John 19:23-37
The Only Strong Man: the One We Can Always Trust!
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The Only Strong Man: the One We Can Always Trust!
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Introduction: The first secular movie that I had ever watched, I think, is about Bruce Lee as a teenager. Being so much crazy with the movie, I thought that, if I can play Kungfu like Bruce Lee, life must be safe. Then later, I changed my mind and said that life must be safer if I were a billionaire like Rockefeller. However, after I was born again in my late fourteen, I could then clearly see that Jesus Christ is the only strong man that I can always trust! He is ever our strong Man! John 18-21 reflects this truth against the failures of ALL.
All Had Failed and Fallen (18:1-19:22): In the range of this section, four major characters are mentioned on how they had failed, representing each of their own groups [and the accounts on Peter, the representative of the disciples, and Pilate, the representative of the judicial authority of the time, were stressed the most].
FIRST, Judas Iscariot, the long thorn-in-the-side of Jesus, had failed his Lord by handing him to the authorities for thirty pieces of silver and with a kiss (8:1-9).
SECOND, Peter, the spokesman of the band, had failed his Lord by contradicting himself from the greater love of Jesus (8:10-14) and by three times of public denial (8:15-18, 25-27).
THIRD, Ana [and the priests], the custodian of Jewish faith, had failed his own God by handing the Messiah to the hands of the Gentiles (8:19-24, 28-32; 19:15).
FOURTH, Pilate, the representative of the powerful Roman authority of the time, had failed to provide justice by handing his helpless client to the will of aggressive crowd (8:33-19:22).
Yes, even the said spiritual leaders like Peter, religious faithful like Ana, and judicial courts like that of Pilate, we cannot trust all the times! Everyone has a tendency to behave differently in order to avoid our own risk. Who would then be strong to take the risk?
Strong Man in the Midst (19:23-42): When we all had failed, there was a strong man still standing in the midst to fulfill humble obedience to the Father and sacrificial love for his owns until the last hour (cf., 18:4-9). Throughout the whole judicial process, Jesus never changed his words nor contradicted himself, rather witnessed the ever lacking truth before Ana and Pilate (18:23, 37), showed the ever lacking self-sacrificial love and care for his owns (18:8; 19:25-27), and completed the ever lacking submission and obedience to God’s will. Therefore, all things ever written in the scripture was made fulfilled through/in his life (19:31-42). His pain and agony had fulfilled whatever demanded and prophesied in the scripture, to bring the truth of human salvation (cf., 3:16). So, here is the call of John, while being gravely felt sorry for his own failure at the time, to believe in Him and believe in the more (19:35). For He alone is ever strong to be worthy of our trust!
All Had Failed and Fallen (18:1-19:22): In the range of this section, four major characters are mentioned on how they had failed, representing each of their own groups [and the accounts on Peter, the representative of the disciples, and Pilate, the representative of the judicial authority of the time, were stressed the most].
FIRST, Judas Iscariot, the long thorn-in-the-side of Jesus, had failed his Lord by handing him to the authorities for thirty pieces of silver and with a kiss (8:1-9).
SECOND, Peter, the spokesman of the band, had failed his Lord by contradicting himself from the greater love of Jesus (8:10-14) and by three times of public denial (8:15-18, 25-27).
THIRD, Ana [and the priests], the custodian of Jewish faith, had failed his own God by handing the Messiah to the hands of the Gentiles (8:19-24, 28-32; 19:15).
FOURTH, Pilate, the representative of the powerful Roman authority of the time, had failed to provide justice by handing his helpless client to the will of aggressive crowd (8:33-19:22).
Yes, even the said spiritual leaders like Peter, religious faithful like Ana, and judicial courts like that of Pilate, we cannot trust all the times! Everyone has a tendency to behave differently in order to avoid our own risk. Who would then be strong to take the risk?
Strong Man in the Midst (19:23-42): When we all had failed, there was a strong man still standing in the midst to fulfill humble obedience to the Father and sacrificial love for his owns until the last hour (cf., 18:4-9). Throughout the whole judicial process, Jesus never changed his words nor contradicted himself, rather witnessed the ever lacking truth before Ana and Pilate (18:23, 37), showed the ever lacking self-sacrificial love and care for his owns (18:8; 19:25-27), and completed the ever lacking submission and obedience to God’s will. Therefore, all things ever written in the scripture was made fulfilled through/in his life (19:31-42). His pain and agony had fulfilled whatever demanded and prophesied in the scripture, to bring the truth of human salvation (cf., 3:16). So, here is the call of John, while being gravely felt sorry for his own failure at the time, to believe in Him and believe in the more (19:35). For He alone is ever strong to be worthy of our trust!
There may be times in our lives that everyone has failed to stand with us. However, Jesus said that he is not alone when everyone failed him. Taking a higher standing-position, he said, he is with the Father (16:32). That Jesus, the strong man on the higher ground, is always standing [with us, for us, on our behalf] to fulfill God’s justice by his own pain and agony so that we all might be saved. By making Him Lord in our daily life, we also can stand with that strong man on the higher ground, on which He is standing with the Father.
