Jesus: and the World

Introduction*

Jesus answered (the Governor), “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36, NRSVUE) 

I found a really clever image representing the land masses and oceans of our (physical) world:

Our day is not easy to compare to the era in which Jesus lived - also a blood-stained era. However, John's record has many mentions of our world. The world may be loved; may hate; may alarm; may reject its maker; may serve its usurper-ruler; may hear God's Spirit; may receive news of the lasting peace offer. 

A famous old song about God loving the world so very much by Sir John Stainer (1840-1901): https://youtu.be/24pe76Edh_s?si=yU_4bHZ5vS69IKWT

Here again are those words: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life (John 3:16, NRSVUE).

The gift of eternal life was not cheap. God gave his only Son to open the invitation.

In the world (and nation) today there is sadly so much to doubt, fear, grieve and lament again (still).

No, the gift of eternal life was not cheap. God gave his only Son. Jesus’ immediate focus was his own people. Some of the people of the ancient “homeland” (Judea/Galilee) were his genetic relatives. Others were co-religionists, resident within the area recognised as being ruled (as far as Rome agreed) under the ancient Jewish Law. (There was a complication even in this, because many followers of Judaism lived in other lands.) The writer of John sums up the meaning of Jesus coming and what Jesus did:

He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be[a] children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent,[b] or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man,[c] but of God (John 1:10-13, CSB). 

Unrecognised by the world.

Unreceived by his own.

Sad that those who had the first opportunity might turn it down. Hard to grasp how "the world" did not recognise him.. Some people saw Jesus to be God's Son. Whilst rejecting him, some would claim to belong to God.

John's introduction (or prologue; see just above) is unique. As we read on it becomes clear that the writing is about Jesus, the Word become a human being. We even find that everything was made through the Word. This understanding of Jesus is not spelled out this way in the other Gospels; nor is it in the body of John. What we are given here is an explanation - where did it originate? Does it faithfully convey the truth Jesus shared and demonstrated? Does it accord with what we find in the accounts in all four records? I say yes to that; and more; it harmonises with the rest of the writings in our New Testament. Those opening lines in John tell us why the writer will bring into our view what follows in the book.

The Gospel writer also tells us that Jesus is for the world. Here it is again, with some context: And the Son of Man must be lifted up, just as the metal snake was lifted up by Moses in the desert.[a] Then everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life.
God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them! No one who has faith in God's Son will be condemned. But everyone who doesn't have faith in him has already been condemned for not having faith in God's only Son.
The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light. People who do evil hate the light and won't come to the light, because it clearly shows what they have done. But everyone who lives by the truth will come to the light, because they want others to know that God is really the one doing what they do (John 3: 14-21, CEV). His time on earth was limited but he came to bring the offer of salvation to the world. To the world. The world loved by God. (Look again at what the Son of Man's coming meant.)

 
John gave great emphasis to the "world" ("=kosmos", which occurs 57 times, compared to Matthew 8, Mark 3 & Luke 3). Others show the same themes but using different expressions. So, as Jesus ended his "physical" time on the earth he told his followers to take the message out: Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah[a] is[b] to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses[c] of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised, so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:44-49, NRSVUE). With God's own power, Jesus followers will extend the salvation offer to all nations, the world. The "them" of the day became "us".

In that place in those days there was a prominent public figure named John (the Forerunner/Baptiser). He is recorded as announcing Jesus and as pointing out Jesus: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ (John 1:29-30, CSB). This is noteworthy, remarkable and unique. I posted on this previously: https://jesussaviour4unme.blogspot.com/2022/03/jesus-lamb-of-god.html

