John's Gospel studies the story of Jesus through the struggles of the Johanine community.

The earliest Christian movement were trying to promote Jesus
into the Jewish story in much the same way as Moses or Isaiah.
Their writings exposed parrallels between the stories
rather than promoting a separate movement.

After the destruction of The Temple, John's community fled Jerusalem,
and were then excommunicated and formed a separate religious community.
The Trial and Passion narratives expose themes of discord with that community.
It is not a narrative recollection of the literal events.

The story opens with the fable of Judas Iscariot.

"Iscariot" may be a reference to his character, as surnames were not used.
"iscariot" could come from "Sicarius", meaning "political assassin".
However he only appears in versions of the other Gospels written after 80AD,
and Paul makes no mention of him and talks of meeting with The Twelve.
He does say that Jesus was betrayed, but does not say how or by whom.
Judas is a symbol rather than an historical figure.
Could it be that Judas refers to the Judean nation,
which had excommunicated the Johanine community?

The Synoptics (Matthew particularly) add more detail to the story
with the payment of thirty pieces of silver and the suicide of Judas.
Only in John (Jn 13:26) is the broken bread handed specifically to Judas.
In John 12:1-8, Judas is described as a thief, when he grumbles against extravagance.
In John 13:27, we are told that the devil entered into him, and he departs into the darkness.
Finally Judas leads people with torches (trying to push back the darkness)
to the place where the disciples commonly met.

Here Jesus is made to confront the soldiers with a claim of divinity "I am",
at which the arresting party fall back from him.
(this itself seems extremely unlikely!)
Judas then disappears from the narrative.

Judas has been shown as the symbol of all those who prefer
the security of the Darkness, to the challenge and openness of the Light.
Through this imagery, John presents Jesus as inviting others to step beyond security,
and enter a new life, which denies the values of the settled life
as exemplified in the Jewish religious practices.

23 PETER, A STRUGGLE WITHIN

The Fourth Gospel features the innner struggles of Simon Peter.
All the characters in John's Gospel have symbolic roles.
Whilst Judas symbolised the triumph of darkness over light,
Peter's story is of one whose struggles, eventually, end in the light.
Its progress is charted throughout the Gospel,
from the feast at Cana (2:11) to the challenge of John 6:60 and on to Gethsemane.
Is Peter willing to accept a new dimension of life, beyond our boundaries,
into universal consciousness and oneness with divinity?
The message that is the utter vulnerability
of a naked body hanging on a Cross.

Peter is everyman and everywoman. His struggle is our struggle.
He must die to what he is before becoming what he is capable of being.

In the High Priest's garden, survival trumps loyalty and truth (Jn 18).
It is the drive in every human-being which locks us into self-centredness.
As such we are unable to enter into our full humanity,
as part of the eternal deity.

In his life, Jesus reveals the freedom to live fully
free of the distorting forces that constrain our lives,
free to give our lives away, as He did.
Yet, if this life is all that we have, why deny the gift
and fail to enjoy the life that we have been given.
I think Spong, and John, are preaching a priestly message
aimed at those whose lives are threatened
by following their persuasion.
But.....

24 PILATE. SURVIVAL OR TRUTH

There is little known about Pilate and few references to him.
He is shown by Mark as sympathetic to Jesus but sentences him all the same.
Matthew adds a myth about Pilate's wife, who warsn Pilate to avoid Jesus.
Luke adds a further story about Jesus, as a Gallilllean, being sent to Herod.
The Synoptics paint an increasingly positive view od Pilate.
It feeels like a whitewash with political intent.
It is a pattern continued in John's Gospel.

John seems to be saying that the Romans came closer to understanding Jesus than the Jews.
There is a long, public, Pilate/Jesus dialogue designed to portray the role of Jesus.
Pilate tries to return him to the Jews for punishment, but they demand his execution.
He then has a private conversation with Jesus, which ends with his question:
"What is truth?" (John 18:38) Even so Pilate is said to have tried to avoid condemning Jesus.

However the Jewish leaders demand his execution and expose the real reason:
Jesus has said that the word of God is spoken through him, as with any prophet.
He has promoted a God who is powerless, washes people's feet, forgives the sinner.
This was a form of divinity which they could not accept,
for it undermined all their religious understanding.
( as it would/does our own)
John then places the blame for the Crucifixion firmly on the Jews.
Pilate and the Romans are merely a tool that they use.
The Jews accuse Pilate of disloyalty if he releases Jesus
and Pilate, concerned for his own survival, condemns him.
The role of Judasim in bringing about the Kingdom of God has been denied.
The disciples of Jesus, and thus John's community, have becoem the true believers.
This is exemplified in the role of "the Beloved Disciple".

25 AT THE CROSS

Most scholars do not see any factual reality in the Crucifixion narrative.

Unlike the Synoptics, Jesus is said to carry his own Cross.
A mocking sign is placed on the Cross.
Dice are thrown for His clothing.
Old Testament scripture continues to be fulfilled!

John introduces two symbolic figures to reveal the meaning of the Cross;
The mother of Jesus and "the beloved disciple".
The mother of Jesus appears at the Cross only in John's Gospel
but this has, over time, initiated a flood of pious imagery.
The identity of the Beloved Disciple has been much debated.
The fundamentalist view is that he was the author, John, himself.
Other views embrace, Mary of Magdala, James the brother of Jesus.
It seems most likely that he has no historical reality.
Yet John continues to refer to this person as "he"
when, in the ancient world, a beloved "she" seems much more likely.
However Spong sees Lazarus, whom Jesus loved (see John 11:36), as the model,
but that Lazarus was, from the start, a completely concocted figure,
symbolising those who respond to and are changed by Jesus.
He is the archetypal figure of the Johanine movement;
The ultimat definition of a follower of Jesus.

So we have four symbolic figures in John's Crucifixion story:
Judas who cannot see and goes out into the darkness,
Peter who embodies the intense struggle to understand,
Pilate the symbol of earthly power, desires and domination,
Mary, his mother, who represents Judaism and the people of God,
and the Beloved Disciple symbolising what it means to walk with Jesus
and step beyond earthly bonds into the meaning of eternity.

So Jesus, from the Cross, puts Judaism into the care of the new movement.
They must not abandon the founding faith, but nurture it into a new reality.

A literal reading of John's Gospel will never lead to a new life,
for it is a portrayal of the depths of Jewish mysticism,
and perhaps the guiding hand that John wishes
to place upon it.