Theology 25 multiple choice

THE Gospel OF John

(1:1-18)

Author. Unlike the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Gospel of John is not strictly anonymous. The author discreetly identifies himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (21:20, 24) and claims to be an eyewitness to the life and ministry of Christ (1:14; 19:35). However, this Beloved Disciple never reveals his name, although he appears several times in the Gospel narrative (13:23; 19:26; 20:2).

The combined wright of textual and traditional evidence suggests that this disciple is the Apostle John, one of the sons of Zebedee (Matthew 4:21). Several considerations support this conclusion.

(1) The Beloved Disciple is clearly an Israelite, whose knowledge of biblical feasts and institutions is detailed and whose familiarity with Palestinian geography is quite accurate.

(2) The Beloved Disciple is one of the Twelve who was present with Jesus at the Last Supper (13:23; Mark 14:17-25) and with the band of apostles after his Resurrection (21:4-7).

(3) That he is “beloved” suggests he is part of the inner circle of disciples closest to Jesus: Peter, James, and John. These were the only apostles among the Twelve whom Jesus renamed in the written Gospel tradition (Mark 3:16-17) and the only apostles selected to accompany him at pivotal moments in his ministry (Mark 5:37; 9:2; 14:33). Since Peter is clearly distinguished from the Beloved Disciple (20:2; 21:20) and James was martyred far too early to be considered for authorship (Acts 12:2), John remains as the most likely candidate.

(4) The close association between Peter and the Beloved Disciple in this Gospel (21:1-9) mirrors the close association between Peter and John in the writings of Luke (Luke 22:8; Acts 3:1; 8:14).

(5) The attention to detail displayed by the author has all the earmarks of an eyewitness: he notices that the stone jars were filled “up to the brim” at Cana (2:7), the multiplied loaves were made of “barley” (6:9), and the aroma of the perfume used to anoint Jesus “filled” the house where the event took place (12:3).

(6) As for external evidence, Irenaeus (A.D. 180), Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 200), and other early Christian writers testify with one voice that the Apostle John is the Beloved Disciple who wrote the Fourth Gospel, probably from the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor.

Although John’s authorship is disputed by many today, no alternative attempt to identify the Beloved Disciple aligns the evidence as clearly and convincingly as the traditional one.

Date. Several scholars of the 19th and 20th centuries claimed the Gospel of John was written in the second century, some dating it as late as A.D. 150 and beyond. This is no longer tenable because of solid evidence to the contrary. For instance, a fragment of John’s Gospel discovered in Egypt in 1935 has been dated as early as A.D. 120. The original Gospel must have been written at least by this time and probably much earlier, since ample time was needed for it to gain popularity and circulate from Asia Minor all the way to Africa. Likewise, Ignatius of Antioch seems to allude to the teaching of the Fourth Gospel in a collection of letters written about A.D. 107. This makes it probably that John’s Gospel was composed by at least A.D. 100.

Whether it can be dated much earlier than this is a matter of dispute. Some have argued that John wrote his Gospel closer to the middle of the first century, even prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Interestingly, nothing within the Gospel demands a date later than this, and the casual statement in 5:2 that there “is” (present tense) a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem may lend support to its antiquity. It seems unlikely that John would have described this pool as though it were intact if, in fact, it was buried beneath a heap of rubble at the time he was writing about it. This makes a date in the 60s a viable option for the composition of John’s Gospel, although most scholars prefer to date it in the 90s of the first century.

Destination and Purpose. The Gospel of John was probably written for Jews and Jewish Christians living throughout the Mediterranean world. This is inferred from the distinctively Jewish flavor of the book and its numerous allusions to scriptural and liturgical symbols associated with Israel (1:1, 29, 45, 51; 2:21; 3:14; 4:10, etc.). Its positive depiction of the Samaritans, who were distant descendants of the Israelites, suggests they too were part of John’s target audience (4:39-42). Although it was once popular to interpret John’s Gospel against the backdrop of Greek culture and thought, more recent scholarship – especially since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls – has led to a fuller appreciation of its Jewish background and themes.