The next statement of Jesus as Saviour for the world comes, strikingly, from a group of people in Samaria. These were people who knew they were seen as despised outsiders by the observant Jew. (In fact the word "Samaritan" was used to denigrate Jesus - see John 8:48.) Jews would have nothing to do with Samaritans.
The group from Sychar had listened to a local woman's report and then engaged with Jesus himself. Hearing Jesus lead them to a remarkable conclusion: They told the woman, “We no longer have faith in Jesus just because of what you told us. We have heard him ourselves, and we are certain that he is the Savior of the world!” (John 4:42, CEV). Remarkable. They had followed up the woman's report and really listened. "Saviour of the world" - "the world" - they were included by Jesus! These were people who would expect exclusion, rather than a warm welcome from an observant Galilean Jew. But, they had listened, and what they heard they took in and retained. Listened to Jesus. Today the inquirer is able to read the Gospels (or listen) - to hear Jesus for yourself. No one else can do it for you.

"Heard": I think it a mistake to imagine an assembly of people mutely paying (even close) attention "to the front". Consider how often the reports of Jesus teaching include interaction between him and hearers. (So it had been with the woman, whose report stirred them to investigate.)

Engaging with the wandering workman from the second-rate district of the Jewish nation had radically changed people's lives. How could that be? The opening lines in John point to the reality of Jesus being God's Word made flesh. The Word was God. To hear Jesus is to hear God.

What was it the Samaritan community had heard for themselves? This is one of those things not spelled out. However, surely the earlier two-way interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman gives us an answer. A report is in the preceding lines. There we find Jesus saying that he gives eternal-life-giving "living water"; that God looks for people to worship God in spirit and in truth; that Jesus himself is the expected Messiah. The woman had got over the fact that a man, a stranger, a Jew at that, was speaking with her and she recognised that she was "an open book" to Jesus.

How remarkable that there, at that time, Jesus was recognised as world Saviour by these Samaritan(!) people. Although the word "to save" is often used, that word "Saviour" is seldom found in the Gospels. In Luke chapter 1 it is used twice of God. In chapter 2 the angelic announcement of Jesus' birth includes: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord (NRSVUE). A Saviour was born!

How did the Samaritans come to use the name/title/description "Saviour" for Jesus? Perhaps they were familiar with other extant writings, such as Maccabees, in which God is called Saviour. Did they detect in Jesus the fulfilment of the ancient words to Abraham, in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:3, NRSVUE). Why did they want a Saviour? They did hold to the first five books (of Moses) in the Old Testament (OT) and those writings make clear the need to have a solution for sin; an escape from God's righteous judgement, to be purified. 

   
A contrasting and lengthy "world" discussion is reported in our John chapter 6. The occasion saw lines drawn and decisions made, for and against. People challenged Jesus to demonstrate miraculous powers by reproducing the feeding feats of that Moses, their ancestral hero. In the conversation we find Jesus saying: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51, ESV). Ordinary nutrients preserve life; Jesus preserves forever. He gave his flesh for the world. Jesus totally spent himself to make salvation possible. The benefit is available to each person, to "anyone" (or, everyone; whoever). It was good news, but for some it was too much to swallow(!) and they decided to turn their backs and abandon Jesus. Sad.

 
In a time of tension between Jesus and his brothers we see a different perspective on the world. The brothers thought he should confront the powers-that-be of the day. Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil (John 7:3-7, NIV). The world can hate Jesus; people who do evil are this "world". Rebels against God reject Jesus. They are viewed collectively as the world, as haters of Jesus, and haters of Jesus' followers (see John 15:9). They are still the ones for whom Jesus gave himself. They are still the ones to whom Jesus came. In that particular moment the people in view are from Jesus' own people.

About that time Jesus portrayed himself in another way: Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life” (John 8:12, NLT). Some (most?) hearers did not want to even consider that they might be in the dark. Though he told the world God's truth, they would not follow Jesus. They refused. However, for a time some were impressed by what Jesus said. They were convinced - at first. Then Jesus said that they could be free if they held on to him. That roused furious antagonistic response - they did not need to be freed! (Clearly they understood Jesus was not referring to Rome's rule of the territory.) The conversation (disagreement) continued and we find: Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God, and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:42-44, NRSVUE). Lines were being drawn and implications becoming clear - no one was made part of Jesus' (God's) family by their ancestry or religion. I hope today I can say "sinner", you and I, without creating antagonism. You and I need God's light, need freedom from rebellion, freedom from God's righteous judgement, freedom from the natural lies that so readily mislead us and deceive us.

