the world.
- 11 Jesus turns now to his separation from his disciples. His action will now be in and through the disciples, not “in the world”. Protect in your name - which has great power (Cf 18:6). In Phil 2:9-11 the name (“Lord”) is given to Jesus after the crucifixion; in John Jesus already has the divine name before his death. Jesus is “no longer in the world” - ie gospel time. The passion and death is not part of being “in” the world (1:14), but part of the process of “coming to” God. The pre-condition for the new missionary role for the disciples. “Holy Father” - unusual in John - may be from liturgy use.
- 12 The disciples were protected from the world - the anti-world of un-love: only one rejected this offer of following Jesus and chose darkness and death after experiencing light and life. The loss of Judas was not weakness on Jesus’ part, but part of the divine plan witnessed in the OT (13:17; Ps 41:9?) - he was not “given by the Father” but was the “son of destruction”, given by the devil. Part of the risk of the Incarnation. Again looks upon his earthly ministry as in the past. “Protecting” and “watching” - Cf Wis 10:5.
- 13 Let their sorrow be turned into a share of the joy I have in returning to you. Themes of joy and hatred by the world return, but now clear that the disciples are to remain in the world and the struggle with Satan. The disciples are sent in frontal assault to conquer the world for Christ. In principle Jesus has won the victory, but the working out of this victory in time is the work of the disciples. “Fulfillment” or “complete in themselves” depends on one’s orientation - Judas was also fulfilled.
- 14 Previously Jesus said the disciples could follow him (13:33,36); here it is clear they are to remain in the world, but join him later (v 24), and meanwhile to be with him in union with the Father. Again “word” occurs, perhaps forming the basis of the description in the Prologue of Jesus as the Word. The disciples now have the “word of God” from Jesus and are not “of the world”. Cf impending hatred in 15:18-25 - it is now reality. Clearly refers to John’s community - the Jesus-time disciples have not yet given the world any reason to hate them. The messengers will be hated because their message calls people “out of the world”. The disciples are not out of the world - as v 11 says, they are very much “in the world”. IE their mission is in the world, but their allegiance is to God. The Qumran community chose not to attempt this, but withdrew from the world. The “Judeans” were tempted by “if you can’t beat them, join them”. The disciples will need help.
- 15 Not asking to “keep” them in a safe place, but to protect them from the evil one - not general evil. Cf Lord’s Prayer, which probably originally had “deliver us from the evil one”. Jesus could not be touched by the evil one, but the disciples could be, since they must still be immersed “in the world”, though not “of” it, because of God’s love for the world.
- 16 Repetition leaves no room for doubt: the challenge for all Christians is to forge a way of life not in accord with the world.
- 17 “Sanctify them”: overtones of cult (Exod 28:41; 40:13; Lev 8:30) and sacrifice (Exod 13:2; Deut 15:19). Cultic interpretation would attribute sanctifying power to the blood of Jesus (Heb 2:11; 10:10,14,29) Jn 10:36: Jesus was sanctified/consecrated by the Father before being sent into the world, to witness what he had seen and heard from the Father (8:26; 3:32). Now that the disciples have accepted that word, (“cleansed” as in 15:3) they are commissioned to be sent to bear witness to it “in the world”, while protected by God. A poetic, circular prayer: Cf Lev 11:44; Lev 20:26: God’s holy people are separated from the nations, as are the disciples. Greek for “who separated” is aphorisas, from which the Pharisees got their name and ideology. Now it is the Johannine community that is to be separated, but by consecration not removal.
- 18 The climax: the disciples are commissioned to takes Jesus’ place “in the world”. Jesus sends the disciples into the world to bear witness to truth: Jesus’ mission is to be continued exactly by the disciples. This verse is surrounded by the holiness and consecration in vv 17 & 19. The greek hyper - translated usually as “for”, can be translated as “over” or “on behalf of”, to give “I am sanctifying myself over - or on behalf of - them”. Raymond Brown says that this recalls earlier ways in this gospel of speaking about Jesus’ death (10:11; 11:51; 15:13 - in each case hyper can be translated as “on behalf of”), suggesting that Jesus’ death is the act that begins the process of leading the community into the holiness they need to be protected from the evil one, to carry out God’s mission in the world, armed only with the truth.
- 19 Sanctify them in God’s service, as Jesus is. Jesus consecrates himself, ie dedicates himself as a sacrifice, that from his consecration the disciples may receive the necessary dedication and sanctification. A promise of the divine mission that will be given to the disciples on Easter night after the sacrifice has been completed. The truth - which is the seal of the disciples’ sanctification - is the revelation made in Jesus, and interpreted by the Spirit of truth.
