Who is this??

Lets start with, say, the gospel of John being factually and historically accurate.

We have a very interesting chain of implications as a result.

From the gospel itself, we can see that Jesus did make claims to divinity. Which leads us to a problem.

Is this claim true?

If it is not true, then there is only 2 choices. Either Jesus knew that he was not divine and yet made the claims, or that Jesus thought he was divine (though he is not), and thus made the claims. The first is the characteristic of a liar (consider how his teachings emphasis morality, yet if he himself does not follow it...) The second is characteristic of a mad / deluded man.

But we find that both choices run into a problem when we note that he predicted his death and resurrection, and we see it happening towards the end of the gospel. Saw any mere human making these types of predictions and meeting them lately? Or met anyone who died publicly and resurrected in this manner? (Nevermind the idea that this man matches the characteristics of a person predicted in many areas of an even older book)

Are we forced to take His divinity? I think so. His claim was true. He is divine.

But in that case.. we have a second problem. What are we to do with Him? He says "Follow me". Can a mere human reject the divine?

I think not.

And we run into a third problem. We find this divine one, this King, washing our feets. Not exactly my idea of a King. And dying. Voluntarily.

Difficult teaching.