Reading the Bible again for the First Time
Page 20
John as Distinct from the Synoptics The differences between John and the other gospels include the following:
Chronology. In the synoptics, Jesus’ public activity fits into a year; in John, three to four years. In the synoptics, overturning the tables of the moneychangers in the temple occurs in the last week of Jesus’ life and is the cause of his arrest; in John, the event occurs at the beginning of Jesus’ public activity.57
Geography. In the synoptics, most of Jesus’ public activity occurs in Galilee; in John, Jesus is more often in Judea and Jerusalem.
Jesus’ message. In the synoptics, Jesus’ message is about the kingdom of God, not about himself; in John, much of it is about himself. Declarations such as “I and the Father are one” and “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” are found in John, as are the familiar “I am” sayings: I am the light of the world, the bread of life, the resurrection and the life, the way and the truth and life, and so forth.
Style of Jesus’ teaching. In the synoptics, Jesus teaches in parables and short memorable sayings; in John, long and remarkably dense theological discourses. John is very “wordy,” as my students say.
Yet alongside the dense wordiness of the discourses is the richest symbolic language about Jesus in the New Testament: Jesus as the Word made flesh, as the light of the world, as the Lamb of God, as the bread of life, as the true vine, as the door, as the good shepherd. John also uses a set of dualistic symbols to present the significance of Jesus and his work: darkness/light, below/above, flesh/spirit, death/life, falsehood/truth, earth/heaven. He also sometimes uses the term “the world” to refer not simply to the created order, but to a negative way of being, just as he often uses the phrase “the Jews” as a negative symbol (about which I will say more later in this chapter).58
Though both the synoptics and John are a mixture of history and symbol, in John metaphorical narrative dominates history remembered and historical memory. Of course Jesus of Nazareth as a historical figure lies behind John, but he is further removed than in the synoptics. Put positively, John is the most symbolic of the gospels.
Jesus’ Inaugural Scene Thus it is not surprising that the inaugural scene of Jesus’ public activity in John is a richly symbolic narrative. Rather than an inaugural address as in the synoptics, it is an inaugural deed: Jesus changes water into wine at a wedding banquet.59
The story is well known: Jesus, his mother, and his disciples are at a wedding in Cana, a village in Galilee; the wine runs out; Jesus changes a large amount of water into very good wine. Indeed, the steward, thinking that the groom has provided the wine, says to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first. . . . But you have kept the best wine until now.” This, John says, was “the first of Jesus’ signs” and “revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”
The text reports a miracle, of course: the transformation of a large quantity of water (120 to 180 gallons) into wine. But if we focus on the event’s “happenedness,” we easily become distracted and miss the point. We then wonder if such a thing could really happen; and if we think it could and did, we then marvel about what Jesus did on a particular day in the past. But the meaning of this story does not depend upon its “happenedness.” Instead, it is a “sign,” as John puts it. Signs point beyond themselves; to use a play on words, they sign-ify something, and what they signify is their significance.
So what is the meaning of this story as a “sign”? What is its significance? A number of its details have caught the attention of scholars: the odd exchange between Jesus and his mother; the detail that the water was “for the Jewish rites of purification”; the anticipation of Jesus’ death.60 Though these details matter, they should not divert attention from the primary symbolic feature of the text: a wedding banquet.
Wedding banquets were the most festive occasions in the world of first-century Palestine, especially in the peasant class (and Cana was a peasant village). Wedding banquets commonly lasted seven days. They featured dancing, wine, and vast quantities of food. The normal peasant diet was meager: grains, vegetables, fruit, olives, eggs, and an occasional fish. Meat and poultry were infrequently eaten, since people were reluctant to kill the few animals they had. But at a wedding banquet, there were copious amounts of food of all kinds.
Given the above, what is this text—which John places as the inaugural scene of Jesus’ public activity—saying? What is Jesus about? What is the gospel—the good news—of Jesus about? John’s answer: it is about a wedding banquet at which the wine never runs out and the best is saved for last.
To this metaphorical meaning of a wedding banquet can be added historical associations of banquet and wedding imagery in Jewish and early Christian traditions. In Judaism, a banquet was a frequent symbol for the messianic age. Marriage was also used as a metaphor for the relationship between God and Israel.61* In the New Testament, Jesus is sometimes spoken of as the bridegroom and the community of his followers as the bride.62 The book of Revelation refers to “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Jesus) and ends with a vision of the New Jerusalem descending from the sky “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”63 A wedding could thus symbolize the intimacy of the divine-human relationship and the marriage between heaven and earth. It is a common mystical symbol, and John is the most mystical gospel.64
Did John intend to build all of these meanings into his inaugural scene? There is no way of knowing. But it is the nature of metaphorical language to convey more meanings than the author intended. In any case, it is clear what John is saying: the story of Jesus is about a wedding banquet at which the wine never runs out.
