She Thought He Was the Gardener
The Eschatology of John Part 6: An overview of John Part 5
Read the first article in this series here:
Read the previous article in this series here:
The incarnation reveals that God is love by showing that God can dwell with sinners; humans were designed to co-exit with God. Jesus, as the Word of God, is what God has to say about himself.
The signs of Jesus reveals God’s compassion and love for us. They also tie together Israel’s story and point towards new creation.
The teaching of Jesus reveals God’s love for us through seven different “I am the…” statements that relate to people across cultures. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, but he is also the Light. Jesus is Bread from Heaven, but he is also the Vine. He is not just the source of life; he is Life itself.
The death of Jesus reveals that God has no limits when it comes to demonstrating love towards us. Jesus was abandoned by his disciples, the very ones for whom he died, but he was not left alone because the Father was with him (John 16:32).
Now we come to the resurrection of Jesus.
Up from the grave He arose
With a mighty triumph o'er His foes
He arose a Victor from the dark domain
And He lives forever with His saints to reign
He arose! (He arose)
He arose! (He arose)
Hallelujah! Christ arose!
Robert Lowry (1874)
The Power to Take it Up
For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 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. John 10:17–18
Jesus didn’t die because the Father abandoned him. Jesus didn’t die because he lost his power, because he was betrayed, or because he was outsmarted.
Jesus died because he wanted to. It was totally within his power.
He never lost control, and had he lost control, the force of his death would be lost.
Lion and the Lamb
In the Book of Revelation, John calls Jesus the Lion of the tribe of Judah, but when John sees Jesus in the vision, he doesn’t see a Lion; he sees a lamb that was slain.
The point here isn’t that Jesus came as a lamb at one point and that later he’ll appear as a lion; instead, the point is that Jesus only appears as a lion when he appears as a lamb. It is when he humbles himself to the point of death that he is at his strongest.
Later in Revelation, when Jesus appeared as a mighty conquerer who rides a white horse and bears a great sword, it is important to note several features of this vision:
His robe was covered in blood, which is his own blood, not the blood of his enemies.
His name “The Word of God” reminds us of the entire story of the Gospel, how the Word took on flesh for the purpose of sacrificial death.
The great sword he bears comes out of his mouth; it is his words that strike down the nations, not sharp steel.
The relationship between power or authority and sacrificial death is inseparable. Jesus’s ultimate expression of his power and authority was through willingly laying down his life.
As an aside, it’s important to note that scriptural leadership looks the same. Leaders in the church should be recognized for their humility, sacrifice, and selflessness. As Jesus taught in Mark 9, arguments about who is the greatest have no place in the kingdom.
God Commanded Resurrection
As Jesus said in the text in John 10, Jesus had the authority to both lay down his life and take it up again. This, he said, was a command of God.
In John, the death of Jesus is so necessary because it is a prerequisite to resurrection. In order for Jesus to fully identify with humanity, he had to conquer death and dispel death’s power.
Physical death has been one of humanity’s greatest fears, a fear which has stemmed from our ignorance of who God actually is. Had we known God as Jesus has known God from before the world began, death would have always been embraced as a sweet reunion.
We would have known that “even though they die, they will live” (John 11:25). We would have known that any suffering we face today is not able to be compared with the glory found in Christ. Paul said, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).
So Jesus, being “in” on the plan from before the beginning, was obedient to death so that we might be released from the fear of death. The Hebrews writer said,
Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. Hebrews 2:14–15, cf. Hebrews 5:8-9
But Jesus’s obedience to the Father did not come from a place of fear, and it wasn’t a matter of submitting to a higher authority. These kinds of labels don’t adequately describe the relationship between the Father and the Son.
In John 10, we see that Jesus obeyed the Father because of the love the Father had for the Son from before the foundation of the world (John 10:17).
The translation here is a little troubling, though, for it makes it seem as if the Father’s love for the Son is transactional or conditional.
For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. John 10:17
Borchert, in the New American Commentary, argues,
It would be highly unlikely that either Jesus or John would have based the love of the Father for Jesus on the Son’s causal willingness to die. Instead, the love of the Father would more likely have led to the Son’s willingness to die for the sheep. Therefore, I would reverse the idea and read the text of 10:17 as, “Because [dia touto] the Father loves me, that is the reason [hoti, therefore] I lay down my life.” The model of the Father provided the model for the Son, which in turn should provide the model for the followers of Jesus (cf. 13:34; 15:12).1
The resurrection, like the death of Jesus, was an expression of God’s love.
This point about transactional obedience and obedience that stems from love and a mutual ethic is important because it changes how we view our relationship with God, but it also challenges popular leadership structures in churches, businesses, and families.
