John 19

Let's finish this thing sometime, eh?

Jesus Sentenced to be Crucified

1Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.

4Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." 5When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!"

6As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!"
But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him."

7The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."

8When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9and he went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10"Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?"

11Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."

12From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar."

13When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour.
"Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews.

15But they shouted, "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.

16Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

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There are a couple things at play in this section, including the nature of authority, and passing the buck.

First, on the nature of authority. Pilate is a very powerful man, as the Roman governor. But just what is power? The most memorable definition I ever heard came back in the 10th grade, in that inappropriate, offensive, but clear vernacular: "power means you can tell those two guys over there to start f&^%ing each other, even if (or especially if) they're not gay."

It's the capacity to impose your own wants and desires on the world around you, to Create your own world along your own standards, and not having those standards questioned or compromised, no matter what. How people go about achieving that end can be different. I'm reminded of the superhero from a cartoon of my childhood whose superpower was being super-rich. Instead of fighting off mindless footsoldiers to get into a secret compound, he could just buy them off, and it worked just as effectively as the guy with razor claws.

Or think of military, political, cultural, technological approaches to power. This philosophy is basically Nietzsche's Will to Power Meets Civilization IV.

Now, how this relates to the section of scripture at hand. Jesus, as God, is infinitely more powerful than Pilate or the chief priests. But he is, ironically, subject to their will and their judgment. This irony is intended to show that Pilate's (and by extension, all worldly) authority and power is ultimately nothing compared to God's. All human authority and power is given by God. The breaking of the hierarchy seen in the Garden of Eden, and again at Babel and throughout the Bible, is put back in order.

This approach to what constitutes true power is truly radical- to think that the humblest believer will hold a more powerful place a billion years from now than the most powerful king, president, or general!

Next, on to passing the buck. We're told that "from then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free", so Pilate was obviously trying not to take responsibility for Christ's death. Then again, the Jews can't be held accountable either-that's why they took Jesus to Pilate in the first place. If they execute Jesus unilaterally, it will destroy everything they had worked for. They wanted to negotiate with the Romans years later and say, "Don't be so harsh on us, we have been loyal subjects and deserve a bit of leeway. You owe us that much. Didn't we prove it to you when we brought you Jesus the rebel? We could have supported him and rebelled against you, but we didn't." To have the Romans reply, "You killed him yourselves, we had no part in your infighting. Jesus was no threat to Roman rule, so we credit you with nothing" won't do.

Eventually, both sides pass the buck, just as Adam did ("the woman you put here gave me the fruit, and I ate"), just as we do in our own lives, but both are eventually found culpable. Interestingly, both sides absolve themselves by appealing to a Higher Authority- but it's Caesar, not God. They'd like to do something different, but they can't pull rank on this, and the highest rank is...Caesar. Again this is the defining notion of the Rebellion: putting Man ahead of God.

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The Crucifixion

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

19Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read:|sc JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews."

22Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

23When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

24"Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,
"They divided my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing."^[a] So this is what the soldiers did.

25Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," 27and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

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Pilate pulls some passive-aggressive stuff here. Perhaps feeling a little weak having been manipulated into crucifying this man, Pilate tries to turn the situation to his advantage. His message to the Jews is clear: anyone challenging the rightful rule of Rome will be crushed, humiliated, and publically crucified until they die by slow asphyxiation.

Many of the disciples will challenge the rule of Rome, saying that it is ultimately under the rule of God, and they will be crucified as well. The one disciple that doesn't get martyred is John, the writer of this gospel, and the one charged with taking care of Jesus' mother.

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The Death of Jesus

28Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." 29A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. 30When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

31Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,"^[b] 37and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."^[c]

The Burial of Jesus

38Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. 39He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.^[d] 40Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

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This part about piercing Jesus's side is important because it proves that he was physically dead. When asked about the reanimation of dead tissue in Young Frankenstein, Gene Wilder says, "You are talking about the nonsensical ravings of a lunatic mind! Dead is dead!" Perhaps what is so offensive and terrifying about Frankenstein (and zombies, and vampires) is the way people go about seeking immortality- by getting help from the Devil, or human biology.

But we'll see another Way shortly.

Back at it- John 18

I initially took a break from these, as the conclusion of the school year, the conclusion of the weekly Bible Study, and a bit of a thematic conclusion in the book of John itself all suggested putting this on the shelf for a while. But today's a lazy Saturday with everybody out of town, and I haven't written in a while, so it's either this, baseball, or politics.

