Theological Commentary: Click Here
Thematically
speaking, this is an awesome chapter of the Bible. We see example, counterexample, and even end
with an enticing question to draw out an incredible theme. What is the theme? The will of the Father.
Look at
Jesus. He knew what Judas was
doing. To make the task easier, Jesus
went to where He always goes. Jesus
makes Judas job as easy as possible, because He is focused on accomplishing the
will of the Father.
Furthermore,
we hear Jesus before the rulers. He does
not deny being Jesus. He does not deny what
He taught. He concedes all of these
points because He knows what truth is and that the Father is on the side of truth. His eyes are on the will of the Father. His strength comes through doing the work of
the Lord.
As a counterexample,
look at Peter. In the middle of the arrest
of Jesus, Peter incites violence by cutting off the ear of someone opposing
Jesus. When asked about His relationship
with Jesus, he denies the truth. Peter
isn’t focused on the will of the Father, he’s focused on his own survival. To be fair, I don’t truly believe that Peter
even understands what God is up to, so I can’t really blame Peter for His
actions. For all I know, I would do the
same thing in Peter’s shoes. However,
while I cannot blame Peter, I can illustrate that while the Son of God is
focused on the will of the Father, the iconic representative of humanity is
thinking about saving his own skin.
What is
really neat about this chapter is how it ends.
Jesus goes before Pilate. They
have a discussion, largely beating around the bush. Eventually we come to the great question. There is no greater question to ask than what
Pilate says. “What is truth?”
Truth is
that the Son of Man came to die so that the relationship between humanity and
the Father can be restored. Truth is
that human beings talk a big talk, but often when pushed into a corner think
only about themselves and saving their own skin. Truth is that the beginning of the greatest
journey we can ever have begins by turning to God and searching for truth by genuinely
accepting the fact that we don’t have all the answers.
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