Gospel of John Bible Commentary

Contents

Please read this first 1 The Word, John and the disciples (1:1–51) 2 New wine, new temple (2:1–22) 3 New birth (2:23–3:36) 4 The woman of Samaria (4:1–54) 5 Bethzatha (5:1–47) 6 Bread of life (6:1–71) 7 Jesus and the Feast of Tabernacles (7:1–52) 8 The light of the world (8:12–59) 9 Blind man (9:1–41) 10 Jesus, Good Shepherd (10:1–42) 11 Life for Lazarus, death for Jesus (11:1–57) 12 Last chance for Jerusalem (12:1–50) 13 The last meal (13:1–38) 14 Because Jesus goes to the Father (14:1–31) 15 True vine in harsh landscape (15:1–16:4a) 16 Riddles and plain speaking (16:4b–33)

Note: The Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John 17 Final prayer (17:1–26) 18 Judas, Peter and Jesus on trial (18:1–27) 19 The Roman governor and

the King of the Jews (18:28–19:16) 20 Lamb of God, King of the Jews (19:17–37) 21 At the tomb: Mary of Magdala (19:38–20:18)

Appendix: Mary Magdalene 22 Jesus, Risen Lord (20:19–31) 23 Epilogue: Futures of Peter and John (21:1–25) 24 The adulteress (8:1–11) 25 The origin and authorship of the Gospel of John

1 6 22 35 49 63 73 89 102 113 124 141 154 174 190 199 207 218 227 236 250 265 274 279 293 307 309 vii

The Shepherd King

Chapter 1

The Word, John and the disciples (1:1–51)

Have you heard of the ‘first page test’ where you assess a writer’s skill in grabbing readers’ attention so that they keep reading? This opening chapter is John’s ‘first page’. Jews thought a lot about something called ‘the Word’ but so, too, did the Greeks. What or who was this ‘Word’? John opens with the outrageous, attention-grabbing assertion that the eternal Word that created the universe and the patterns in the universe was a man.

Equally, our author claims that the revered martyrprophet John the Baptist was the pre-eminent ‘witness’ to that Word-man. John the Baptist who died defying the evil prince Herod Antipas was perhaps the most famous and respected Jew of the first century. No endorsement could be greater.

The narrator himself—whose name we never learn precisely, except as the ‘beloved disciple’—slips quietly and anonymously into the story (verse 35). He was (most likely) one of two of John the Baptist’s disciples who followed Jesus as the first members of his core group.

If the Baptist’s witness points toward Jesus the Christ then the beloved disciple stands on the other side, bearing witness to him. This ‘book’ is his work. Let the reader believe his witness.

In his opening chapter John shows readers the remarkable journey of ‘the Word’ from eternity into time. At 6

The Word, John and the disciples first we see the Word eternally beside God, though himself God and the One who created all things (verses 1–18). Then, dramatically, the eternal and divine Creator-Word stepped into time and space as ‘flesh’, was witnessed to by the great prophet John as the sacrificial Lamb of God (verses 19–34) whereupon he called his first five disciples to his side (verses 35–51). The time and space into which the Word came, however, was a dark place whose darkness would attempt to snuff out the light. The first hints are the envoys of a hostile hierarchy in Jerusalem who menaced John as he baptised in the Jordan. The gospel-story was about to begin.

THE WORD AND JOHN (1:1–8) In this majestic passage the author does four things: 1. he exalts the divine and eternal Word in majestic poetry; 2. he introduces John as the man sent by God as witness to the Word; 3. he relegates Moses to a superseded arrangement, challenging his Jewish readers to ‘receive’ that ‘word’ and be born as children of God; 4. he makes the staggering statement that the eternal, divine, life-giving Word became flesh.

Narrative shape It is possible that the greater part of these 18 verses was written originally as a hymn or poem to the Word. If we remove references to John the Baptist (verses 6–8) what remains is a sustained passage about the Word, in four stanzas.

1:1–2 Deity of the Word 1:3–5 Creativity of the Word 1:9–13 The Word, rejected but regenerative 1:14–18 Incarnation of the Word.