Whatever the uncertainties of its destination, there is little uncertainty as to its aim. John tells us outright that his Gospel has an evangelistic purpose: “[T]hese are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name” (20:31). A secondary purpose, although unstated, seems to be to fill in some of the blanks left by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Whereas the Synoptic Gospels focus on Jesus’ Galilean ministry and mention only one trip to Jerusalem, John tells us that Jesus made several trips to Jerusalem and mentions only brief excursions into the northern regions of Samaria and Galilee (1:43; 4:3-4; 11:54; 21:1). Whereas the Synoptics tell us of Jesus’ ministry after the arrest of John the Baptist, the Fourth Gospel informs us that Jesus’ ministry was already under way before John’s imprisonment (3:24). Likewise, whereas the Synoptics narrate the Last Supper, John is silent about the Eucharistic words and actions of Jesus, choosing instead to recount the Bread of Life discourse where Jesus first promises to give himself to the world as sacramental food (6:35-58). These differences have suggested to several scholars, ancient and modern alike, that John was familiar with one or more of the Synoptic Gospels. If so, he must have wanted to give readers additional information about the life and teaching of Jesus that would supplement the authentic Gospels already in circulation.

Themes and Characteristics. The Fourth Gospel is a book of magnificent beauty and artistry. The richness of its expression and imagery has made it one of the most celebrated works in Christian history. So much of it is devoted to the heavenly identity and mission of Jesus that John was known as the “spiritual” Gospel in the ancient Church. Perhaps the most pervasive theme in John, which in many ways is the master key that unlocks the Gospel as a whole, is the revelation of God as a family. Nearly every chapter is marked by familial language that explains the inner life of God as well as our relation to God through the grace of divine generation.

The “divine family” of God revealed as Father, Son, and Spirit is the towering mystery of the Fourth Gospel. The Father initiates this revelation by sending his only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world as a man (1:14; 16:28). Through him we learn that the Father loves the Son (3:35), nourishes him with his will (4:34), and entrusts him with the responsibilities of judging and giving life to the world (5:22, 27). The divine unity between the Father and the Son is unlike any known on earth (10:30; 14:11). Christ, for his part, shows us the heart of his Father (1:18; 14:9) by imitating the Father’s works (5:19-21; 10:25), speaking the Father’s words (8:28; 12:49), and returning the Father’s love (14:31). The essence of Jesus’ divine Sonship is thus expressed through a lifetime of pleasing and honoring the Father (8:29, 49). The Spirit, too, is sent into the world by the Father and the Son (14:26; 15:26). His mission is to continue the ministry of Jesus, always teaching the truth (14:26), announcing things to come (16:13), and filling the hearts and lives of believers with his presence (14:17).

The “human family” also plays an important role in the Fourth Gospel. In fact, the heart of Jesus’ message is that the children of men are invited to become children of God (1:12). This new life begins with a spiritual rebirth in Baptism (3:5) and is sustained as the Father nourishes us with divine food and drink (6:32, 51; 7:37-39), educates us in the truth (8:31-32; 16:13), and protects us from spiritual danger (17:15). Christ models the life of divine Sonship to perfection (13:15), showing us how to worship the Father (4:23-26), how to obey his commandments (15:10), and how to love our spiritual siblings (13:34). We are not left orphans (14:18) after Christ returns to the Father (20:17) because his presence dwells with us and even within us (14:17-18, 23). Our full union with the Trinity awaits only the coming of Jesus Christ, who will return in glory to escort the children of God into the house of their heavenly Father (14:2-3).

Relationship to other Biblical Writings. The Gospel of John is closest in theology and literary style to the three Letters of John. Like the Gospel, 1 John does not name its author, but 2 and 3 John claim to be written by “the Presbyter,” or Elder. The Gospel and Letters of John are stylistically similar in their special theological vocabulary and pairs of opposites. The Letters were likely written after the Gospel, and they elaborate on topics found in the Gospel (e.g., the love command in 1 John 5:1-5).

