spiritual siblings

Last time we saw that the Spirit frequently appears with the language of water in the Gospel of John. John testifies that Jesus will baptize his followers in the Spirit. Jesus tells Nicodemus that those who enter the kingdom must be born of water and the spirit. He tells the woman of Samaria at the well that he can provide living water that will well up to eternal life in those who receive it. Finally, we saw Jesus on the final, great day of the Feast of Booths cry out that whoever believes in him will have rivers of living water flowing from their heart.

We also went back and looked at the picture Ezekiel provides of water flowing from the Temple and bringing life where ever it flows. And while that’s certainly part of the tapestry of Old Testament allusions that John makes there’s an important difference between what Jesus’ words and Ezekiel’s imagery. Jesus makes a specific point both to the Samaritan woman as well as the Jewish faithful in Jerusalem that differs from the prophetic image. Did you catch it?

In Ezekiel the source of water is the Temple itself. In John the source of water is the one who believes. Why the difference? How is it that the believe becomes a source of living water or more fully a source of the life-giving Spirit himself?

Simply this: union with Christ. In Christ we share in every blessing of the Spirit. Said a little more boldly: whatever the Spirit is for Christ, he is for the Christian.

brotherly bonds: explicit connections

As we usually point out when we come to John’s gospel, it has a lot of material that is unique to it. This actually isn’t surprising at all it just tends to take on more weight than we might otherwise give it since Matthew, Mark, and Luke share so much. This shows up in both specific and general ways.

In terms of the entirety of the gospels, the context of Jesus’ words in John vary from the Synoptics. Remember John’s gospel is explicitly focused on the signs that Jesus performs. John records these signs so that the reader might believe in Jesus and have life in his name (21:31). Notably absent from this are the parables that form the bulk of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew for example.

In our current discussion we see the difference in Jesus’ words about his relationship to the Father and to the Spirit. Only in John do we get the bold and simple statements about the inner realitites of the Trinity that inform much of our understanding about the Trinity.

remaining/dwelling

An aspect of this inter-Trinitarian relationship that John emphasizes from the beginning of his gospel comes from John the Baptist is the dwelling of the Spirit with the Son:

I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. John 1:32

Unlike the Synoptics we don’t really get the narrative of Jesus’ baptism. Only the report of it and in some ways this is more powerful. Similar to how Matthew draws out more meaning from the events of Jesus’ life by pointing out how he’s fulfilling the words of the Old Testament prophets, John presents us with the forceful testimony of the one who was to go before Jesus preparing his way. John was accounted a holy man by everyone and stayed alive for as long as he did because of it. He was “sent from God to bear witness about the light” the evangelist says earlier and this he does.

His is not the only voice that testifies to Jesus’ Trinitarian nature. Jesus himself repeatedly speaks of his relationship to the Father:

If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. John 10:37–38

Similarly:

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. John 14:10–11

empowering

After Jesus had fed 5000 people and retreated across the sea (not in a boat) the people came to him but for more bread, primarily. So then Jesus takes his opportunity and tells them of the true bread from heaven which is himself. They must eat his body and drink his blood to have life. His audience does not like this but his response The Spirit is the motivating force to speak the words of the Father:

Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. John 6:61-63

receiving

One more explicit connection we can make. We see a lot more from John the Baptist in this gospel than in the Syntoptics and he certainly earns his reputation as a man to speak uncomfortable truths. When his disciples came to him worried about the man “to whom [John] bore witness” because the people were going to him John responds in a Jesus-like way saying, in essence, “this was obviously the plan”:

For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. John 3:34-35

these are for all brothers and sisters

Dwelling/remaining:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:16–17

Empowered to speak:

But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.John 15:26–27

Recipients of the Spirit because of the love of the Father:

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” … Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:21, 23

Whatever the Spirit is for Christ, he is for the Christian.

family likenesses: implicit connections

There are not only explicit connections of the Spirit’s role between Father and Son reflected in his role among all believers. We can easily see this truth extending out to other parts of the life of Christ and his teachings.

prayer

A real-life immediately answered prayer:

Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. John 12:27–30

It has a correlation for the disciple. Jesus’ request that God be glorified is answered affirmatively and Jesus tell his disciples that their prayers will also be answered for the same motivating reason (cf. 15:16; 16:23-26):

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.John 14:12–14

fruit

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit John 12:23–24

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.John 15:8

persecution

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.John 15:18–21