We know that the first Christians composed and sang hymns to Christ (Ephesians 5:19). Perhaps John or someone else had written such a hymn that was now used at the beginning of this Gospel.

7

The Shepherd King As the Gospel unfolds we find many of the terms that appear in his prologue. The Word who was the divine Creator when incarnate made wine from water; the Word who was life-giver when incarnate gave life to dead Lazarus; the Word who was light when incarnate gave sight to the man born blind. Above all, to those who receive him the Word gives birth into the family and kingdom of God. Ironically, however, this Word was rejected by the race he had created under the former covenant.

Detail Of the many details in verses 1–18 that might be explained there are eight that stand out. (i) The meaning of ‘the Word’ We need to understand what John means by ‘the Word’ (in Greek, logos). The Old Testament makes it clear that God achieved his ends by merely speaking. We have only to think of Genesis 1 where whatever God said came to be. Later, God’s ‘word’ was spoken of as his ‘wisdom’ and called the ‘craftsman at God’s side’ (Proverbs 8:30). The Old Testament prophets show us that the word of the Lord is eternal and re-creative, and does not return to him without accomplishing its task (Isaiah 40:8; 55:11).

The Greeks also referred to ‘the Word’. The Stoics held that God had a ‘mind’ (logos) that he implanted within the universe so that it acted ‘logically’ in the recurring daily sunrise and sunset and the predicable return of winter and spring. Plants and animals had the seed of the divine logos explaining their orderly behaviour. John’s Greek readers would have been immediately engaged by the majestic opening words about the logos, the Word.

John’s dramatic introduction of the Word at the beginning of his ‘book’ would have seized the attention of Jews and Greeks. (ii) The significance of verb tenses We note John’s skilful use of verb tenses distinguishing the eternal from the temporal. The Word is eternal (always 8

The Word, John and the disciples ‘was’) but the Creation, the coming of John (the Baptist) and the incarnation of the Word are temporal (because each ‘came to be’). At the moment of time that marked the beginning of all things the Word ‘was’ already there.

There never had been a time when the Word was not there because the Word always was. In other words, the Word was without beginning, as eternal as God himself.

By his brilliant use of verb tenses John teaches us that the creation, the advent of John and, most particularly, the incarnation of the Word are historic events. In sharp contrast to the Word’s prior existence that was eternal and infinite, before the creation and the beginning of history, ‘all things’ (the universe) ‘came’ into existence (verse 3). Likewise, John, the man sent from God, ‘came’ at a particular historical moment (verse 7). Most remarkable of all, the Word himself, who was without beginning, ‘became flesh’ and dwelt among us, that is, historically (verse 14). Clearly, then, John draws our hearts and minds into adoration of the divine and eternal Word. (iii) The Word’s relationship with God The Word is eternal because the Word was ‘with God’.

The preposition ‘with’ (in Greek, pros) implies an ongoing and intimate relationship between the Word and God, as if they were in close conversation, the One with the Other.

That Word, says John later, was the ‘only Son … at the Father’s side’ (verse 18 NIV). As the Gospel unfolds we see Jesus in closest relationship with his Father who sent him, dependent on him, obedient to him and glorifying him.

Disciples would flee, but (said Jesus), ‘I am not alone, for my Father is with me’ (16:32). The closeness that we see in the pages of the Gospel of the Son to his Father reveals the eternal closeness of the Word to God before time began. (iv) The deity of the Word John states that ‘the word was God’. Or does he? Jehovah’s Witnesses say that the Word is not truly God. They base this on the absence of the definite article (‘the’) with ‘God’ arguing that verse 1c should be translated ‘The Word was a god’.

9

The Shepherd King In Greek (unlike English) word order does not determine which of two words is subject or predicate. In verse 1c ‘the Word’ is subject (having ‘the’ in front of it) and ‘God’ is predicate (lacking ‘the’ in front of it). Thus the proper translation of verse 1c is ‘the Word was God’ and not ‘the Word was a god’.

By saying ‘the Word was God’ John is teaching that the Word and God are distinct centres of personality. True, the Word was (and is) God yet each remains distinctly a ‘person’.