***
John 18

Jesus Arrested

1When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.

2Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

4Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?"

5"Jesus of Nazareth," they replied.

"I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground.

7Again he asked them, "Who is it you want?"
And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."

8"I told you that I am he," Jesus answered. "If you are looking for me, then let these men go." 9This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I have not lost one of those you gave me."

10Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)

11Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"

***

Two things of note, one of plot, and another of more purely religious substance.

First: what's up with Judas' betrayal?

As a child, I don't think I fully understood even the pure mechanism of Judas' betrayal. When I saw betrayal in movies or books or TV, it was a little more plain. The James Bond Girl ties him up and sets up a bomb to betray the West. The guy from The Matrix tells the Machines where to find Neo. Isildur keeps the One Ring for himself instead of throwing it into the lava and betrays Elrond! But leading the soldiers to Jesus isn't as obvious as this, so I didn't get it right away.

Surely the soldiers knew where Jesus was before. He had been teaching in the streets and mountainsides and temples. It seems to be that they needed a quiet spot away from crowds where Jesus was most vulnerable, so they could arrest him and there wouldn't be a big public outcry against it. That's Judas's betrayal: show the soldiers where Jesus is so there isn't a riot. Only someone with intimate knowledge of Jesus would be able to supply that information, so this is what makes Judas's betrayal both necessary to the religious authorities doing it, and actually effective.

But would there have been a big public outcry if Jesus had been arrested in public? Only a few days before, Jesus had come into Jerusalem hailed as a king. Everyone had a big parade. He was very popular. I think it's reasonable to think that if the High Priest had moved then, if there had been guards who had swooped in to take away Jesus, donky, colt, and all, there would have been a riot.

But Jesus was also a somewhat controversial figure. When he told people that they needed to eat his body and drink his blood, we're told that a great many people turned away from him- "surely this is a hard teaching!" Even when he drove out demons from people (see Matthew 8), this made others frightened of him and they begged him to leave their town. Earlier, in John 8 and again in 10, Jesus makes a very straightforward claim to being the Son of God ("before Abraham was born, I Am!"), and is almost stoned to death.

Lastly, on Good Friday, those same voices that cried out 'Hossanah in the Highest!' days earlier scream, 'Crucify! Crucify! We have no King but Caesar- give Barabbas to us!' We're told that the people are manipulated by the Teachers of the Law to say these things, so it's unclear whether this represents their true feelings, or if they're coerced. Probably a mixture of both, though. (This is not an argument that these actions cannot be condemned or that they get off the hook. Adam and Eve were tricked and coerced into eating the fruit, but played an active role in it themselves, too)

The point is important. The people need to rabidly support Jesus, or else Judas's betrayal is pretty meaningless. But they also need to be upset with him and reject him, or else he will not be crucified in the end, and moreover, I will not be able to see myself in the crowd, shouting for Christ's death along with the rest of my fellow sinners.

The fact that I can see myself in that crowd at times, that as the illustrious Alex Gallagher once posted on our wall, "Sometimes we murder our saviors", is as dramatic an illustration of God's grace as any I can conceive. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us".

So what facilitates this shift from support to dejection? We can maybe answer this by looking at what makes Jesus popular, and at what makes him unpopular in the past. This also dovetails a bit with my second point in this section of scripture. Jesus is at his most popular when he's healing the sick, blind, deaf, and lame, when he's feeding 5,000 people with bread and fish, when he's preaching that poor people have the riches of Heaven to store up.

He's very unpopular when he says that He is the way to get there, that followers have to give up everything to follow Him, and that He (and he alone) is the Son of God. In short, people expect a different kind of Messiah than Christ has come to be. They want a political King to overthrow the Romans. They want a medical King to heal their diseases. They want a cooking King to give them food without cost. When they find out that Jesus is instead a spiritual King, they turn on him.

Perhaps Peter himself is one of these people frustrated with Jesus. He thinks that right now, tonight, in this very garden, is where the Revolution is about to begin. He pulls out his sword and delivers the first blow in establishing God's Kingdom on Earth. And is quickly repremanded by his best friend: what you think is going to happen, isn't, Peter. Is it any wonder that Peter denies knowing his best friend three times and weeps bitterly? Peter finds that what he has dedicated his life to is a lie.

