Gospel of John, chs. 10-12

Prayer

Lord, inspire us to read your Scriptures and to meditate upon them day and night. We beg you to give us real understanding of what we need, that we in turn may put its precepts into practice. Yet we know that understanding and good intentions are worthless, unless rooted in your graceful love. Sowe ask that the words of Scriptures may also be not just signs on a page, but channels of grace into our hearts.

~ Origen

The Good Shepherd, John 10:1-21

Setting: still the feast of Tabernacles, and more immediately the healing of the blind man in ch. 9 (cf. John 10:21)

Vv 1-5: The closest thing to a traditional parable, though John uses the word, paroimia, v. 6, rather than parabole to describe it

Scriptural intertexts, esp. Ps 23 and Ezek 34.

Mystical intimacy, v. 3, 14-15

The Feast of Dedication, John 10:22-42

AKA Chanukkah, cf. 1 & 2 Maccabees

John 10:36: “sanctified” (hagiazo) “consecrated” (RSV; NABRE); cf. 1 Macc 4:48; John 17:17, 19

“If you are the Messiah, o christos, tell us plainly” John 10:24. Consider Jesus’ use of the term in the Gospels: how would you describe it?

Across the Jordan, John 10:40-42.

The Raising of Lazarus, and its Fallout, John 11:1-54

Structurally, in John’s Gospel this episode performs the role that the temple cleansing performs in the Synoptics: it leads to the moment when the highest authorities in Jerusalem resolve to have Jesus killed (John 11:45-53; Mark 11:18-19)

John 11:23-26 can be read with a strong presentist eschatology: enter into life now and never die (so what need then for a resurrection of the body?). John 5:25-29 can be read as a possible corrective to an eschatology too strongly focused on the present (incidentally, cp. John 5:25 and John 11:43)

The Ironic Counsel of the High Priest and the Plot to Kill Jesus (John 11:45-53), “who no longer walked about openly among the Jews but went . . . to a town called Ephraim” (John 11:54)

The Third Passover, John 11:55-12:43

“Now the Passover of Jews was near” John 11:55-57

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus again; now Martha takes the back stage (cf. Luke 10:38-42; John 11:1-37): Jesus’ body anointed for(?) burial (v. 7; cf. RSV and ch. 20?); Jesus is signalling that “his hour” is near, John 12:1-11. Are there royal and nuptial images here in Mary’s action? cf. Song of Songs 1:12. See below on how this may be carried on in John 20, concerning Mary Magdalene (=Mary of Bethany?)

Despite John 11:45, Jesus enters Jerusalem with much fanfare from the same crowds who witnessed the raising of Lazarus. The note about the disciples’ memory (John 12:16) resembles that around the cleansing of the temple (John 2:17, 22)

the waiving of palm branches is only mentioned here in the Gospels; they were closely connected as symbol to the Maccabean warrior kings (cf. 1 Macc 13:51; 2 Macc 10:7 and coin images)

They quote Ps 118:25-26 and add “even the King of Israel”

John 12:14: there is a conjunction at the beginning not reflected in the NRSV arguably to be translated as “but”

John 12:15: Zeph 3:16 (see Zeph 3:9-20; so R. Brown); Zech 9:9-10 (note v. 10 in the context of “Gentiles” in John 12): notice John omits “humble and riding on a donkey” (contr. Matthew)—so is the point of the citation to call to mind the universalist tones of the aforesaid prophecies? See the next par. in John

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:20-26; “hour” see John 2:4; 4:21-23; 7:30; 8:20). The coming of Gentiles is reflected in the saying about the grain: “if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Suitably, the teaching on discipleship now takes a cruciform shape for the first time (vv. 25-26; similarly Mark 8:31-38)

The next paragraph (John 12:27-36) elaborates on “this hour” and seems to echo Markan texts—about the transfiguration and about cup which Jesus must drink. “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (the third “lifted up” saying: John 3:14; 8:28)

Conclusion to the “book of signs”: “He departed and hid from them. Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him.” “Signs”: John 2:11, 23; 3:2; 4:54; 6:2, 14…John 12:18 (in all there are 7 narratives of miracles—not all labelled a “sign” however.) The two citations are from Isa 53:1 (from the song of the suffering servant) and Isa 6:10, when the prophet sees the glory of God fill the temple, which John understands of Jesus’ pre-existence (v. 41). The theology that comprehends these quotations involves the permissive will of God; if the result of Jesus’ ministry was thus (unbelief) it must have fallen within the will of God, the permissive will.

Summary of Jesus’ teaching, focusing on the Son as the revelation of the Father, John 12:44-50.

On the identity of Mary of Bethany and a defense of the traditional Western position concerning her identity as Mary Magdalene, cf. https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/a-retrieval-of-the-traditional-view-of-mary-magdalene/?utm_content=281109261&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-938492208109555712

“In like manner, John’s resurrection scene is a conscious attempt to invoke imagery from the Song of Songs. Mary Magdalene’s actions are remarkably similar to those of the Shulammite girl of Song 3 who wakes early to seek her beloved husband (Song 3:1–2; John 20:1). Initially she cannot find him (Song 3:2; John 20:2), so she converses with watchmen about where he has gone (Song 3:3; John 20:13), and then finally discovers him with much jubilation (Song 3:4; John 20:16). Just as the Shulammite girl clings to her beloved and refuses to let him go (Song 3:4), similarly Jesus is forced to instruct Mary not to hold him (John 20:17).”