This also comes out later when the Father ‘sends’ the Spirit and the Son ‘sends’ the Spirit and the Spirit himself ‘comes’ (14:26; 15:26; 16:7). In the Godhead we have unity of essence or ‘being’ but also triune personality. There is an eternal sense of hierarchy within the Godhead that is revealed in history, time and space. Thus it is the specific role and function of the Son to glorify the Father and for the Spirit to glorify the Son. (v) The incarnation of the Word John states majestically but paradoxically that the Word (who was and is God) ‘became flesh’ (verse 14). He does not say that the Word became ‘man’, but became ‘flesh’.

‘Flesh’ indicates humanity, but more than that, vulnerable humanity. It was a true humanity, marked by genuine exhaustion, hunger, thirst, grief and suffering. Thus, the eternal and divine Word became all that we are and are subjected to in the spectrum of life’s experiences. In the person of his Word incarnate God has identified with humanity in the depths of our emotional and physical pain.

Jesus gave his own explanation of these words later, when he spoke about himself as the ‘bread of life’. At one point he said that he is ‘the bread of God … come down from heaven’ (speaking of his ‘incarnation’, 6:33), adding, ‘the bread that gives life to the world is my flesh’ (speaking of his atoning death, 6:51). In other words, the sufferings of the incarnate Word were not confined to the spiritual and emotional, they extended fully to the flesh, the physical and mental.

10

The Word, John and the disciples This emerges clearly in Jesus’ trial and his brutal execution. It was foreseen by John the Baptist in his reference to Jesus as the slaughtered ‘Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’ (1:29). (vi) The historicity of the incarnation There is a further comment to make about John’s solemn assertion ‘the word became flesh’, that is, it defends the historical reality of the Word’s birth, life, death and resurrection. At that time some people thought that Jesus only appeared to be truly man, like one of us. They saw him as a kind of phantom. John later attacks this thinking in his first letter: ‘every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God’ (1 John 4:2–3; cf.

2 John 7 ‘Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world.

Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist’). John is anticipating a way of thinking (called ‘docetism’) that would come into vogue in the next century and threaten the very existence of true Christianity.1 (vii) The continuity of the Word John’s words also imply continuity. The Word did not cease to be the Word, rather, the Word assumed flesh. That ‘person’ who was the divine Word now animated the man Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus the risen and ascended man eternally perpetuates the life of the Word. The Word was, is and always will be, that is to say, eternal.

Human words fail to capture the mystery and the majesty of the incarnation of the Word. This is the true celebration of Christmas. Karl Barth said, ‘Christmas can only be understood as a wonder’ and C.S. Lewis called it ‘the Grand Miracle’.

1. It is called ‘docetism’ because of a Greek word dokein meaning ‘to appear’; Jesus only ‘appeared’ to be human. A ‘docetic’ attitude to Jesus was critical to the mystical Gnostic way of interpreting Christianity in the second and third centuries. The Apostles’ Creed, which summarises the history-based Gospels, was the Church’s defensive response to Docetism and Gnosticism.

11

The Shepherd King In saying that the Word become flesh was ‘full of grace and truth’ John is anticipating the kindness of Jesus that will soon appear in the Gospel. (viii) T he Word’s revelation of God as life-giving and light-displaying This Word, who was always the ‘only Son at the Father’s side’ and who ‘became flesh’ has actually ‘revealed’ in time and space the God who is invisible to the eye. Here John uses a word from which we derive our word ‘exegesis’, the ‘drawing out’ of clear teaching from texts whose meaning is not immediately apparent. Jesus in this Gospel has ‘exegeted’ God, made him clear.

John asserts that ‘in him (the Word) was life’ (verse 4a) by which he means the source of biological life (that animates all plants and creatures) and eternal life (knowing God in his kingdom). As John begins to recount Jesus’ miracles we the readers see Jesus as the giver of food and drink, of healing from disease and disability, and of deliverance from death.

Equally, we come to understand that he alone has the words of eternal life.

