Tuesday, February 24, 2015
John 18
"After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered" (NRSV John 18:1). Each of the other gospel authors recount Jesus' time in the Garden of Gethsemane with detail. Mark, Matthew, and Luke each include a verse where Jesus prays to God and asks him to allow Jesus to avoid crucifixion if there was any other option. This is not seen in the Gospel of John. I believe that the author of John is trying to portray Jesus as a stronger figure that does not show fear or hesitancy in such a trying time. I believe he does this to make Jesus a more attractive figure to want to follow and commit to the teachings of because it is natural for people to want a strong and fearless leader. I'm interested to hear other thoughts on why the recount of the Garden of Gethsemane is so skimpy in the Gospel of John.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I believe that the other gospels included the part when Jesus asked God for a way out as a way of humanizing him, for it would be uncharacteristic of a human to not fear death. They would humanize him to make him more relatable, which would facilitate people acceptance of him as their leader. However, by not including this plea, Jesus is depicted as a leader, but also as godly and above human fears. This helps solidify his claim to be the son of God and not just some man who can produce miracles and is an influential being.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The other gospels were trying to make Jesus relatable to the people; however, in the Gospel of John, Jesus is supposed to be shown as more of a leader and of a higher authority.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it supports John's opening paragraph about Jesus being the "Word of God," in that this human life is not valuable to Jesus in and of itself, but only in what Jesus can do with it to realize God's will. So if crucifixion is a part of God's plan, then not only would Jesus endure it with bravery, but he would probably be just enthusiastic to get that done as he would be the Sermon on the Mount, or the resurrection of Lazarus.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you guys have said on this topic. In this part of the gospel Jesus is depicted as a more divine figure. Instead of showing his weakness by asking for help he is depicted as a strong figure. I don't think depicting him as a strong divine figure was necessarily the point at at every part of the Gospel of John.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone on this too. The other Gospels were written in an earlier time period too. This being said, making Jesus more human and making him seem more relatable would make it seem much more attractive for gaining followers. The shift away from this in John shows the influence of the later time period when John is writing and the need to portray Jesus as Max said, " a strong divine figure."
ReplyDeleteI agree with what everyone has said thus far. The other gospels put an emphasis on the more human side of Jesus, while John's aim is to stress his divinity. This might be why he doesn't go into as much detail when touching on Jesus' human characteristics.
ReplyDelete