33. The Path of the Atonement

For their sakes, I make Myself pure and devoted to You, that they also might be made pure and devoted inside of the truth (John 17:19). – Of Myself, I can do nothing. – Apart from Me, you can do nothing.

These things have meaning only inside the most basic quality of human nature, that we are symmorphic; that is, God designed us to share form with Jesus; that is, another Person is inside of us and the Father inside of Him. Jesus is symmorphic, the Father shares form with Him; we are symmorphic, Jesus shares form with us.

The Head of the Body. Then, the Body of Christ fits into a similar concept. – We are members of one another. This does not mean we are inside of each other, as person inside of person. It means that the same Jesus who shares form with each, shares form with all.

And, of course, Jesus is the Head of the body. That means that, whatever Jesus does, the whole body is doing; and whatever the body is doing, Jesus does. – You (plural) do nothing apart from Me. In Romans 5, Paul applied this same understanding to Adam as head, but then transferred it to Jesus as head.

A Garden. …beyond the winter flow of Kidron, where there was a garden, into which He entered with His disciples. – This is John’s only mention of Gethsemane, coming immediately after the prayer that birthed the Kingdom. Nonetheless, it is clear from John as well, that the path of the Atonement begins in that garden.

We see two things regarding Gethsemane in this context. First, Gethsemane is Jesus giving God permission to give us to Him. Gethsemane is where we entered into Jesus as the New Creation. Yet, second, that makes Jesus our head, instead of Adam.

Inside of Jesus. This means that, from Gethsemane on, Jesus acted as us, for our sakes. This does NOT mean that He “took our place.” It means that we were there inside of Him. – For their sakes, I make Myself pure and devoted to You, that they also might be made pure and devoted inside of the truth.

Jesus, making Himself pure and devoted to God, is us, making ourselves pure and devoted to God inside of Him. For this reason, we never look “at” the Walk of the Atonement from outside. We are inside of Jesus every step, and He is acting as us. This is Romans 6 of Paul’s gospel.

As He Is, so Are We. What Jesus is, I am; what Jesus does, I do. The gospel leaves no other possibility. – As He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4). If Jesus is pure and devoted to God as our Head, then we are pure and devoted to God as part of Him.

The first part of the Christian life, then, is coming to know what is already true, that is, acknowledging Christ our life. This is how God wants us to view the events of John 18-20, that everything happening to Jesus IS happening to us, for we are inside of Him and He is acting as us. We see everything out from Jesus’ eyes.

John’s Limitation. And the first thing Jesus sees is Judas and Peter at it again. The actions of Peter and Judas are very important to John and he places them carefully into our view.

Now, John was the only one of the twelve who saw every event of this passage. Yet he places himself in the story in a very cumbersome and ineffective way. Paul was the opposite; Paul put himself directly into everything. This does not mean that John was “right” in how he referenced himself, it means that God fits Himself into us as we are. It would help us to just say, John, however.

Out from Jesus’ Eyes. We could paraphrase John 13 in this way. “I was sitting next to Jesus with my head leaned against His breast. Simon Peter motioned to me to ask Jesus, which I did.” So we see that John is in this mix as much as Peter and Judas, pressing against Jesus’ immediate consciousness.

Part of my purpose is to show that, in the past, we have considered this scene by looking at Peter and at Judas, but we have not considered it out from Jesus’ eyes. We also realize that Jesus’ mother, Mary, and Mary Magdalene were also there, though unmentioned until later. They also observed most of this, and Jesus was clearly aware of them as well.

The Real Test. What am I getting at? Very simple. This was Jesus’ real test, the same as Adam’s. Pilate and the Pharisees, whips and cross, these were not Jesus’ real test.

Jesus faced the same thing Adam faced. Adam chose death because he despised Eve. Jesus had every reason, in this moment, to despise both Judas and Peter.

I’ve never seen this before; yet this has been the test across my entire life as well. – How do I respond?

Saved from Death. Judas and Peter, then, stand at the center of “death” in Jesus’ picture. – Jesus, in the days of His flesh, offered, with loud crying and tears, both heart-felt prayers and an olive branch of peace towards the One able to save Him continuously out from death and was always heard because of His careful reverence (Hebrews 5:7).

I have faced this same test over and over. Will I despise those who are offensive to me? Whether they are “over me” or “under me” in some way? Will I act out from my contempt? – This is “death.”

Recognizing Contempt. When God said to me, ~ “Son, you passed the test.” ~ He meant, “Jesus made Himself pure and devoted to Me; therefore I have made you devoted to Myself in spite of all your inward turmoil.”

I just wrote these words in my autobiography. ~ It is easy to brush by individuals… and not recognize contempt in one’s attitude. This is why we give an account in the presence of God, so that we might place the Lord Jesus on everything. “Father, I accept that Jesus has cleansed me from all contempt. and I forgive Dr. Loveland and her assistant. I place them into Jesus and bless them, that they might know You.” ~

Ruining Everything. If you were to join with me in a Community of Christ on a shared property, it would not be long at all before you would DESTROY my carefully envisioned dream of what community ought to be. And it wouldn’t take me long to do the same in your eyes.