A husband is to love his wife just as Christ loves the church. A boss is to be kind to his employees, pay fair wages on time, and not treat them like a lesser person. A church leader is to serve the congregation as Christ shepherds the church.
Peter said,
Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it, not for sordid gain but eagerly. Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock. 1 Peter 5:1–3
As you can see from a few examples I’ve given so far, eschatology shapes ethic. How we read and interpret Scripture can have profound impacts in every area of our lives. Bad theology manifests itself as bad fruit. Church leaders abuse their power, husbands and wives have dysfunctional relationships, and business leaders use their employees because they don’t have a relationship with Jesus’s Father.
Studying Scripture is more than an academic exercise; it is about transforming the way we see everything as well as how we live in the world.
He Was Resurrected in a Garden
Mary Magdalene
Before Jesus died, he took his disciples into a garden (John 18:1). Soon after their arrival, Judas showed up with a detachment of soldiers to arrest Jesus. After the crucifixion, John wrote, “Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid…they laid Jesus there” (John 19:41-42).
The next day, a series of disciples visited the tomb because Mary Magdalene had reported that the tomb was empty. After they returned home, Mary remained alone, weeping outside the tomb. Then, she saw two angels sitting where Jesus’s body had been lying. They asked her why she was weeping, and in the middle of her response she turned and saw Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him.
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” John 20:14–15
She thought he was the gardener.
Why?
Because Jesus was buried in a garden, and John really wants us to get this point.
Why?
Because Jesus has come to retell the story of Adam. That’s why the Gospel of John started off as a creations story. That’s why there are all of these sets of seven throughout the gospel account, such as the seven miracles and seven “I am the…” statements. And that’s why Jesus’s last moments before his arrest as well as his resurrection took place in a garden.
Jesus is the Way back to Eden and to the Father. The Cross is the tree of life. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Jesus bruised the head of the serpent through his death and resurrection.
The new creation has broken forth into the old creation in the life of Jesus, and you and I are invited to participate in it.
The Breath of Life
After Jesus’s conversation with Mary, he commissioned her to go and tell the good news to his disciples. Later that day, Jesus came to his disciples, offered proof that it was him, and did something theatrical:
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit…” John 20:21–22
Jesus breathed on his disciples to act out what had happened in the garden earlier that day but also to act out what happened in a different new creation story in Israel’s Scriptures.
In Genesis 2, when God made Adam, he “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). In the Septuagint, the word for “breathed” is the same word employed in John 20:21-22: emphysaō.
I think the connection here is intentional. Jesus is reenacting the creation story and inaugurating a new creation.
As 1 Corinthians 15 says, “The first man, Adam, became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45). Jesus was raised that others might be raised. A seed that remains unsown dwells alone, but a seed that falls to the ground and dies produces much fruit.
When Jesus breathed on his disciples, he was offering them resurrection life.
Keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is an agent of life and comfort throughout John’s gospel. In John 3, 4, and 7, the Holy Spirit is called the water of life. In John 14-16, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Comforter or as the Advocate. The Cross of Christ (the tree of life) and the Holy Spirit (the water of life) work together to bring about God’s new creation.
What does this mean for us?
That You Might Have Life
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30–31
In this study, we have looked at how the incarnation, the teaching of Jesus, the signs of Jesus, the death of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus were all recorded for one purpose: that through believing we might have life in his name.
Every bit of this book is an invitation to a new way of living. It’s an invitation to start over with a new life. It’s an invitation to die with Jesus to the old world and be resurrected with him in Spirit.
No longer do we have to dwell within our delusion. No longer do we have to believe in a God who is distant. Jesus is risen, and everything has changed.
The ruler of this world has been judged, and our sins have been taken away. Jesus, having been lifted up, draws all people to himself. Nobody is excluded. No tribe is better than another. No nation or race or language is superior. God is all and in all.
Humanity’s one hope has been realized in Jesus, and we get to bask in the glory of what he accomplished, the glory of a Father’s only begotten Son, full of grace and truth.
Now, be like Mary Magdalene and the other disciples: go and tell people in your life who God really is as has been revealed by Jesus. Go and tell them that they are loved and desired, that God wants them to work in his new creation because Jesus was resurrected in a garden, and the new creation is here!
Having completed our overview of John, we will now turn to specific eschatological statements within John’s gospel.
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! 2 Corinthians 5:17
If you want this series to continue, please like, comment, or message me to let me know of your continued interest. Also, ask questions, point out typos, and engage in kind discussion.
Borchert, Gerald L. John 1–11. Vol. 25A. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996. Print. The New American Commentary.
This was a wonderful post and has really blessed my heart. I have been feeling depressed and far from God and this has encouraged me. Thank you so much for taking the time to write these studies.