We learn that ‘the life was the light of men’ (verse 4a), a brightly burning moral light. Here John is picking up the image of light from the Old Testament. The light portrays God’s own righteous and holy character. The incarnate Word is the blazing ‘light of the world’ (8:12) that exposes the darkness of evil in the world. Wicked men would attempt to extinguish the light, but would fail to do so. From beginning to end John’s Gospel tells the story of the interplay between the Light and the Darkness. His story begins with the hostile interrogation of John at the Jordan, continues with the Word’s ‘own’ people rejecting him and ends with crucifixion when, so it appeared, humankind’s darkness had finally overcome the light of God. The light, however, burst forth once more, never to be quenched.

Teaching According to the secular mind, the universe began spontaneously, by chance, and ‘nature’ has evolved unaided 12

The Word, John and the disciples by any outside supernatural force or influence. Individuals may and do have their own religion but it rests only on opinion and cultural influence. There is no One ‘out there’, no reality external to us.

By contrast, from the first page this Gospel insists that the eternal Word of God, the Son of the Father, created all things. The Creation is not impersonal but personal. True, it can be accounted for in scientific and mathematical terminology. But these are mechanical explanatory models.

Behind the universe is the personality of God. The word logos meant ‘ultimate explanation’ for the way things are. We perpetuate this understanding by attaching the letters l-o-g-y to various academic disciplines like biology and zoology. The logical scientific study within these disciplines is possible due to the God-given consistency of the universe. That logos, however, is not an ‘it’, an impersonal explanation, but a ‘he’, a personal and ultimate explanation of all things.

How can we know this? The answer is found in the pages of this Gospel. The great miracle signs, in particular the resurrection of Jesus, identify him as the eternal and divine Word (logos) through whom ‘all things … came’. To move from a secularist to a Creator worldview is a large step for which good evidence is needed. This gives huge importance to John’s account as a God-given portrayal of Jesus as the divine Word. In saying, ‘we beheld his glory’, John is saying that he was an eyewitness of Jesus’ miracles and also of his death and risen life. What John writes is history and truth.

It is, though, a profoundly ironical truth. The ‘Word’ that was divine, eternal and all-powerful became ‘flesh’, helplessly subject to humiliation and suffering. Yet it was as ‘flesh’ that Jesus gave himself in death for the life of the world. The divine and eternal Word who became flesh and who died took away our sin in his death. This is the unfathomable but rock bottom reality of the universe and of existence. It is God’s love-based message to the world in revolt against him.

13

The Shepherd King Whereas later in the Gospel Jesus would speak the word, here he is the Word. Elsewhere in the Gospel Jesus gave life (to Lazarus) and shone his light (for the blind man), here he is both life and light. The Word, therefore, is personal (‘all things were made through him … in him was life … He was in the world …’). He is the only begotten Son of the Father.

So central is Jesus as Word and Son that John leaps across the history of Israel from Creation (and beforehand) to the historical incarnation of the Word and the historical ministry of the Son of God. Some modern ‘revisions’ of Jesus as a mere ‘prophet’, ‘holy man’ or ‘rabbi’ are at extreme variance from the One we encounter in the pages of the Gospel.

This passage points to the obstinacy of ‘the world’ (in Greek, kosmos). ‘He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him’ (verse 10). This puts the rejection of the Word in a global setting, regardless of race, nation or time. Yet it is even more specific, painfully so. He came to his own homeland and ‘his own people did not receive him’ (verse 11). People everywhere tended to reject him, but the rejection by his own people Israel was the most poignant.

John attributes this rejection of the Word by all peoples to the vice-like grip of Satan, ‘the prince of this world’ (12:31) who captured alike the hearts of a petty thief Judas (12:6; 13:27), learned and religious Pharisees (8:44), devout chief priests (12:42–43) and a self-serving and cynical governor (18:38).

Yet God made it possible to welcome his Word. Prominent in this regard was Nicodemus, a noted ruler and scholar who first visited Jesus secretly (3:1–11) but in the end identified himself with him publicly (19:39). No less prominent was a Samaritan peasant woman who received Jesus’ ‘living water’ and witnessed to Jesus as Messiah to her fellow Samaritans.

For John’s hearers then and now this means welcoming the written ‘word’ (and therefore the living Word) in the gospel.

To such welcomers of the ‘word’ God gives the authority to become his children. They do not owe their ‘birth’ to biological process but to the direct work of God through his word.