“Community ought to be – and you have RUINED it.”

We know from David that Jesus was a normal and real human inside, that He thought things in His pain that He did not express outwardly. Nothing could have been more contemptuous to Jesus than Judas and Peter in their awful actions.

Lured by Contempt. A human, however, is tested by his own desire and passion being lured by bait and turned in the wrong direction. Then desire and passion, having become pregnant, give birth to sin; and sin, brought to completion, gives birth to death (James 1:14-15).

Jesus was tempted in all things as we are, that means He was lured by His own contempt for Judas and Peter and turned in the wrong direction. Yet God saved Him from death; that is, God with Him “annulled” the pregnancy of contempt and Jesus did not express it. This was a much more personal test than that which came with the Pharisees as “dogs” before the cross.

Refusing Contempt. Adam chose contempt as his answer. In the chapter of my life I just sent out, Preston Eby and John Gray chose to express the same. Yet God has pressed me to the wall my whole life on this very issue – “You will not express contempt.” And He continues to press me to that very wall even now.

I have every reason to hold this one or that one in contempt; will I choose, rather, to draw them into myself as members of me and see them as Jesus to me? This is the difference between Adam and Jesus; this is the difference between death and life.

The First Thing We Hit. Consider that last thought, the difference between life and death. Jesus shows us the Father. Life is knowing the Father. It is the Father who will not hold others in contempt, but who places Himself beneath of each, for their sake.

You see, we just came out from the most wondrous lesson we have ever considered, that we share in the Fellowship between Father and Son. This is our source. Yet we then step into the world as appearance and what do we hit against FIRST? – Contempt. That is, Judas and Peter. Or whoever is taking their place in our own lives.

Protecting His Disciples. It’s six in the morning. Jesus has not slept. Rather, He has just endured the most internally painful three hours any human could endure. It’s not quite light. Here comes Judas with the “police” all decked out with torches and weaponry. Jesus says, “I am,” and they all fall down. The wording seems to indicate that Judas fell as well – a wake-up call.

Jesus can act in any way He wishes and He knows that. Everyone knows that. Yet His only purpose is to protect His disciples, which Peter immediately thwarts by his stupid violence. Peter puts everyone in danger.

Purity and Devotion. “I am going to fix the problem” always puts everyone in danger inside of community. Grabbing your brother by the throat and shaking hard, “You ought to know better,” is death. It is what we want to do, very, very much.

For their sakes, I make Myself pure and devoted to You, that they also might be made pure and devoted inside of the truth. – And we also are committed to setting forth our souls for the sake of our brothers and sisters. – Here is the place of Salvation. Purity and devotion MEANS – no expression of contempt.

Because Jesus. We have seen already the importance of Peter’s failure to acknowledge Jesus, for when Paul confronted Peter in the gathering at Antioch, Peter remembered his own failure and chose not to destroy the Church of Christ. Jesus shows us God. – He humbled Himself. We are talking about knowing the Father. And this is why we must give an account of our every action inside the presence of God.

BECAUSE Jesus refused contempt, we are able to place Him upon our own out-of-control emotions, and we are the same as He. We disregard the mockery, and embrace the person.

A Flurry of Happenings. I should have had you read Chapter 19 as well, for we will consider the walk of the Atonement up to Jesus’ leaving Pilate’s court carrying His cross.

The truth is that, although Jesus’ trial before Annas and Pilate were a necessary part of God’s equation outwardly, inside of Jesus, those events were of little consequence. We can see that in Jesus’ various responses, which were a dismissal of all the “questions” as of little importance. We do want to look at Jesus’ comments about the Kingdom, however, before briefly considering the most telling statement found in the gospels.

My Kingdom. My kingdom is not of this world-cosmos. If My kingdom were of this world-cosmos, My servants would have fought that I might not be betrayed to the Judeans. But My kingdom is not from here. …For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world-cosmos, that I may bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is out from the truth hears My voice. 

We are defining the “Kingdom” as that unfolding of every moment out from a life shared with God becoming our dwelling place through faith. “My servants would have fought” puts the lie to any support for worldly “causes” and for any use of violence.

Out from the Truth. Then consider Jesus’ statement concerning “truth.” – Everyone who is out from the truth hears My voice. That’s easy for us. We are coming out from the good-speaking of Jesus every moment, that is, from the truth, this is why we HEAR only His voice.

To attack circumstances is to attack God, “God, I hate this circumstance You are sending my way.” To synergeo with God is to turn all circumstances towards the outcome of goodness for the sake of others. This is our job; it’s the only way anything can become good. This is the Kingdom.

