“The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true, He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.”
– John 19:35
Hi James and Ellen,
Would you like to someday write about a current event? How would you write about a current event if you were to someday write about a current event? Would you write in the third person if you were to someday write about a current event? Writing in the third person is what your grandpaa does when he writes a ‘James and Ellen’. John 19 has Apostle John referring to himself twice in the third person. The first time that Apostle John refers to himself in the third person – ‘as the guy who was loved’, was when his coach and mentor – Who was Jesus, told him to take His ma home with him to care for her. Apostle John then later writes in verse 35, “The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true, He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.” The man in this verse is Apostle John referring to himself as the indisputable witness to what he had just seen take place. Apostle John had just witnessed Pilate unjustifiably condemn his coach and mentor to die while being hung on and nailed to a cross because misguided Jews decided that Jesus was not Who Jesus said Who He was when Jesus referred to Himself as being the Son God. Even before Apostle John witnessed Jesus’ attempt to drag through the streets of the city of Jerusalem the cross on which He would be inhumanely hung on and nailed to on a site that is known as the Skull – which in Aramaic is called Golgotha, Apostle John saw Jesus flogged, a crown of thorns placed on Jesus’ head, a purple robe put on Jesus and Jesus being smacked repeatedly across the face by malicious, uncaring Roman soldiers. What would you do if a really good acquaintance who you have spent a lot of time with over the past three years and who always communicates to you that he unconditionally accepts, affirms and approves you is severely whipped with a cat o’ nine tails – which rips the skin off a guy’s back, has a thorn vine wreath forced on his head, is dressed with a purple robe – which is something that royalty would wear, as a way to mock him, and has his face viciously slapped over and over again by bullies? Apostle John did nothing to save his coach and mentor from being unjustly brutalized and sadistically killed by a small mob of misinformed Jews.
Have you ever witnessed a catastrophic event? Have you ever witnessed a natural disaster? Have you ever witnessed a tragic accident? Your grandpaa recently spent almost two weeks in Guatemala. Your grandpaa went to Guatemala to be the project director for two short term ministry teams that were made up of high school age guys and gals, chaperones and two youth pastors and to help lead an Adventures in Missions Ambassador team that was made up of high school age young gals and a guy. About three weeks before your grandpaa went to Guatemala, rain from a tropical depression – which was named Agatha, caused mudslides that resulted in over 170 guys, gals and kids being killed. A mudslide in San Pedro – that was caused by Agatha, buried a ten year old gal. San Pedro is the town where your grandpaa stayed in most of the time during this trip that he was in Guatemala. Your grandpaa along with the two short term ministry teams went to the site of the mudslide which interred the young gal. Your grandpaa later went with a blended six member team to the house where one of the mudslide survivors was staying. While your grandpaa was at the house where one of the mudslide survivors was staying – which was the house where the survivor grew up in as a kid, with her thirteen year old daughter and eight year old son – the gal related her story. The gal had already experienced a hard hit on her life when her husband died a couple of years ago. When water began to gush down the San Pedro volcano from days of rain that was generated by Agatha, the forty or so families that were living in the direct path of where the mudslide would ultimately occur decided that they needed to get out of the area. After the gal took her two kids to the house where she grew up as a kid, the gal went back to her house to help her sister-in-law get some things. The gal’s sister-in-law apparently lived very close to where she was living. Your grandpaa does not know why the gal’s sister-in-law had not evacuated her ten year old daughter but . . . as the two gals were doing what they went back to their places to do, the mudslide suddenly began to move rapidly down the San Pedro volcano. The gal’s sister-in-law and the gal somehow managed to survive – riding out the mudslide for about two blocks, while the ten year old gal got swallowed up by the mudslide. The gal’s sister-in-law ended up with a broken arm that ended up having screws put in it hoping that it will grow back together while the gal herself ended up with a badly messed up knee that is slowly healing along with several deep bruises over her body – which she had to show your grandpaa. The gal really thinks that she could have saved her ten year old niece if she had only been able to hang onto her. There was a sense that the gal really appreciated the chance to tell her story to someone who would listen to her. Even though the gal, her two kids, a niece and her older bro have put their trust in Jesus as being their Savior and Lord, they are still living with the stomach wrenching sadness of never having been able to say good-by to their niece and cousin.
A death can lead to a search for an answer that will give hope. Because of the ravaging mudslide in San Pedro, this is what is taking place now in San Pedro. The answer for hope is to personally acknowledge why Jesus died.
John 19 (1074)