14

The Word, John and the disciples John’s assertion that the darkness has not overcome the light (verse 5a) is his commentary on the whole Gospel where we see Jesus undaunted by evil and rising undefeated by an unjust death. The victory of light over darkness tells us of God’s victory over evil.

John’s unveiling of the Word, of his eternity, creativity, morality and triumph are a source of adoration and hope.

In the first decades after Jesus, people who lived in that dark world rejoiced in the hope that had come to them.

Many scholars have detected in verses 1–18 an early hymn of praise to the Word. Clement (AD 150–215), a Christian leader from Alexandria, wrote another heartfelt hymn to the Word. It begins: King of saints, almighty Word, of the Father highest Lord; Wisdom’s head and chief, assuagement of all grief; Lord of all time and space, Jesus saviour of our race…

THE WITNESS OF JOHN (1:19–34) The two ‘Johns’ are like bookends on either side of the Lord, bearing testimony to him in this Gospel. On one side is the prophet John (the Baptist) who stood up to the younger Herod and paid for it with his life. He was a hero among the Jews (which is good evidence that John’s book is written primarily for Jews). On the other side is John, beloved disciple, as the ‘witness’ par excellence.

Narrative shape The account of John (the Baptist) falls naturally into two sections. In turn each of these fall into two sub-sections. The ‘architectural’ or ‘shaped’ character of verses 19–34 seems deliberate.

Division 1: John’s ‘witness’ about himself (verses 19–28) (a) First interrogation of John (verses 19–23) verses 19–21 John disclaimed the roles of ‘expected’ ones.

He was not the Christ, Elijah or the Prophet.

15

The Shepherd King verses 22–23 R ather, John claimed the role of Isaiah’s voice (‘I am a voice crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the path of the Lord”’). (b) Second interrogation of John (verses 24–28) verses 24–28 Q : ‘If you are not x, y, or z why are you baptising’? sA: ‘He who comes after me is worthier’.

Division 2: John’s ‘witness’ about Jesus (verses 29–34) (a) Jesus’ identity according to John verses 29–30 T he Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; surpasses and was before John. (b) The reason John baptised: that Jesus might be revealed to Israel verses 31–34 S o Jesus is: The One on whom the Spirit had come; The One who would baptise with the Spirit; The Son of God. Detail First, John tells us (almost casually) that these momentous discussions took place at Bethany on the eastern side of the Jordan River (verse 28). Jordanian archaeologists believe they have located the baptismal site in one of the creeks or small tributaries flowing into the main river. There are remains of churches that were built within a century or so of these events. For all its elegant ‘architectural’ shape and deeply theological character this Gospel is deeply rooted in the soil of the geography of the land and the history of those times.

We meet ‘the Jews’ (verse 19) for the first time; John will refer to them repeatedly from now on. Are they the Jewish people, the ‘Judaeans’ (same word as the ‘Jews’) or the religious leaders? John leaves us in no doubt that ‘the Jews’ in this reference are ‘the Pharisees’ (verse 24). This is consistent with the rest of the Gospel where ‘the Jews’ refers to their leaders, not the people in general. This Gospel is not anti-Semitic; its criticisms are not of the people but the 16

The Word, John and the disciples hierarchy who opposed Jesus throughout and brought about his death.

These Jerusalem-based leaders were curious and also concerned to know whom John the baptiser thought he was. They sent ‘religious police’ (priests and Levites from the temple) to interrogate John. At a time of heightened religious expectation the people were expecting the return of one or other of the great Old Testament figures. These included ‘the Christ’ (Isaiah 11:1–5), Elijah (Malachi 4:5) and a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15–18; cf. John 6:14; 7:40). John claimed none of these exalted roles to himself, as he might easily have done. (There is evidence that some people came to regard John as the Messiah2; perhaps John was correcting this here.)

The hostility implicit in the interrogation of John was the first hint of the opposition that would soon be directed to Jesus and which would bring about his death.

Since these priests and Levites needed an answer for their masters, they pressed John further. His reply, that he was a voice crying out in the wilderness (as in Isaiah 40:3) does not answer the question why he was baptising since he was not claiming to be one of the expected great ones. John was baptising for only one reason: to announce the arrival of the long-awaited Lord prophesied by Isaiah (verse 23).