Isn't this very much like what we see today, too? People are very eager to believe in a Nice, Gentle Jesus who tells people to be excellent to one another, the kind of Jesus who gives great big hugs and wipes away tears, but who is a super-glossed-over version of the Jesus in the Bible who demands your love and life and says he is the Son of God. If you ask people what they think the central teaching of Christianity is, they are very likely to tell you to "treat others as you would like to be treated", and not "Jesus was the Son of God who died for our sins."

*****

Jesus Taken to Annas

12Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him 13and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people.

Peter's First Denial

15Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, 16but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in.

17"You are not one of his disciples, are you?" the girl at the door asked Peter.
He replied, "I am not."

18It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.

The High Priest Questions Jesus

19Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

20"I have spoken openly to the world," Jesus replied. "I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. 21Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said."

22When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. "Is this the way you answer the high priest?" he demanded.

23"If I said something wrong," Jesus replied, "testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?" 24Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.
***

I've always loved this exchange that Jesus gave. It's designed to always proclaim and testify about Jesus. The Son of God being put to death for the crime of blasphemy, of claiming to be what he was, is as much an act of rebellion as Adam, as Babel. Those who claim to be unjustly punished for the sins of their fathers should remember this. Sin is not just stubbing your toe or getting confused and carrying a 2 when you should have carried a 1 while doing addition in your head. It's not just hurting someone else's feelings unknowingly. It's not just moral weakness. It is active, knowing rebellion. When I confess that I am by nature sinful, I am confessing not only that I am possible of human error and 'oops!' moments, but that in my inmost being, there is a part of me that hates God, that rebels against him, that is jealous of his power and questioning of his love.

***

Peter's Second and Third Denials

25As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, "You are not one of his disciples, are you?"
He denied it, saying, "I am not."

26One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, "Didn't I see you with him in the olive grove?" 27Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.

Jesus Before Pilate

28Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?"

30"If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you."

31Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law."

"But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. 32This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.

33Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

34"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"

35"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"

36Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

37"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

38"What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. 39But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release 'the king of the Jews'?"

40They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.

***

This section is chock-full of the motif I wrote about earlier: Pilate and the Jews think that Jesus means to be a political ruler, where Jesus is interested in being a divine one.

This section also speaks of two foils. Peter is a foil of Judas, and Barabbas is a foil of Jesus. Barabbas is a political rebel, the kind of person Jesus could have chosen to be if he'd wanted. An army with endless amounts of bread and divine protection would make for an unstoppable rebelling force. Barabbas's rebellion is a reflection of our own against God.

Peter is a foil of Judas because his actions are almost as painful as Judas's betrayal: he vehemently denies knowing his friend, his teacher, his Lord. But whereas Judas feels like Jesus cannot forgive him and eventually takes his own life because of it, overwhelmed with guilt and having nowhere to release it, Peter finds forgiveness and redemption. He is the first disciple to visit the empty tomb. His reconciliation with his friend later in this Gospel is a reflection of the reconciliation we all have with God as a result of Christ's death and resurrection.

Grifter-no-more

My friend's got a girlfriend
((((and)))) he hates that bitch
He tells me every day
He says "man I really gotta lose my chick
In the worst kind of way"

She sits on her ass
He works his hands to the bone
To give her money every payday
But she wants more dinero just to stay at home
Well my friend
You gotta say:

I won't pay, I won't pay ya, no way
now now Why don't you get a job
Say no way, say no way ya, no way
now now Why don't you get a job

I guess all his money, well it isn't enough
To keep her bill collectors at bay
I guess all his money, well it isn't enough
Cause that girl's got expensive taste

I won't pay, I won't pay ya, no way
now now Why don't you get a job
Say no way, say no way ya, no way
now now Why don't you get a job

Well I guess it ain't easy doing nothing at all oh yeah
But hey man free rides just don't come along
every day

Let me tell you about my other friend now

My friend's got a boyfriend ((((and)))) she hates that dick
She tells me every day
He wants more dinero just to stay at home
Well my friend
You gotta say:

I won't pay, I won't pay ya, no way
now now Why don't you get a job
Say no way, say no way ya, no way
now now Why don't you get a job
oh yeah
I won't give ya no money
I always pay
now now Why don't you get a job
Say no way, say no way ya, no way
now now Why don't you get a
job!

