Visiting Bethany (part 2)

As we consider Jesus’ visit to Bethany in the light of the parousia of the Caesar, we read that “when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him” (John 11:20a). Here, let us bear in mind that the readers of this Gospel, in the first century, would be quite familiar with an imperial parousia, and would find that this going out of the village to meet Jesus, on the part of Martha, very much fits into the mold of expectations concerning an imperial visit. To this point, the author has been building a case for Jesus as a royal personage---the ruler of the world in fact---especially in light of that which was thought and said about the Caesar---the one looked to as the ruler of the world.

The Gospel begins with Jesus (personifying “the Word”) being heralded as God (1:1). It is said that “in Him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. And the light shines on in the darkness… We saw His glory---the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth… For we have all received from His fullness one gracious gift after another” (1:4-5a,14b,16). A bit further on, Jesus is referred to as God’s “one and only Son,” and that “everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through Him” (3:16b-17). Shortly thereafter, we read again “that the light has come into the world” (3:19b), and later on, find Jesus speaking of Himself as “the light of the world” (8:12).

These things are said about Jesus in a world that is provided context by the presence and the rule of the Caesar. In an inscription from 9BC, Caesar Augustus is hailed as “The most divine… we should consider co-equal to the beginning of all things… for when everything was falling [into disorder] and tending toward dissolution, he restored it once more and gave to the whole world a new aura; …the common good fortune of all…The beginning of life and vitality. …All the cities unanimously adopt the birthday of the divine as the new beginning of the year… Whereas Providence, which has regulated our whole existence…has brought our life to the climax of perfection in giving to us (this man), whom it [Providence] filled with strength…the welfare of men, and who being to us and our descendants as Savior, has put an end to war and has set all things in Order; and [whereas] having become [god] manifest, has fulfilled all the hopes of earlier times… in surpassing all the benefactors who proceeded him… and whereas, finally, the birthday of the god has been for the whole world the beginning of the good news concerning him [therefore let a new era begin from his birth].” Though this was written of Augustus, who was the first of the Caesars to be hailed as the son of god, all subsequent Caesars were accorded the same title, which provides us with information about the way in which the emperor was viewed, with this being so even at the time of the writing of the Gospel of John. The parallels between the things that are here said about the Caesar, and the things that are said about Jesus in the Gospel of John, are quite interesting and inescapable. Similar claims are being made, while a stark and clear contrast is being drawn.

One glaring contrast in particular can be found in verses previously quoted from the third chapter of John. Quoting them again, we read that God “gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through Him” (3:16b-17). Caesar, the man entitled with “son of god,” was looked to as the one who dragged the world from darkness to light. It was the Caesar who was said to have brought order out of the chaos. It was the Caesar that was responsible for the life and vitality of the world, with this established through the pax Romana (Roman peace). It is He who is called the “Savior” of the world. He is said to have put an end to war. This, of course, was accomplished by crushing his enemies through massive warfare. Caesar is the fulfillment of all hopes and in him the world has “good news.” How did this son of god “save” the world? How did he bring the world into new life? He did so through the instrument of death. He and his predecessors slaughtered millions so as to usher in an era of “peace” and to give life to the world. Effectively, in order to give the world life and vitality through the establishment of the Roman empire, the world was condemned. The other Son of God, however, is said to bring eternal life and peace and light, which will be accomplished and effected through His worldwide kingdom. As the Gospel of John informs us, through Him the world will be saved, but this will not come about through the world-condemning instrument of war and its power of death, but ultimately, through the laying down of His own life and going willfully into death---making Himself subject to that which was (and still is) Caesar’s only true power.