The next day, when the officials had returned to Jerusalem, John saw Jesus coming towards him. He announced, to no one in particular and everyone in general, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (verse 29). Many suggestions have been made as to the Old Testament background of John’s words. Most likely they combine the Passover Lamb (Exodus 12:21) with the slaughtered Lamb who is the Servant of the Lord (Isaiah 53:7).

2. See Luke 3:15.

17

The Shepherd King

Mediterranean Sea (Great Sea)

Sea of Galilee

Cana (2:11)

Jordan River

Nazareth

Jabbok R

iver

Bethany beyond Jordan (John 1:28-42) Jerusalem Dead Sea (Salt Sea)

Baptism of Jesus and return with disciples to Galilee.

I Baptism of Jesus and return with disciples to Galilee John himself was from a priestly family (Luke 1:5) so his assertion that Jesus was the Lamb to be sacrificed for the sin of the world was momentous. In effect, John was announcing the end of the temple, the priesthood and the Levitical sacrifices. Jesus the Lamb had replaced and superseded the entire apparatus that had stood at the heart of Israel’s religion.

Equally, the annual Feast of Passover that commemorated and re-lived the redemption from Egypt, was fulfilled in the death of the Messiah. Paul the Jew who had become a man ‘in Christ’ declared, ‘Christ our Passover [Lamb] has been sacrificed’ (1 Corinthians 5:7). Another Jew, Peter, spoke of ‘the precious blood of Christ … a lamb without blemish or defect’ (1 Peter 1:19).

18

The Word, John and the disciples The Passover plays a large role in this Gospel. No less than twelve of its twenty-one chapters are set within the context of that week-long feast, in particular the climactic chapters 12–19. Jesus’ last week and last evening and last day was in Jerusalem during the Passover.

Why does John say in verse 29 the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? We might have expected him to say he will bear the sins of all people.

The present tense (‘who takes’) may be a stylistic way of emphasising the absolute, effective and ‘finished’ character of Christ’s sacrifice (cf. 19:28, 30 ‘Jesus, knowing that all was now completed … said, “It is finished”’). Paul appears to do the same in the words ‘God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ’ (2 Corinthians 5:19).

The ‘sin of the world’ is the rebellion of the present world order and of human culture and it is marked by rejection of God at a personal level. It is the ‘world’ community since Adam, led by and ruled by its ‘prince’, the devil. Individual ‘sins’ arise from this more profound ‘sin’. In this Gospel ‘the sin of the world’ is viewed primarily in the determined and hostile attitudes towards Jesus shown by the temple authorities and the Pharisees. The Lamb of God died to remove such sin and the Spirit of God, when he came, would bring an inner conviction about such sin (16:8–9).

Teaching The author seeks a fivefold response to the witness of John (the Baptist) from his hearers: (i) Recognise John’s testimony as a historical fact. As John baptised Jesus he ‘witnessed’ the Spirit of God descend on him; John was there. (ii) Note well the marks of John’s testimony to the officials and to the world. John was obedient to God; being sent by God he went and baptised Jesus; John was humble, disclaiming messiah-ship and other elevated roles, saying he was no more than a ‘voice’ pointing to a greater One who would come after him. Some 19

The Shepherd King Christians have a ‘look at me’ attitude. John the Baptist said, ‘Don’t look at me, look at Jesus’. (iii) Grasp the amazing content of John’s testimony to Jesus as the pre-existent One, the Spirit-anointed Son of God who himself would baptise with the Spirit, and the Lamb of God who was bearing away the sin of the world (replacing temple, priests, animal sacrifices and the Passover). (iv) Accept John’s testimony to Jesus. (v) Echo it to others, obediently and humbly, like John.

JESUS CALLS FIVE DISCIPLES (1:35–51) Jesus’ immediate disciples are very important in this Gospel, more so than in any other Gospel. This is due to the assertion that one of those disciples is the author of this book (20:30–31; 21:24). This Gospel is the work of a disciple who was an eyewitness to his miracles and a hearer of his words. We the readers see Jesus through the eyes of this disciple.

