Good Friday A

John 18.1-19.42

I think the central motif of John’s Good Friday story is what Tillich would call the “courage to be”, seen in the ability of Jesus to say “I am” at the time of trial and condemnation.

“Whom do you seek?” Jesus asks the soldiers and police who come to arrest him (the question is fundamental to the journey of discipleship). They tell him, and he says, “I am he.” This interchange is repeated for emphasis (18.4-8). The trial itself revolves around his identity, and in John Jesus remains in control of the trial throughout. Jesus is confident and even assertive in his sense of identity. In the background, Peter denies who he is.

The strength of Jesus’ identity is of course something more than mere self-actualisation. The theme of individuation that runs throughout this gospel as the challenge to discipleship is at the same time a challenge to discover our deepest identity as God-bearers to the world. John’s Jesus may unashamedly identify himself as the revelation of the Father, but he expects the disciple’s life to do the same.

I find it useful, in this context, to look at the background of the “I am” sayings of John’s gospel in Exodus 3, where Yahweh identifies himself as “I am”. Clearly, as Jesus says, “I am the bread of life”, “I am the good shepherd,” or “I am the resurrection,” we are meant to recall this story about the divine name. In Exodus 3 God’s revelation of his name as “I am” is clearly contrasted to Moses’ lack of self-confidence: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (3.11). God will not deliver the Israelites independently of Moses. Moses must act with the assurance that God will be with him, as a divine presence. So in all continuing discipleship God is present. This is a fundamental theme in Johannine theology. It is not only explains Jesus. It explains Lazarus and the rest of us. The prologue’s proclamation that “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (1.14) will be seen to apply to all believers. God dwells in the faithful, abides in them as the shekinah, God’s tabernacling presence in the people of Israel. The trial and condemnation of Jesus in the gospel of John is, in the last analysis, our story. We, too, are invited to say “I am”.