The New Creation in John 20
John 20 is one of the most incredible passages of the bible. There's a lot of heavy things going on in John 20. And a lot of it only makes sense in light of the Genesis account of the creation of man. While John 1:1-18 could be considered the sequel to Genesis 1:1, John 20 is the sequel to Genesis 1-2 in totum.
Everything in this chapter of John is the new creation. The beginnings of the church community, the resurrection day as the first day of week where the risen Jesus meets his disciples in the evening. There was morning (resurrection) and there was evening (the risen Jesus appearing to his first disciples). This was the first day of a new creation, and he declared peace to be upon them! Jesus had accomplished his work, and was about to enter that heavenly rest. So he declared peace to his disciples, because his Father saw that His work was very good!
The darkness/light motifs which came up throughout John are still in play as well. It was still dark when the tomb was first visited, etc. I remember how Charles Dennison links this continual mentioning of darkness and light to unbelief and belief. Before the risen Jesus identified himself and explained everything, it was all so disheartening and confusing for even his closest followers.
"Fear of the Jews": this is important too. The old order of theocratic Israel cannot peacefully coexist with the new covenant which has superceded it. "The Jews", that is wayward Israel as represented by their corrupt religious authorities, in the minds of the disciples were probably intent on thoroughly cleaning up loose ends once the leader of this sect had been whacked. This is a sad text to read, because Israel was once the exclusive people who had the special presence of God dwelling in their midst, yet by and large they were now the hostile enemy of Jesus, "God-with-us" and his disciples (Paul, himself a "Hebrew of Hebrews", would pick up on this confusing situation in Romans 9-11). Much irony here.
Jesus breathing on the disciples so that they receive the Holy Spirit: this is more new creation language. It reaches back to the first man. God first breathed life into Adam and he became a living soul. But the last Adam became a "life-giving Spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45).
John 20 is one of the most incredible passages of the bible. There's a lot of heavy things going on in John 20. And a lot of it only makes sense in light of the Genesis account of the creation of man. While John 1:1-18 could be considered the sequel to Genesis 1:1, John 20 is the sequel to Genesis 1-2 in totum.
Everything in this chapter of John is the new creation. The beginnings of the church community, the resurrection day as the first day of week where the risen Jesus meets his disciples in the evening. There was morning (resurrection) and there was evening (the risen Jesus appearing to his first disciples). This was the first day of a new creation, and he declared peace to be upon them! Jesus had accomplished his work, and was about to enter that heavenly rest. So he declared peace to his disciples, because his Father saw that His work was very good!
The darkness/light motifs which came up throughout John are still in play as well. It was still dark when the tomb was first visited, etc. I remember how Charles Dennison links this continual mentioning of darkness and light to unbelief and belief. Before the risen Jesus identified himself and explained everything, it was all so disheartening and confusing for even his closest followers.
"Fear of the Jews": this is important too. The old order of theocratic Israel cannot peacefully coexist with the new covenant which has superceded it. "The Jews", that is wayward Israel as represented by their corrupt religious authorities, in the minds of the disciples were probably intent on thoroughly cleaning up loose ends once the leader of this sect had been whacked. This is a sad text to read, because Israel was once the exclusive people who had the special presence of God dwelling in their midst, yet by and large they were now the hostile enemy of Jesus, "God-with-us" and his disciples (Paul, himself a "Hebrew of Hebrews", would pick up on this confusing situation in Romans 9-11). Much irony here.
Jesus breathing on the disciples so that they receive the Holy Spirit: this is more new creation language. It reaches back to the first man. God first breathed life into Adam and he became a living soul. But the last Adam became a "life-giving Spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45).
posted by Joe Branca | 1:03 PM
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