(I'm newly employed, don'tchaknow)

Furthermore

I made the recovered cherry coke ice crystals into alcohol-filled ICEE's with the magic bullet and some Kahlua. It tastes pretty much like what I expected: ok. But it enrages me when I drink my salvaged Coke smoothie and read on weather.com that a plurality of online voters, (39.4%) do not think that global warming is true.

Frankly, I'm surprised at this. I don't understand how this misconception is out there. I offer my armchair ruminations:

1. Shoddy science reporting. Even though our society is increasingly driven by technology and this technology relies on advances in science, the layperson has a very ill-informed view on science or how the scientific method works. Blame schools all you want, but I'm of the opinion that this is because people have very ill-informed views on just about anything not relating to their narrow experience. I may be really into environmental chemistry and air pollution control and measurement, but I don't know a whole lot about (say) livestock.

I feel like people have this too-perfect view of science. If a man with a white lab coat says it is true, it Must Be So. Furthermore, complicated variables, conflicting data, systematic and random error do not exist- everyone must agree on science. As a corollary, when two scientists disagree, the effect they are researching must not be very scientific. The jury's still out.

But it's not. There is a huge consensus that the Earth is warming. You may blame it on sun spots or random chance or volcanoes, but you don't get to blame it on the Jew-run media anymore.

2. Shoddy political work. Why is this even a political issue? Democrats are more likely to believe in global warming, Republicans are more likely to not believe in it. This might be a nefarious plot by the Republicans to Destroy the Planet, but I'm more apt to quote Upton Sinclair: "If a man's paycheck depends on his not understanding something, you can rely upon his not understanding it." Sorry, oil companies.

Disaster!

Someone put two cans of Cherry Coke Zero in the freezer where they exploded. I cut my thumb taking one of the cans out, and can only hope that I've brushed out the remaining bits of frozen Coke from on top of the chicken breasts, ice cream, and venison steak.

I hope I don't get tetanus from this.

Back to Politics

There's this girl that I like. Now it appears that she likes another guy. It must be because he's political and stuff. I bet I could be political, too.

I'm beginning to think, as a Democrat, that having Hillary Clinton in the race is good for the party's chances in the fall. I guess I'm alone in this. The claim is being put forth that Hillary Clinton wants to win so badly that she's willing to go to any length to do it, and if that means salting the Earth so that no Democrat can grow, SO BE IT!

I first disagree with this point just as an accurate narrative of what has happened. Clinton hasn't been that cutthroat. About the only things I can remember that qualify are:

1. Reverend Wright. Was this an incredibly off-base attack that has nothing to do with anything? Yes. Was it damaging to Barack Obama? Maybe. It's strange, but pundits give evidence for this by showing exit polling data. Of those people who didn't vote for Obama, a major reason given was Rev. Wright. But, if you look at the overall trend for Obama, his numbers before and after Wright in terms of popularity and so on were pretty much equal. They went down, sure, but they were already going down before Wright was ever an issue, and they've gone back up since.

In other words: it appears from my armchair analysis that Rev. Wright didn't cause many people to not vote for Obama. Instead, it gave people who were already not going to vote for him a reason for doing this. This fits in well with one understanding of psychology and behavior: we're much more likely to pick a conclusion and build reasons around it, rather than weighing evidence and reaching a conclusion.

2. That commercial where the kid is sleeping and the phone is ringing at the White House. Do you know where your children are!? So it was a silly commercial. Not exactly going for the throat.

3. The One Where Obama Knows That One Guy. Clinton (or someone) said that Obama lived next door to some other guy who did bad things. And also, when he was a lawyer, Obama did some work for a guy who was a radical in the 1970's. Maybe it was the same person? I don't know. But whatever. My point is that it's pretty tame and not very damaging to Obama's chances in November.

Further bolstering my first point that Hillary Clinton hasn't been playing ruthless: if you think she can be mean, just wait for the Republicans and John McCain. Hillary Clinton may say, "Think of the Children!", but John McCain has already said that terrorists want Obama to win. If I'm recalling correctly, it wasn't Hillary Clinton's people who have circulated the rumor that Barack Obama is a Muslim- that would be the crazy right.

So, to conclude my meandering first point: Hillary Clinton isn't salting the Earth. She poses a very small threat for Democrat's chances in November.

