In this reading, John seems to emphasize Jesus’s divinity. One place where I saw this was in Jesus’s prayer before his death and resurrection. Jesus said, “And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”. In his prayer, Jesus associates himself with God and makes it clear that Jesus and God are one. This point was also made when Jesus said that God loved him “before the foundation of the world”, which means that Jesus existed before he was born, which is interesting.
I also thought it was interesting that Pilate was reluctant to crucify Jesus. In popular culture, his name has a connotation of being a harsh and strict leader. However, from this reading it seems that Pilate was much more sympathetic to Jesus than the Jews were. Pilate “found no case against [Jesus]” and was “anxious to set him free”, but he was persuaded to crucify Jesus by the Jews. One thing that I was confused about was when Pilate wrote a note on the cross that said “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews”. I wasn’t sure if this was Pilate’s way of acknowledging that he believed that Jesus really was sent from God, or if it was sarcastic or had some other meaning. I think that Pilate’s sympathy towards Jesus’s situation helps to make sure that the reader realizes that Jesus did nothing wrong, even in the eyes of Pilate. This perfection helps to support John’s point that Jesus is divine.
Anna Janzen 