[The actual text for John 18 and 19 has been omitted to save space.]

DIAGNOSIS: FLESH HAS NO GLORY

Step 1: Initial Diagnosis (External Problem) - Saving Skin (Us, Ours)
In the Gospel lesson for Maundy Thursday, Jesus had said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified" (John 13:31), as if he were going off to Jerusalem to be crowned king. But look at the ghastly things that happen to him there! To the spectators and the distraught disciples who witness the goings-on in Jerusalem (John 18 & 19), it looks more like Jesus is getting shafted, that he is "going down." Some are aghast, others turn away, all despair; while Jesus is dragged to the cross, they concentrate on saving their own skins. Even Peter, who before this had stayed by Jesus' side, vehemently denies him (18:15-18, 25-27). We are no different from any of these disciples or spectators. We share the same aversion to suffering and death, especially ignoble death. We too are aghast, repulsed by it--so much so that we work desperately to save our skins, regardless of cost.

[Contrast this to Jesus' handling of his suffering and death (especially in John). Jesus is depicted not only as being totally unperturbed by his trial and suffering, but actually behaves as if he were calling the shots and ready to see the whole thing through. Jesus knows "all that was to happen to him" (18:4). When Judas comes to betray him, Jesus goes out to meet him (18:4). Jesus prevents Peter from defending him and explains that he "drink the cup that the Father has given me" (18:11). In the course of his trail, Jesus has the presence of mind to request that his followers be released (18:8). Jesus challenges Annas to answer his own questions by interrogating the crowds (18:21). Jesus evades Pilate's questions and redirects the questions to him (18:33-38). In 19:11 Jesus clarifies for Pilate who truly is in charge, despite appearances: "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above." Jesus even carries his own cross (19:17). While dying he commends Mary and John to each other's care (19:26-27). In 19:28 John comments that, "After this, ... Jesus knew that all was now finished." And Jesus declares his work finished (19:30).]

Step 2: Advanced Diagnosis (Internal Problem) - Corrupt Skin
Even though the disciples have observed Jesus remaining in control despite circumstances, and even though they've heard him speak to that effect, they just don't trust that he is actually in control. Hence their chagrin and abandonment. Yet John is clear that Jesus acts the way he does because he is absolutely confident of both who and whose he is. He knows he delights the Father.

The disciples, spectators, and we have our own built-in knowledge that tells us exactly what we are too. Plain and simple, we are flesh. We are mortal, biodegradable. We know that flesh and the things of the flesh have precious little glory to them, certainly not enough to carry us into eternity. We know that flesh can succumb to disease or get ravaged, and when that happens it cannot rejuvenate itself. Instead, it dies. It's a sad truth.

Step 3: Final Diagnosis (Eternal Problem) - Mortal Skin
Worse than knowing that we are mortal, is knowing why we are mortal. Because of sin, because we turn away from God, have no trust or confidence in God or his Son, God is displeased. Bluntly put, God withdraws his life-breath (counter to Genesis 2) and we die. John calls this God's wrath: "Whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God's wrath" (John 3:36). Or, as the Psalmist says, "When you take away their breath they die and return to their dust" (Psalm 104:29b). Flesh has no glory; it merely dies when God withdraws his breath.

PROGNOSIS: JESUS GLORIFIES OUR FLESH

Step 4: Initial Prognosis (Eternal Solution) - Glorifying Skin (Christ, Ours)
How ironic that while Peter was scampering to save his skin, he had no idea that Jesus was accomplishing that for him! But of course the way Jesus would save his (and everyone else's) flesh wasn't at all what Peter had in mind, perhaps because it was so radically superior. Jesus was out to glorify flesh, that is, to bring it back under God's good pleasure. As John explains, this work began when Jesus took on human flesh: "the Word became flesh and lived among us" (1:14). That flesh, God-in-man, was ingloriously put to death, (a criminal's execution on a cross), as our two chapters detail. God absorbed God's great displeasure--God's wrath. But to appreciate the incredible transformation flesh underwent we have to move beyond these two chapters to the resurrection and ascension. Not only did this flesh come back to earthly life, but also it joined the Godhead. When Jesus returned to the Father, he looked very different from when he had left; he had (and still has) a fleshly body! Flesh has moved into the Godhead, flesh has become non-biodegradable--glorified. We can all shout "Hurrah! One of our own has made it to the Godhead!" With Jesus' own resurrection and ascension, Jesus' promise rings out: "Because I live, you also will live" (14:19).

Step 5: Advanced Prognosis (Internal Solution) - Seeing is Believing
For John, the way disciples and spectators (all of us) receive that glory, that life which Jesus makes possible, is simply by beholding Jesus and believing: "This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day" (3:40). Like a plant that looks at the sun and absorbs its life-giving rays, so too, when we look at Jesus--when we "behold his glory"--and internalize that glory (by believing, by trusting) we get that glory. We become what we see, and what we see is glorified flesh, "whole" flesh, flesh that lasts forever. The Father's glory, his great mercy, now extends beyond his Son to his Son's fleshly siblings. The result for us it that, like Jesus, we are counted as God's kids, beloved and treasured: "To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (1:12). Now we know whose we are and who we are, not just what we are.

Step 6: Final Prognosis (External Solution) - Glorifying God
Knowing who we are and whose we are changes everything for us; it gives us new "eyes" to see what is happening to us. Even when we face adversity, like suffering and dying, (as Jesus did), we can do so with confidence, anticipation, and trust that our "pain will turn into joy" (16:20). We set aside whining and complaining. When our own death approaches, instead of seeing its ghastly aspects, we see it as the commencement of our own transformation. When faced with disease, we are bold enough to ask for the healing-that-is-guaranteed to be made manifest right away. But if that healing (for God's reasons) gets postponed, we are not all that perturbed; instead we trust that, after all, it is all just a matter of time. So we can live confidently and say, "we can wait." It's that very confidence that glorifies God--that is, reflects back to him the mercy we first "beheld" in his Son Jesus.