A little further on we read of Jesus giving sight to a man born blind. There was great consternation amongst the religious elite, for Jesus healed on the Sabbath! The gripping story is in John chapter 9; the pericope ends with Jesus saying, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.”
Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and asked him, “We aren’t blind too, are we?”
“If you were blind,” Jesus told them, “you wouldn’t have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains (John 9:39-41, CSB). To hear Jesus is to make a decision; there is a separation. The person who knows they need to receive sight from Jesus and will humbly accept it, that person becomes "seeing". Those who are sure they are fully "sighted", and need nothing from Jesus, are in fact excluded by their own choice. The experience of the formerly unsighted man had become an illustration. Sight to the spiritually blind meant those who reject are distinguished. Everyone who encounters Jesus makes a choice.

What Jesus said became clearly unpalatable. Reading further on, in a difficult conversation, with antagonism increasing to the point of stones picked up: They answered, “We are not stoning you because of any good thing you did. We are stoning you because you did a terrible thing. You are just a man, and here you are claiming to be God!”
Jesus replied: In your Scriptures doesn't God say, “You are gods”? You can't argue with the Scriptures, and God spoke to those people and called them gods. So why do you accuse me of a terrible sin for saying that I am the Son of God? After all, it is the Father who prepared me for this work. He is also the one who sent me into the world. If I don't do as my Father does, you should not believe me. But if I do what my Father does, you should believe because of that, even if you don't have faith in me. Then you will know for certain that the Father is one with me, and I am one with the Father (John 10:33-38, CEV). The Father had sent the Son into the world. This fact was unacceptable then. Is it acceptable today? Jesus' claims were true, or they were outrageous and offensive. At that moment the people with power rejected the truth. (The "gods" bit shows me the need to think, and to look widely in the entire Bible to understand.)

In a challenging account of a young man's death from illness, his grieving sister made a very clear reply: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[a] Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world” (John 11:25-27, ESV). Everything was not clear but she knew Jesus was the one come into the world the Christ, the deliverer.

Jesus had made a conspicuous entry to Jerusalem and there was a lot of interest. Even some "Greeks" came wanting to make contact with Jesus. That lead into: Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me (John 12:23-26, NIV). Jesus had warned several times that violent death was near. His death will be productive, for many will come to accept him was Saviour. To belong to Jesus implies self-sacrifice in his interest. There is a cost in this world. The Father has an ultimate brilliant future in store for those who serve Jesus.

A climax was to hand. So Jesus said: The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” He said this to indicate how he was going to die (John 12:31-33, NLT). The world faces judgement. Its ruler's grip will be utterly and finally broken. Jesus was to be crucified to make it possible for everyone to belong to him. That might sound like an automatic incorporation? Not really. (There is a break in the flow of the account here.)

After that break comes some assuring words and grim words: Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, (John 12:44-48, NRSVUE). He came to bring light; to dispel the ignorance, pride and superstition which blinded people. Again the repeated statement of the purpose in Jesus coming - he came to save. Nonetheless, the message you hear of God's love and Jesus' giving himself on your behalf, to be your saviour, that very message is not simply an option to hear and ignore. To reject Jesus and refuse his word leaves only judgement.

Jesus had more to explain, including about the "world", but time was now short. Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end (John 13:1, CSB). He is recorded as washing his disciples' feet - he would do everything possible for those who put themselves under his care. These close followers would remain in the world, for varying lengths of time, possibly to also meet violent ends as they carried out Jesus' wishes for the world.

