Jesus' task and mission is made clear by his name. The term “Messiah” means anointed one, which refers to his role as king. In Holy Scripture, both kings and high priests were anointed for their office. Jesus combines the functions of high priest and king in himself, which makes him the anointed of God. Like Adam, he was born as a king who bore responsibility for earthly events and was created as a steward of the earth.
Jesus, the Messiah, Savior, Deliverer and Redeemer, came to regain the lost kingship. John refers to him as “the Lamb of God”, as this symbol stands for an important task. Redemption was foretold with the first lamb that Adam and Eve slaughtered. This also explains the sacrificial service, which we will look at in more detail using the example of Cain and Abel. And because Jesus was in death as a human being, he is also the resurrection and life. If we were not in death, it would be pointless to bring us resurrection and life.
Furthermore, Jesus is the truth - it represents our self-understanding: “Who am I?”. Only he can free us from the error in which we are born and which wants to make us believe that we ourselves are God. He is therefore the way back to the connection with God the Father. In order to fulfill his mission, Jesus had to be God to pass judgment on the old life and create a new life. And he had to become man in order to redeem people. For redemption must take place within the human spirit and Jesus needed access to his spirit.
We look at John's testimony about Jesus' origin and identity (John 1, 6-8; 1, 26-27; 1, 33-34). The nighttime conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3 is also relevant: Jesus confronts him with the need for a new life - without this, no one can be redeemed. We are all born of the flesh and are therefore dead. We must be born again of the spirit. No one can enter the kingdom of heaven without the new life of the Son of Man, who comes from heaven and dwells there. Nothing earthly can bring about this new creation, it is God's work alone.
In the fourth part of the series “Themes in the Gospel of John”, we will examine in detail what all this means.