My Second Reason Why Hillary Clinton Staying In The Race Isn't As Bad As You Think: it's kind of like altitude training for Obama. We can argue all we want about whether Obama's health care plan covers everyone (it doesn't), or if Hillary's plan will turn us into France (I hope so). But just discussing the issue gets it into everyone's consciousness and frames the debate in a positive manner for Democrats come November. Imagine how completely inadequate John McCain will look by comparison when he says that he wants employers to, uh, group together, or something.

Extend this to any issue you'd like. The longer Barack and Hillary talk about their plans for Iraq, the more that hurts John McCain when he says we should stay there for 100 years and bomb Iran and Palestine and yadda yadda.

So, to conclude:
1. Having Hillary Clinton in the race at the very least poses little threat to Obama's chances in November. She hasn't taken the gloves off (at least not yet), and doesn't seem to be going for the killing blow any time soon.

2. It may actually help the Democrats because it frames issues in a Democratic light.

Of course, this ignores the fact that John McCain is free to do whatever he wants in the meantime before Denver, while Obama is getting pounded. Don't worry. Even if the nomination process goes all the way to Denver, that leaves Obama plenty of time to beat up McCain. Witness Barack schooling him re: Al Qaeda in Iraq. Barack doesn't really start attacks well, but his reaction to them makes his opponent look like an idiot. He's like the anti-Kerry.

John 17 and a Wii

We just got a Wii, and it is so freaking fun you have no idea. On to John 17.

Jesus Prays for Himself

1After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

I'd like to note again that this section both 'give[s] eternal life' and also defines what that eternal life consists of. Jesus didn't die on the cross so that we might never die, but in exchange our eternal life consists of reading owner's manuals for all of eternity. It's an eternal life, and a life that consists of things that are worthy of eternity.

I remember being completely freaked out as a kid at the concept of eternity one night. I couldn't sleep at all, the whole night, I just couldn't stop thinking that a consciousness that goes on forever would be a terrible thing. Probably that's because our normal experience is so often filled with pain or suffering or boredom or discomfort or ennui or melancholy that I couldn't imagine anything else. But I'm not asking for an eternal life with 'the only true God, and Jesus Christ' to be non-stop pleasure, either. It gets too saccharine that way. It's more than pleasure, it's the happiness that can only come from finally coming home after a long trip, of being reconciled to a friend, of being at peace with someone you originally hated.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

6"I have revealed you^[a] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. 12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17Sanctify^[b] them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

John 17:17 is often used as support for the proposition that the Bible is divinely inspired and is therefore what we should use for deciding theology, as opposed to, say, popular opinion or the authority of Popes or councils. I never really thought it was all that fair: "the Bible says that the Bible is true" is circular reasoning at its finest. But I've come to a better understanding of this verse in particular as a result of making my way through the earlier parts of John.

It could be the defining message of this entire gospel: the Truth. John recalls Jesus proclaiming himself "The Way, The Truth, and The Life." He says that all those "on the side of Truth listen to me." Pilate will later sneer, "What is Truth?"

And what is it? I think the blind man Jesus healed earlier in the Gospel (chapter 9) sums it up nicely:

24A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God,^[b]" they said. "We know this man [Jesus] is a sinner."

25He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"

26Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"

27He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"

28Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."

30The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

34To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.

The image is pretty remarkable. The self-deception shown by the Pharisees here is incredible- they are truly spiritually blind. Jesus speaks the Truth: he says that he is God, and he is, he says people are sinful, and they are. Jesus explains exactly how the world works, and the world rejects him.

Or look later when Jesus is arrested and smarts off to the High Priest and gets hit in the face. Jesus says, "If I said something wrong, testify as to what is wrong. But if what I said was the truth, why did you hit me?"

That's not really a rhetorical question, you know. The man hit Jesus not because he thought Jesus was lying- he knew that Jesus was telling the truth. Why did he hit him, then? Perhaps he was scared of what would happen to him if he didn't. Perhaps he was simply a cruel person. At rock bottom, he hit Jesus because he preferred his own lies to Jesus' truth, just as Eve preferred the Serpent's lies.

So that passage, "Your word is truth" is a little more meaningful than "the Bible says that the Bible is true". I hope I'm expressing this coherently.

Jesus Prays for All Believers

20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

A call for unity of purpose throughout the Church that I still long to see. Thy kingdom come, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.