This Gospel of Life. It’s John who gives us these conversations between Pilate and Jesus. Was he also in the Praetorium? I doubt it. John was in the crowd hearing them scream “Crucify Him,” as was Mary, Jesus’ mother and Mary Magdalene. Maybe John later questioned individuals who had heard Pilate’s conversation with Jesus. The point is that John is careful with what he includes in this gospel of LIFE.

In their second conversation, Jesus says, “You would have no authority against Me, if it were not given to you from above.” Again, this is referencing the “Way of Life” as the Kingdom.

Every Step into Goodness. Specifically, we walk every moment in the certain knowledge that our every step comes out from God and us through our shared life together. We rejoice as we turn each next step into goodness in our confession, that others might be blessed.

And this is exactly what Jesus was doing, turning every stumbling step into goodness for our sakes. Jesus was pushed and whipped and beaten and scorned every step of the way. He was not choosing in this walk, He was allowing, having demonstrated to all that this was His CHOICE. – And we also.

Being Just Like Jesus. I now know that to be like Jesus in its deepest meaning is to share with Him the same redemptive care over all others, to so walk with Father in this same confidence that every moment of our lives is turning into goodness for others whether we see that goodness outwardly or not. Yet Isaiah says that He will see His fruit – and so will we.

The heart of the wolf is contempt; the heart of the Shepherd is redemptive care. The path of redemption, the Way of Life, is to turn all, regardless, into goodness for the sake of others through faith in a shared life with God. – This is being like Jesus.

The Most Telling Words. Then we have these words, the most telling words in the Bible. – And bearing His own cross, He went out…

This is what John saw, and he asserts more than once as to the accurate testimony of his account. Yet the three other gospel writers presented the cross as carried by another. Somewhere, just beyond the gates, probably, which were only a short distance from the Praetorium, Jesus stumbled and fell. The cross was too much for Him to carry.

I use the word “telling” to mean the same as the “Poirot principle.” This is the most important clue in the Bible.

Seeing God. Was John pushed aside by the crowds through this passage? We cannot know until we ask him. John was at the cross not long after, with the two Mary’s as well as his aunt. But that’s for the next lesson.

“He who sees Me sees the Father.”

My knowledge of the Father changed utterly, in October of 2011, when I put four things together, all at the same time. (1) The image of God, God made visible in the flesh. (2) A man stumbling under a cross he cannot carry. (3) He who has seen Me has seen the Father. (4) Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today, and forever.

The Way of Life. The underlined words, point 2, are the appearance of God inside of creation. – Our Father carries us.

The final two lessons on John’s gospel are entirely about our being sent just like Jesus. Yet all our preparation for such a sending, and the salvation in which we live, can be summed up in two simple phrases. My Father carries me. – and – Our Father carries us.

This is where we live, absolutely and with NO thought otherwise. This is the Way of Life; it is Life itself. Father and I share life together every forward moment. We together share life with God in every ongoing step.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled “The Way of Life.” Please read both John 19 and Psalm 22 for that session. As you read, consider for yourself the interplay between these two accounts, one outward and the other inward. You will see that John, in fact, quotes from Psalm 22 twice in his account and once from Psalm 34. Yet it is Matthew and Mark, not John, who include Psalm 22:1 – My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Yet here is where “And we also” comes from. – But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear and immediately out came blood and water.

Let’s Pray Together. Our prayer this time is synergeoing with God for the sake of all Christians throughout earth and heaven. And we want to deal specifically with contempt. Yet our dealing with contempt must be as Jesus did, that is, inside of our own souls, for the sake of all.

“Lord Jesus, You made Yourself pure and devoted to God for us. Then You gave us that same pure devotion that we also might be pure and devoted to God with Your devotion. Inside of Your devotion, Lord Jesus, You were saved from all expression of contempt for us. More than that, You received us into Yourself as we are. Then, You gave that same victory over contempt to us; thus we receive all.

“Lord Jesus, we thank You that we are able to receive all of our brothers and sisters across the earth in the same redemptive care as You received us, with no shadow of contempt. We thank You, Lord Jesus, that You have made us part of Your heart of redemption and given us to share in that same love that wins the heart of each one, regardless of anything they do or say.

“Lord Jesus, You have made us to be just like Yourself. As we stumble forward in every moment of our lives, knowing that God, our Father, shares all with us and that every step comes out from our shared life together, so we, with You, turn every hurt and difficulty, every joy and success, into blessing for the sake of others.

“God, our Father, let our every moment shared with You, no matter how mundane, be part of our travail for the sake of others, for the sake of Your entire Church across earth and heaven. Father, we share Your Heart, we see through Your eyes, we synergeo with You for the sake of each one, that their eyes would open and they would see the Salvation of God.

“And Father, when contempt shows itself to us, we know that the Sword of the Lord Jesus, 'Father, forgive them,' is our sword as well, as we slay death itself for their sake. Father, You have made us part of Your Victory, for Jesus’ sake and inside of His name, and we give You all thanks.

“Let it be so; it is so.”