Selected Texts: Metaphorical Narratives
We move now from seeing the gospels as thematic constructions to reading individual texts as metaphorical narratives. As we do so, we will attend to two levels or kinds of metaphor: intrinsic metaphor and historical metaphor.65
Intrinsic metaphor is shorthand for the metaphorical meanings intrinsic to the story itself—the meanings that occur to a reader sensitive to the language of metaphor prior to taking into account (or even knowing) the specific historical associations of the language. Historical metaphor is shorthand for the additional metaphorical meanings that flow out of the specific historical associations of the language.
I illustrate the distinction by returning briefly to the story of the wedding at Cana. The intrinsic metaphorical meaning of that story is that Jesus is about a wedding banquet at which the wine never runs out. The historical metaphorical meanings are those additional meanings that flow out of knowing about the specific associations of banquet and marriage/wedding imagery in Judaism and early Christianity.
The texts I have selected for this section of the chapter are all, in my judgment, purely metaphorical narratives. I do not think a particular historical event in the life of Jesus lies behind any of them, even though I think all of them speak powerfully and truthfully about the significance of Jesus and his vision.
Using different language to make the same point, John Dominic Crossan calls stories like these “parables.” Jesus, he says, told parables about God. The early Christian movement likewise told parables about Jesus.66 He suggests that we ask the following question about the stories in the gospels: “Whether you read the story as history or parable, what is its meaning—for then, for now, for always?”67
Walking on Water
The story of Jesus walking on the water is one of only two miracle stories found in both John and the synoptics.68 With small variations, the details are remarkably similar in Mark and John. It is night, and the disciples are rowing across the Sea of Galilee in a small boat by themselves. There is a strong wind, the sea is rough, and they make little headway. Then they see Jesus walking on the sea. Initially, they are terrified. But he says to them, “It is I—do not be afraid.” Then they are safe.
Intrinsic Metaphorical Meanings What metaphorical meanings are intrinsic to the story and not dependent on either the “happenedness” of the story or the specific histor
ical associations of the imagery? As with any good metaphorical story, the meanings of this one cannot be reduced to a single understanding. I provide a short list of possible meanings—a list whose purpose is not to be comprehensive but to illustrate metaphorical thinking. There is nothing special about my list; generating it required no scholarly expertise. You are invited to reflect on the story to see what other intrinsic meanings occur to you.
Without Jesus, you don’t get anywhere.
Without Jesus, you’re at sea and in the dark.
Following Jesus may put you in difficult situations.
Jesus takes away fear.
Jesus comes to you in distress.
Jesus stills storms.
I think I see some sermon possibilities here.
As Matthew narrates this story, he adds an episode: Peter walks on the water as well. After Jesus says, “It is I, have no fear,” Matthew tells us:
Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus; but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “O man of little faith, why did you doubt?”69
I strongly doubt that Matthew’s point is literal: if you have enough faith in Jesus, you can literally walk on water. Rather, his point is metaphorical, and the intrinsic metaphorical meanings might include the following:
Without faith in Jesus, fear takes over.
Without faith in Jesus, you sink.
With faith in Jesus, you can walk on water (metaphorically).
When you’re sinking, call out, “Lord, save me!”—and he will.
Historical Metaphorical Meanings Additional meanings can be added to the above if we factor in the specific historical associations of sea imagery in the Hebrew Bible. Those associations were ominous. The sea was a mysterious and threatening force opposed to God. Thus, when the ancient Hebrews wanted to stress God’s power and authority, they spoke of God’s mastery over the sea. The authors of the book of Psalms exclaimed, “You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them,” and “The sea is God’s, for God made it.”70
In the book of Job, the voice from the whirlwind declares that it was God who “shut in the sea with doors” and said to it, “Thus far you shall come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped.”71
Indeed, the plight of the disciples echoes a psalm that may have been the model for the gospel story:
The stormy wind lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths.
The courage of those in the boat melted away in their calamity;
they reeled and staggered like drunkards,
and were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and God brought them out of their distress;
God made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad because they had quiet,
And God brought them to their desired haven.72
So what more do we see and hear in the gospel story by being aware of the historical associations of the imagery? The primary additional meaning is christological. The story’s portrait of Jesus walking on the water and calming the waves makes the claim that Jesus participates in the power and authority of God: that which was said about God in the Hebrew Bible is now said about Jesus.
Finally, the disciples of Jesus were sometimes a symbol for the Christian community, and a boat was an early Christian symbol for the church. This suggests that the story is also about the relationship between Jesus and the church.