- 20 Jesus now looks beyond the immediate disciples to those who will believe as a result of their testimony - ie the Johannine community and their successors. Believers not all in same flock (Cf 10:16), evangelised by different disciples, but unity prayed for. Indwelling of Jesus - the Christians’ earthly share in eternal life - is the great bond of union connecting Christians of all times and places with the Father. Jesus’ love for succeeding generations of followers is the same as his love for his immediate disciples, and is patterned on the Father’s love for the Son. A love so perfect that it will bring about the world’s recognition. In the greek much of the effect of vv 21-23 comes from interplay between hen = “one”, en = “in”, and hina = “so that”: eg “So that (hina) they may all be one (hen), as you Father are in (en) me and I in (en) you, so that (hina) ....”
- 21 For future disciples Jesus prays for their unity, both with each other and with Jesus, as Jesus is with God, so that the world may believe: - seeking unity has a purpose. The unity is to be an essential element of the quality of the community’s mission to the world: “that the world may know”. The mission to the world will only be effective through the visible evidence of the loving unity of the disciples. Perhaps suggests that some disunity had already occurred in John’s time (Cf 10:16). More than just a unity of a group separated from “outsiders”, it is unity which reflects the relationship between Jesus and God. Not just human solidarity or an institutional structure: for John both dimensions of this unity - between Jesus and the Father, and among members of the community - are rooted in the revelation of the Father through Jesus. The concern here is not with the individual believer’s unity with Jesus or with His Father: it is communal - the disciples as a believing community. It is not a private experience of the believing community, since it poses a challenge to the world in the same way that Jesus’ unity with the Father posed a challenge (vv 21,23). Its challenge to the world is not about some programme of communal reform, but with the gospel message about Jesus’ relationship with the Father. It is a unity of intimacy of faith and shared purpose, not moral or doctrinal - a willingness to remain bonded together in the mutual love given by the Father through Jesus in the face of trials - which will speak volumes to a world built around distrust &c. The world is not lost - Jesus prays that the world may come to believe and know Jesus through the disciples.
- 22 Gift to the disciples of the same glory the Father has given to his Son. Jesus gives to the disciples the glory he has received from the Father. But it is not the glory that the world gives - only God’s children see and understand this gift, but its value is much greater than anything the world can give.
- 23 Unity is necessary that the world may know the truth about Jesus: that he was sent by the Father, and Jesus and the disciples show the Father’s love to the world. Another gift to the disciples - the same love that the Father has for the Son.
- 24 Where this unity is found, there also will be found Jesus’ presence and power, and the living love of Father and Son. Jesus prays that ultimately the disciples will join him in heaven. It is Jesus who brings the disciples into community with God. All followers of Jesus, of all generations are drawn in to share in his eternal glory. The foundation of Jesus’ relationship with the Father is their mutual love. Also suggests that until Christians have come to be with God as Jesus is, they have not fully experienced the reality of Jesus relationship with God. Cf 5:21: “the Son is willing to make alive” those who have died. Here Jesus “is willing” that the disciples may join him where he is, in the future. While the gift of glory may look like suffering, viewed from this side of life, Jesus prays that the disciples may see it in its true form on the other side. The greek translated as “before the foundation of the world” has subtle implications of “before the world was thrown into being”, similar - but opposed - to the idea of betrayal that was “thrown into the heart of Judas” by the “other” father, the devil. “before the foundation of the world” balance similar phrase in v 5.
- 25 The world refused to hear his Father; but we who believe have known the Father, and so have a share in his love. Jesus here addresses his Father as “righteous” or “just”: God’s holiness (or separateness) was emphasised in v 11 to explain Jesus’ return to God, so here God’s justice is used to explain the separation between the Johannine community and the world.
- 26 Triumphant return to strong theme of unity (again playing on hina and en in the greek) - between present and future disciples - with Jesus, modelled on the unity of Jesus with his Father, and rooted in the love of Jesus and his Father, which is gifted to his disciples. The Father’s love is emphasised - it is the supreme revelation of this gospel. The church is meant to be a community of love, the living sign/sacrament of the mutual love of the Father and Son.
- Jesus will continue to make his name known through the Advocate (and) through the disciples, so that the Father’s love may be in them, as Jesus is. The ultimate expression of Jesus’ mission is to share God’s name in order to fill people with God’s love. God’s name is “The One Who Is”, whose love permeates all that lives and calls it to bear fruit that will last into eternal life. Having made his Father’s name known, with this final assurance Jesus goes to his death - the ultimate revelation of the cross, the resurrection, and the distribution of the Spirit.
