John’s gospel, which we read most of these last days of Lent and into Holy Week, portrays Jesus as a pilgrim celebrating the Jewish feasts in Jerusalem. So different than the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, which concentrate on his ministry in the various towns of Galilee.
In Jerusalem on a Sabbath day of a feast, probably a Passover feast, Jesus heals a paralyzed man at the pool at Bethsaida. (John 5). As the Father does not rest from bringing life to the world, so the Son does not rest from bringing life on the Sabbath. At a Passover Feast (John 6), Jesus calls himself the true Bread from heaven, the manna that feeds multitudes. On the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7-9) he reveals himself as the light of the world and living water. On the Feast of the Dedication (John 10) which celebrates the rededication of the temple after its desecration, Jesus claims to be the true temple, dwelling among us and making God’s glory known. Finally, the Feast of Passover is introduced in John 11, when Lazarus is raised from the dead. Jesus dies and rises on the feast.
The feasts are signs that what Jesus says and does are from God. He claims at the feasts that “The Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Recent archeological work at the southerly approach to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem has uncovered an elaborate system of stairways from the time of Jesus lined by purification baths. The expansive stairs suggest that pilgrims came large numbers to the temple then. Perhaps they were not as many as the Jewish writer Josephus claims, but certainly many Jews came from all parts of the Roman Empire as pilgrims to the Holy City.
Jesus came to the feasts, John’s gospel says and recent archeological discoveries suggest, not just as a pious observer of the law, but to announce his mission to the world. He was the fulfillment of the feasts: “ I am the light of the world. “
The Jewish leaders and many of their followers seem blind to the signs he works and accuse him of blasphemy. They are ready to stone him, but “Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained. Many came to him and said,
‘John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.’
And many there began to believe in him.”
Jesus stayed away from Jerusalem until the announcement about his friend, Lazarus. His final sign occurs when he returns to Jerusalem for the Passover. He raises Lazarus from the dead and then enters into the mystery of his own death and resurrection. In John’s gospel, all the bitter events of Jesus’ Passion are suffused with glory . John’s gospel, more than the others, find glorious signs in the passion of Jesus. We read his gospel on Good Friday.
The soldiers arresting Jesus in the garden fall to the ground before him. Pilate shrinks before him on the judgment seat, Jesus speaks calmly, majestically from the cross. Realists that we are, we find it hard to find suffering revealing God’s glory and power. It’s hard to see glory in someone suffering and dying on a cross..
We may find it hard to see anything but absurdity in the times we’re experiencing now. That’s why John’s Gospel may be an important guide today. “Look for the signs,” it says. If we believe God is with us, there are signs of glory and a promise of resurrection, even in suffering and death.
The world is caught in a storm, like the disciples caught in their boat at sea. We need to know God is not asleep.
Lead me on, Lord, through your holy signs,
especially the sign of your Cross.
Show me the glory I don’t see.
The Victor's Place 