A Harmony of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus, #14
In Galilee & Note
IN GALILEE:
Afterwards, Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were all together.
“I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them. They said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. Jesus then said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
That is when the disciple whom Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off). Peter jumped into the water.
The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.
Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time [in John’s Gospel] that Jesus appeared to his disciples, after he was raised from the dead.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again, Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time Jesus said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you!”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted. However, when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one, who had reclined with Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me!”
Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. However, Jesus did not say that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
Sometime later, all of the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
NOTE ON IN GALILEE:
John’s account of the resurrection appearances of Christ is remarkable. He gives us some stories that the other Gospels do not mention. Jesus appears in both Jerusalem and Galilee. Thomas is mentioned extensively, and in many ways, the famous story of Thomas is the climax and high point of John’s entire Gospel. The story in Galilee seems almost like an epilogue.
When John says, “This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead,” I take that to mean John is referring to the third time in his Gospel. You have Mary, Thomas and Peter as the main people in John’s resurrection accounts. Three people, three resurrection stories. But clearly, Jesus appeared multiple times to his disciples before the miraculous catch of fish, especially in Jerusalem.
John has only eight miracles in his Gospel (and six are totally unique to him), although he says at the end, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.” I think the same is true for the resurrection appearances. In short, I read John’s words as “This is now the third time in my Gospel that Jesus appeared to his disciples.”
In the same way, John describes our Lord’s miracle of changing the water into wine at the wedding of Cana as “the first of his miraculous signs.” This may mean that John is saying, “This is the first miracle I mention in my book.” I point this out because it seems that Jesus had been working many miracles before the wedding at Cana. At Capernaum, very early in his ministry (according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke) it was almost non-stop healing and casting out of demons. And even Jesus knowing exactly what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree before he met him could be described as a miracle. That occurs before the wedding.
In any case, John does have a teaching method with his use of numbers and time. John, more than any of the other Gospels, carefully notes the time of the day, the days of the week, festivals, times of the year, and so forth.
It appears that John normally uses the Jewish way of reckoning the hours of the day, where dawn begins the day. Therefore, when John says Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well at “the sixth hour,” this would mean noon. (In the same way, Mark says that Jesus was crucified at “the third hour” on Good Friday. This would be 9:00 a.m.)
A notable exception to John’s normal use of Jewish time is when he says Pontius Pilate sat down in his judge’s seat, and rendered his final verdict, at “about the sixth hour.” There are several points to consider here.
First, if this is the Jewish reckoning of time, then it would mean that the trial of Jesus before Pilate ended at noon. Jesus would then have been crucified around 1:00 p.m. While that is certainly possible, a couple of hours on the cross seems too short. (It would also give us six hours for the trial and two hours on the cross. This seems backwards.)
Therefore, it appears to me that John is using the Roman reckoning of time. The Romans began counting the hours of the day at midnight, very similar to our system today. Thus, the “sixth hour” would be around 6:00 a.m. This seems to be more realistic than “noon.”
However, while the Romans did have their court sessions very early in the day, a 6:00 a.m. conclusion to the entire trial does not seem to leave enough time for all of the back and forth that happened during our trial on Friday morning (especially having Jesus sent over to Herod and then coming back, and so on).
My guess is that the trial lasted from 6:00 to 8:00 in the morning. That gives one hour to get to Golgotha, with Jesus being crucified at 9:00 a.m.
But what about John’s reference to “about the sixth hour?” I think John is intentionally looking back to his mention of “in the early morning,” when he first begins his account of the Roman trial. These two time references deliberately frame the whole story of the trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate. In short, both references mean, “Very early in the morning, this happened.”
Notice how John concludes the story of the Roman trial. He says, “It was about the sixth hour. ‘Here is your king!’ Pilate said. But the people shout out, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!’ ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priests answered. Finally, Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.”
John mentions “The sixth hour” and then, “Here is your king!” In this way, the theme of Jesus as the “King of the Jews” really stands out. This is how John ends his account of the trial before Pilate. Is there a deliberate echo here to “the sixth hour” when Jesus was at the well in Samaria? He was very thirsty then, and very soon our King would cry out from the cross, “I thirst!” (Only John mentions this.)
There is another question about why the religious leaders did not want to go into the judgment hall of Pilate, when they brought Jesus to him early on Friday morning. John says they “did not want to defile themselves, because they had not yet eaten the Passover.” This is unusual because the Passover has already been celebrated by Jesus and his disciples on Thursday night.
There are several suggested solutions to this. Firstly, perhaps different calendars were being used for the Passover. Some people would celebrate on Thursday, some on Friday. This is much like the modern difference between the Easter celebration of churches in the West and the Greek Orthodox traditions. (The same is true for Christmas also).
The fact that some people celebrate religious festivals on different days is not that strange. Another idea is that the religious leaders were so busy trying to railroad Jesus that they didn’t have time to celebrate the Passover properly the night before. This seems the most likely explanation.
Scholars endlessly debate all these questions and tie themselves up in knots. I don’t have a problem with any of these things (or other apparent contradictions). To me, it just shows the truthfulness of Gospel accounts. They just report things as they happened. If this were a fabrication, the writers would have smoothed over these bumps and lumps.
There is nothing here that shakes our faith and confidence in the four Gospels. Indeed, our confidence is increased when we realize that there are many options and possibilities when it comes to making a harmonization between some apparent contradictions. And it’s okay sometimes just to say, “We don’t know.” I have my thoughts, and you may have yours.
The real point here is to realize that each of the writers of the four Gospels has a unique style and theological method. Their books are very carefully constructed. Like a literary artist, they have composed their books with their own voice, so to speak. This is especially true of John.
Another example is that some scholars think that Mark is just an abbreviated “Reader’s Digest” version of Matthew. Certainly, these two Gospels are very similar, and Mark is a shorter book. However, when Mark tells a story, he is usually much longer than Matthew. Just compare their stories of Jairus’ daughter and the healing of the sick woman. Matthew has 9 verses, and Mark has 22 verses. Mark is a very careful writer who uses great skill to present his message.
My point is that each writer has their own way of telling the stories of Jesus and recording his teachings. Mark is different from Matthew, and John is the most unique of all (and Luke is close behind him). Realizing this can help us to better understand what they are saying to us.