Liveblogging the Bible: John III

15:2 This is rather a different verse than I remember. I had been trained to think of this pruning as the removal of wicked people, but here it feels more like the refinement of one's self. I, for one, have definitely had some parts pruned away.

15:5 Of course, this verse contradicts what I just wrote.

15:13 Of course, Jesus' laid down his life for more than just his friends, according to traditional theology.

15:15 this is a nice moment that had escaped me before. He relents a little from the harsher rhetoric earlier in the chapter, and reaches out to the apostles on something deeper than a doctrinal level.

15:27 According to John's first chapter, though, they were nowhere near with him in "the beginning".

16:5 This is something of an enigmatic verse. I can think of no other time that Jesus fished for a statement from the disciples like this. Was it important that they know where he was going? Is it other than the obvious answer?

16:7 Metaphysically speaking, why is this? What balance must be struck between Jesus and The Advocate? Why does he have to request for it to be sent, and why must that request be in person? Is The Advocate more powerful or useful at this point than he is? So many questions come from this verse, and no way at all to answer them it seems.

16:8-11 and these verses are even worse! Let us take just 9, and see if we can piece together the mechanics of it. For them to be proven wrong about sin is to prove them wrong about their belief in him. What then is the belief in him that must be reversed, as it relates to sin? I can think of nothing but their belief that he has no power to forgive sin, but it does not seem correct to call this a belief about sin; it is rather a belief about him. Although this is a tenuous answer, it at least makes some sort of sense. I can think of no way to stretch the next two proofs, about righteousness and judgement, into something lucid.

16:13 an interesting metaphysical rule, if it is to be taken as such: the Spirit has no agency, it is merely a medium, inconsistent with much mainstream Christian teaching, but thoroughly consistent with both Witness teaching and Science of Mind.

16:14-15 Here is a possible answer to the quandary of verse 7, namely, "What is the connection between Jesus' departure and the arrival of The Advocate?" Jesus twice declares here that "He", whoever that is, will take something from Jesus and give it to the disciples. If we infer from 13 that the spirit is more a force than a person, then it could be wondered if Jesus' presence on Earth was simply using up too much spirit, and he had to depart to make it accessible for them. This is the wildest--and most recreational--of conjectures, but it at least does not contradict anything said here so far.

16:24 The only possible conclusion from this interchange is that Jesus will only be shedding his mortal body, and will appear to them in some other form. Is it possible then that The Advocate is Jesus himself, in another form?

16:33 This conversation ends up rather more inspirational than it began.

17:5 Only a few things are possible to think about John at this point: he either is making some of this shit up to aggrandize the memory of Jesus, or he is the only one of the four gospel writers who understands what's going on.

17:6 This feels like the climax of the book, rather than Jesus' death. That death is just resolution of this speech.

17:25 Wow. This is an aria moment, to be sure. In this past few chapters, Jesus concern has been chiefly with his disciples knowing where he comes from, which is to say from the Father. It is most surprising that this is his focus, because one would assume that they accepted that all along. Did he mean something more than we understand here, or were the Apostles up to this point still skeptical of his divine source, if not outright divinity? And he seems so relieved once assured of their belief. Was there really doubt?