And now? Jesus addressed what lay ahead; how he would continue. Would they get it right? Jesus' departure did not really mean the story was over. Far from it! Jesus said to his disciples: If you love me, you will do as I command. Then I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit who will help[a] you and always be with you. The Spirit will show you what is true. The people of this world cannot accept the Spirit, because they don't see or know him. But you know the Spirit, who is with you and will keep on living in you (John 14:15-17, CEV). How can it all "make sense"? Belonging to Jesus makes all the difference. Jesus went on to say: I have told you these things while I am still with you. But the Holy Spirit will come and help[a] you, because the Father will send the Spirit to take my place. The Spirit will teach you everything and will remind you of what I said while I was with you (John 14:25-26, CEV). There was so much that needed to be kept, and recorded. The Gospels do not take up all that large an amount of space, but they occupied a lot of thinking, and still do. 

Now the text brings us to: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here (John 14:27-31, ESV). Jesus imparts a peace unlike that fragile and impermanent peace of the world's making. Moreover, this world's ruler can not hold Jesus back; Jesus and his purposes are impervious to that ruler. That ruler's grip would not last much longer.

If we want to ask, "What does that ruler rule?", we can look back at what has already been said.

Something of the world's ruler is seen in: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:18-19, NIV). No bed of roses! There may be courtesy and civility, or not. There is an essential cleavage between Jesus' own and the world's own.

But things can change. Change can come about inside a person. People can change sides. This is brought about by the Holy Spirit, not by bullying or coercion... As Jesus said: But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate[a] won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged (John 16:7-11, NLT). The Advocate, the Holy Spirit working in Jesus' place, will bring about God's plan working in people. The truth can be allowed in. God's solution can be applied. The enemy has in fact been beaten. People can be, and are, freed from that enemy's hold. By the working of God's Holy Spirit (the Advocate, Comforter, Encourager, Counsellor) inner change comes about. Taken on its own, this promise may look universal and irresistible? Surely we actually know it is not so. He can work in any circumstance, but each individual is respected as having the right to choose. No argument forces a person to believe, to change sides, to become a child of God. Each and every one of us is invited...  

Jesus made considerably more reference to the world in John chapter 17. That probably calls for another post. See subsequent post, Jesus: His Prayer

Have I been looking here at authentic words of Jesus? Some publishers produce a "red-letter Bible"; the idea is that the actual words of Jesus are printed in red.

The original books of the New Testament had no chapters, paragraphs, sentences, colours or punctuation, simply characters. So, the reader is looking at (very careful and longstanding) interpretation of the text. As we read John it is not always clear which words are Jesus directly speaking. This is not a matter we encounter only in John; the other Gospels tell us some of what Jesus saw, thought, loved, and felt. (Seems to me some of their reports could arise from eye-witness observation.) We are explicitly told that Jesus post-resurrection gave substantial time to teaching his disciples - and we do not overhear it happening. They had many learning hours. They were given special instruction, and the special helper (Helper).

[And what about Euclid?

We use the expression "world" in more than one way. This post is actually related to the word "cosmos" (which is the equivalent of the Greek). However, the focus of the post is people!
For other approaches to "the cosmos", see the striking Euclid telescope
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid_overview 
Amazing stuff? The experts deal with the vast universe (or a bit of it). The incomprehensible and unimaginable universe. How little humanity knows...
Some people speculate about other worlds, ie "inhabited". No info on that. If there is another population which has gone down the path of rebellion, would God would have the answer?]

*Footnote: I have added as introduction the critical point made by Jesus at the end to the Roman Governor - “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36, NRSVUE). If only powerful figures had always taken Jesus seriously, at the least injustices would not have been(be) in his name or even been avoided. I think the above examination shows that Jesus' rule over people has no expression in civil power; Jesus' kingdom is not part of the state; does not correspond to the "Established Church". The key is "not".

May God bless you .

Allen Hampton

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