This Gospel makes clear that Jesus’ first disciples had been disciples of John the Baptist. This insight into their background does not appear in the other Gospels.

Narrative shape verses 35–39 In Transjordan John witnessed about Jesus to two disciples who began to follow Jesus. verses 40–42 Andrew, one of the two, brought his brother Simon to Jesus. verses 43–44 In Galilee Jesus found Philip, who now followed Jesus. verses 45–51 Philip found Nathanael, who confessed Jesus as ‘King of Israel’.

By this snowballing process Jesus gathered his five core disciples. Is it significant that the Talmud says that Jesus had five disciples?3 Not until much later do we hear 3. See F.F. Bruce, Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 62–64.

20

The Word, John and the disciples about ‘the twelve’ (6:67) including another disciple named Thomas. We are not told how they came to follow Jesus.

Most likely the unnamed disciple with Andrew who heard John’s testimony (verse 35) was John the author. His original hearers would nod at that point and say, ‘This is John Zebedee, the beloved disciple, who has written these things’.

This is the first reference to ‘Galilee’ and, like others in this Gospel, is positive, unlike references to Jerusalem and Judaea, which tend to be negative. At Judaea’s heart are the temple, the High Priest and the Pharisees where Jesus found hostility and rejection. Here in Galilee, however, Nathanael made a major confession to Jesus as ‘King of Israel’, that is, as Messiah. Much of this Gospel is an interplay between Jerusalem/Judaea (negative) and Galilee (positive).

Detail In this Gospel Jesus is recognised from the outset as the Messiah (by Andrew—verse 41; and by Nathanael—verse 49). Doubtless it was a somewhat vague and uncertain recognition that progressively became more assured, in particular, following the resurrection.

Like the woman of Samaria Nathanael made a messianic confession based on Jesus’ supernatural knowledge about him (see also 4:29). When Nathanael understood Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and exaltation, he would come to see that Christ was not merely an earthly ‘son of God, king of Israel’ but the glorious and heavenly Son of Man (verse 51; cf. 3:14–15). Here Jesus was alluding to the patriarch Jacob’s vision of a ladder reaching to heaven with angels ascending and descending (Genesis 28:12). The point of the allusion is that Nathanael would see the glory of God resting upon Jesus. That glory would fall upon Jesus on the cross; it is a glory that is seen by the eye of faith.

The Aramaic words Messias (Messiah) and Kepha (rock) and Nathanael’s sour proverb about Nazareth (Nathanael came from nearby Cana, cf. 21:2) all contribute to a sense of historical authenticity in this Gospel.

21

The Shepherd King Jesus’ description of Nathanael as ‘an Israelite in whom there is nothing false’ (verse 47) shows that John the author is not anti-Semitic. The ‘Jews’ were the wilful leaders of Israel, not the people in general.

Teaching John the Baptist and John the disciple were ‘witnesses’ to Jesus. John devotes much of his Gospel to accounts of individuals coming to believe in Jesus as the Christ.

John recognises the power and opportunities represented by family connections (Andrew and brother Peter), of common location (Philip from Bethsaida, like Andrew and Peter) and of friendships (Philip and Nathanael). Though he does not spell it out it appears from these stories that John wants his readers to introduce people to Jesus through these connections.

The ‘six degrees of separation’ theory states that people are all connected and only six other persons separate us from each other. It is an interesting if exaggerated idea. What cannot be denied, however, is the very large number of networks that branch out from the worldwide Christian community that, if exploited, could make a massive impact for the gospel in the world. Sometimes it seems easier to develop impersonal programs and mission statements than to build on and strengthen existing human connections. John’s stories of five people following Christ is worth further reflection. What is clear is the importance of people and people-based relationships.

CONCLUSION Remarkably John has taken us, his hearers, from the timeless eternity before Creation, leaping over the salvationstory of Israel, to the historical incarnation of the Word, the Son of the Father. We have heard the moving testimony of John (the Baptist) and how two of his disciples became disciples of Jesus, one of whom would write this book witnessing to Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. This is bigger and deeper than history or biography. This is the Word of God, by which God addresses the hearers and bids them acknowledge and follow Jesus.

22