November 29, 2015 John, Chapters 1-11
Download discussion questions: John 1-11 Overview Verses
Download outline and comment: Smalley’s outline
The handout for the starting point of our discussion was a list of eleven excerpts, one from each of the first eleven chapters of the Gospel according to John. The verses I selected were intended to be representative of each part of John’s story, and one of my suggestions was for each member of our group to select their own representative verses. What segment (a verse or two) would you pick from each chapter to help you get an overview of John’s story?
This is a different tactic from our usual discussions. Typically, we look at a brief passage using the inductive method – Observation, Interpretation, and Application. We spend time examining the passage in detail, asking questions and looking for answers in that limited section of Scripture. In contrast, this week we looked at one or two verses spread out over eleven chapters. Why this approach?
One of the strengths of the inductive method of Bible study is the ability to dig deep into a passage, to look at the smallest details: Why did the writer repeat this word several times? Why did he change verb tenses? How did he describe the scene? That kind of study and analysis attempts to extract as much as possible from each passage, each verse, each phrase. But that strength has an inherent weakness.
Since we began studying the Gospel according to John in February (nine months ago), we have used the inductive method to work through eleven chapters, usually about fifteen to twenty verses at a time. Usually our meticulous investigation (for about an hour each week) doesn’t even make it through all the interesting possibilities of the passage. We see aspects we never noticed before. But our approach risks missing the bigger picture. As we study for depth we may miss the breadth of the story of Jesus that John is telling.
This week’s discussion was focused on addressing that weakness. What is the broader view of the details we have been studying? What is the flow or the direction the collection the words and actions of Jesus and others that John has recorded? Part of our discussion considered the question: If someone asked you what the first eleven chapters of John were about, how would you answer?
Several suggestions were made about the use that John makes of the imagery of light. One person had looked up a basic definition. Light is “a natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible.” (An English dictionary can be a great Bible study tool. Of course, everyone knows what light is. But even an elementary definition gives the opportunity to think about the implications of the language John is using. Looking up a familiar word in a passage is often a good idea and a great way to stimulate our thinking about what Scripture is saying.) The Light John described (for example, in 1:9 and 8:12 and 9:5) made God visible (or in Paul’s words, “the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 4:6).
John also used the imagery of water, the essence of life, “living water” in 4:10, “rivers of living water” as His first description of the Holy Spirit (7:38-39). John portrays Jesus as light that illuminates and gives life. Every NASA news report about Mars or Pluto or any other exploratory mission describes the scientists’ interest in evidence of extra-terrestrial water as the necessary starting point for looking for life. Water is essential for life, and Jesus used water to illustrate His mission: providing light and life.
Our discussion then turned to Jesus’ repeated references to the Father, and in particular the unique relationship He has with the Father. It was His Father’s house that He was protecting from becoming a marketplace (2:16). He continually pointed to the Father as the source and authority of His mission (3:35, over a dozen times in 5:17-43, 6:37, and others) and the focus of genuine worship (4:23). His repeated and escalating claims about His intimacy with the Father led to escalating tension and then hostility from the Jewish leaders (5:18, 8:58, 10:30). Over and over again, He turns the focus to the glory of God as His central mission, from the wine He made at Cana (2:11), to His confrontations with the Jews (7:18, 8:50) and the raising of Lazarus (11:4, 40).
One person pointed out the theme of the signs that Jesus was doing through the first eleven chapters and suggested that the signs grew progressively more personal. We also noted that His signs became increasingly public. At a wedding in need of wine (2:1-11), only His immediate disciples and a few servants knew what He had done. Later He healed the son of a royal official (4:46-54), and the official and “his whole household” (his family and probably some number of servants in the official’s service) believed. The news of His miracles spread even more after the healing of the man at Bethesda (5:2-9). Opposition also grew to anything He did on the Sabbath. Feeding five-thousand (the count of the men, plus the families that they had with them) was dramatic (6:1-15). His popularity skyrocketed, at least briefly. The healing of Lazarus (11:1-44) might be considered the climax, the high point of the first half of John’s Gospel. Raising a person from the dead is the supreme illustration of His power and authority in a very personal act for a family He loved. It was also a tipping point in the opposition facing Him. Now the Jews formed the explicit and intentional plan to kill Him.
John’s story describes the process by which Jesus manifested (showed, displayed, made clear – another example of the value of a dictionary) God. The opening of the first chapter (often called the prologue or introduction to John’s Gospel) tells us what the book will be about – the Word who was God and the preliminary ministry of the Baptist proclaiming the Lamb of God. After that preface, John’s development of the story takes us back to the beginning, what one member of our group described as Jesus “earning the right to be heard.” He started His ministry gradually, gathering a few disciples and preforming a small miracle of wine. He removed the moneychangers from the temple and gradually expands His influence through other, more dramatic miracles and more direct teaching. He began making claims that the authorities cannot ignore. He asserted His identification with God, and He raised a man from the dead.
One member of our group put it simply. The first eleven chapters are about Jesus showing us God. By His signs and His teaching, He relentlessly revealed more and more about Himself and His Father. As His signs became more astonishing, His teaching became more provocative and controversial.
One of the most helpful descriptions I found in a book about John and his writings (the Gospel, his letters, and Revelation) described the first half of the Gospel as “the revelation of the Word to the world” and the last half as “the glorification of the Word for the world.”[1] Smalley sees John’s careful structure for developing his story through seven signs, seven discourses, and seven “I am” sayings. He suggests that the Gospel of John resembles the Revelation to John, with that book’s seven-fold themes (seven churches, seven angels, seven seals, seven bowls, etc.) John’s storytelling is very organized and very intentional. (See the additional handout, “Smalley’s outline” for more information and an interesting analysis of the signs and discourses that John organizes to tell the story of his experiences with Jesus and His ministry.)
Those first eleven chapters describe most of the three-year ministry of Jesus. The rest of the book covers the last week of His earthly ministry. The pace and the focus of John’s story is about to change.
[1] Stephen S. Smalley, Thunder and Love, John’s Revelation and John’s Community (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers,2012), 66; italics added.