The Jesus of John
My Father
(Literary
Seams in John)
I. The Only Instance of "Your Father" in John
John 20:16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). 20:17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" 20:18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
***Compare this passage to the account of the resurrection in Mark 16:8, where several women, including Mary Magdalene, after viewing the empty tomb, "said nothing to anyone because they were afraid."
Note: Jesus is calling "the disciples" "my brothers." After, and because of, the resurrection, the father and God of Jesus now also becomes the father and God of the disciples, who thus now are called Jesus' " brothers." This must be viewed in connection with the separation of Jesus from his biological brothers that occurred earlier in John 6:64-7:5.
John 6:63 (Jesus said) "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 6:64 But among you there are some who do not believe." . . . 6:66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 6:67 So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" 6:68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 6:69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." . . . 7:2 Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. 7:3 So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; 7:4 for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. . . . 7:5 (For not even his brothers believed in him.) . . . 7:8 (Jesus said) Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come." 7:9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee. 7:10 But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret.
John 20:24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 20:25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." 20:26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 20:28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
***Why does Jesus in 20:17 not allow Mary to touch him, but actually urges Thomas to touch him in 20:27?
John 20:21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
Note:
Compare this to the teaching of Ignatius
of Antioch on the position of the Bishops:
(Ephesians
6; Magnesians 3, 6, 13; Smyrnaeans
8)
II. Jesus Responds to Jews Who Say that God is their Father
8:42 Jesus said to them (unbelieving Jews, Pharisees, etc.), "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. 8:43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. 8:44 You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 8:45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 8:46 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 8:47 Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God." 8:48 The Jews answered him, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" 8:49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.III. My Father in John (Also compare with the Epistles of Ignatius)
2:13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2:14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 2:15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 2:16 He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"5:16 Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. 5:17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father is still working, and I also am working." 5:18 For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God. 5:19 Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. 5:20 The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. 5:21 Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. 5:22 The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 5:23 so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
5:42 But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. 5:43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him.
6:32 Then Jesus said to them (the crowd), "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 6:33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 6:34 They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 6:40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day." 6:41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 6:42 They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 8:19 Then they (the Pharisees) said to him, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also." 8:54 Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, 'He is our God,'10:14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 10:15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 10:16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 10:17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 10:18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."
10:22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It
was winter,
10:23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 10:24 So the Jews
gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you
are the Messiah, tell us plainly." 10:25 Jesus answered, "I have told you, and
you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me;
10:26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 10:27 My sheep hear
my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will
never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 10:29 What my Father has
given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand.
10:30 The Father and I are one." 10:31 The Jews took up stones again to stone him.
10:32 Jesus replied, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of
these are you going to stone me?" 10:33 The Jews answered, "It is not for a
good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a
human being, are making yourself God."