The story thus witnesses to what the post-Easter Jesus had become in the life of early Christian communities: one with God. The canonical Jesus is one who stills storms, takes away our fear, rescues us—and does so because he participates in the power of God.
Feeding the Multitude
The second miracle story found in both the synoptics and John is the feeding of five thousand people with five loaves and two fish.73 In both, the story is remarkably similar, and its basic outline is familiar. Jesus, the disciples, and a crowd are in the countryside (the synoptics call it “a lonely place”), and the crowd has nothing to eat. The disciples cannot imagine that feeding them—as Jesus wants to do—is possible and ask, “Shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread?”74 Instead, five loaves and two fish are found. According to Mark, Jesus then took the food, “looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people.” According to John, “Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks,” he distributed them to the crowd himself. All ate and were satisfied. Afterward, twelve baskets of food were left over.75
Here the similarities between John and the synoptics end. Unlike the synoptics, John uses the story as a springboard for a long discourse by Jesus.76 Its subject matter is one of the “I am” statements attributed by John to Jesus: “I am the bread of life.” Because John’s interpretation of the feeding story is significantly different from that of the synoptics, I will treat the two interpretations separately.
The Synoptic Story: Intrinsic Metaphorical Meanings Again I invite you to reflect on the metaphorical meanings intrinsic to the story. As I did so myself, the following occurred to me:
Without Jesus, you go hungry.
With Jesus, there is more than enough.
Feeding the multitude matters to Jesus.
Jesus commands his followers to feed the multitude.
Jesus’ followers resist feeding the multitude: How is it possible, they ask? 77
Though the narrative is metaphorical, real food for real people mattered to Jesus.
The Synoptic Story: Historical Metaphorical Meanings The historical metaphorical associations with the Hebrew Bible are especially rich in this story. The principal association is with Israel’s primal narrative, the exodus story. Just as God fed the Israelites with manna from heaven as they journeyed through the wilderness, so now Jesus provides bread in the wilderness. The exodus story is happening again. Just as Second Isaiah viewed what was happening in his time as a new exodus, so now the gospels view what is happening in Jesus as a new exodus.78 And though the feeding part of the exodus story is emphasized, the fuller story is also called to mind: Jesus is like Moses, the leader of Israel who liberated his people from bondage and deprivation in imperial Egypt and brought them to the promised land.
John’s Story: Intrinsic Metaphorical Meanings In the long discourse and dialogue following the story of the feeding, the Jesus of John says, “I am the bread of life” and “the bread of God” that “comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”79
Jesus himself is that bread; people are to eat him. The language in John becomes even more graphic:
Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life. . . . For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.80
Obviously, John’s story uses the language of metaphor. If taken literally, this passage would smack of cannibalism. So what are the intrinsic metaphorical meanings of eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood?
The imagery of eating and drinking connects to a central religious metaphor for our deepest human yearning: hunger, and the closely related metaphor thirst. There are those who hunger and thirst for God, for justice, for meaning, for life. For John, Jesus is the answer to that hunger: Jesus himself is the bread of life who satisfies our hunger. Eat this bread and you will never be hungry: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never be hungry.” The next line of the verse invokes the thirst metaphor: “And whoever believes in me will never thirst.”81
The metaphors remind us of the Christian eucharist, of course. But one should not reduce their meaning to the
bread and wine of the central Christian sacrament. Although John’s language adds resonances of meaning to the eucharist, to see this language as conveying simply “Eat the bread and drink the wine of the eucharist” flattens the varied metaphors into a single prosaic meaning.
The metaphors also connect to the wisdom literature of Israel, especially to the banquet of Wisdom/Sophia in Proverbs: “Come, eat of the bread and drink of the wine I have mixed!”82
For John, Jesus is the incarnation not only of the Word of God but also of the Wisdom of God. To take Jesus in, to digest Jesus, is to partake in Jesus as the Wisdom of God.
John’s Story: Historical Metaphorical Meanings The metaphors also connect to the mysticism of John’s gospel. Eating and drinking Jesus is the way of becoming one with Jesus: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”83
By taking in and digesting the flesh and blood of Jesus, we live in Jesus and Jesus lives in us: we become one with Jesus. Abiding or dwelling in Jesus is also the theme of another mystical metaphor in John: Jesus as the true vine and his followers as branches. The branches are joined to the vine and depend on the vine for their life. They are to bear fruit; and the fruit, John tells us, is love: just as Jesus abides in God’s love, so Jesus’ followers are to abide in his love. Thus the consequence of having Jesus within and being in Jesus is to “Love one another as I have loved you.”84