Also included among John’s writings is the Book of Revelation, whose visionary is named “John” (Revelation 1:9). Revelation’s theology, literary style, and genre are significantly different from the Gospel and the Letters of John. Revelation is an apocalypse, a literary genre centered on the revelation of heavenly mysteries, which are expressed in vivid symbolism, set against the Roman persecution of Christians in the late first century, and this persecution does not appear as a concern in the Gospel or Letters. Yet there are some curious similarities between the Gospel and Revelation. For instance, these are the only two New Testament writings to call Jesus “the Lamb” (John 1:29; Revelation 5:6) and “the Word of God” (John 1:1; Revelation 19:13). These are also the only two New Testament writings to cite clearly the oracle in Zechariah 12:10: “They will look upon him whom they have pierced” (John 19:37; Revelation 1:7).

Also significant is the relationship between John and the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. On the one hand, John and the Synoptics have much in common. They give the same basic account of Jesus’ life: a public ministry of itinerant teaching in Galilee and Judea, miracles, and controversies, ending in his crucifixion and resurrection. All four Gospels feature many of the same individuals: Jesus’ mother, John the Baptist, Peter, the Twelve, Mary Magdalene, Caiaphas, Pilate. In addition to the passion and resurrection narratives, John and the Synoptics have some stories in common (e.g., the multiplication of the loaves followed by Jesus’ walking on water in Mark 6:34-52; John 6:1-21).

On the other hand, there are also some noticeable differences between John and the Synoptics. In the Synoptics, Jesus often teaches in parables and short pithy sayings. But in John, Jesus teaches in long enigmatic discourses and does not tell any Synoptic-like parables. The Synoptics imply that Jesus’ ministry lasted one year, but John’s mention of three Passovers suggests a ministry of three years. In the Synoptics, most of Jesus’ ministry takes place in Galilee, whereas John narrates much more of Jesus’ ministry in Judea.

The critical question is how to explain these similarities and the differences. Does John know and us the Synoptic Gospels in his writing? At the minimum, John knows many of the same traditions about Jesus that are found in the Synoptics. For instance, John does not narrate the call of the twelve apostles (e.g., Luke 6:12-16), but he first mentions the Twelve rather abruptly with the expectation that the Gospel’s audience already knows who they are (6:67, 70-71). If John knows any of the Synoptic Gospels, he does not use them in the same way that Matthew and Luke use Mark. Of the three Synoptics, Luke is the most likely candidate that John might have known (or perhaps Luke knew a version of John), for there are some points of contact unique to John and Luke: an individual named Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31; John 11:1-44), the family of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42; John 11:1-44), the possession of Judas by Satan (Luke 22:3; John 13:27), Pilate’s threefold acquittal of Jesus (Luke 23:4, 14, 22; John 18:38; 19:4, 6), Peter’s visit to the empty tomb (Luke 24:12; John 20:2-10), and the risen Jesus’ appearance to the disciples on Easter Sunday night in Jerusalem (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-25).

As for theology, we could say with Luke Timothy Johnson, “What is left implicit in the synoptic Gospels is made explicit in [John].” In the Synoptics, Jesus often calls God “my Father” (Matthew 7:21; 10:32-33; 20:23), but only occasionally does he call himself “Son” (Matthew 11:27; 24:36; see also 21:37). In John, however, Jesus often refers to himself as “the Son.” John presents Jesus as using the title “Son” with greater frequency in order to set forth more directly and dramatically the mystery of his relationship with God, whom he called “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36).

Major Theological Teachings. John’s Gospel is centered on God. From the very first verse, we are given a glimpse of the inner life of God as an eternal communion of life and love between God the Father and his Son, who is also his Word (1:1). The world, which God created through his Word, has become a place of spiritual darkness and sin, enslaved by Satan, who is called “the ruler of this world” (12:31). Out of love for sinful humanity and his desire to save them from sin and reconcile them to himself, God, through his Word, forms Israel as his special people and teaches them about himself and his will (1:9-11; 12:41). The divine Word’s work in the world takes on a previously unimaginable form when he becomes incarnate, united to a human nature, in Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus’ whole life and mission is grounded in his relationship with the Father. Jesus is the Son, the one sent by the Father, to reveal him and accomplish his saving work. All that Jesus says, he has heard from the Father (8:38, 40; 18:37), and he does only that which the Father has given him to do (5:19; 10:37-38; 14:11). Jesus’ whole life – his person, words, and deeds – is a revelation of the Father, of himself as the Son, and of the infinite love between them.

Jesus’ mission to reveal the Father and accomplish his saving work culminates in his perfect gift of self on the cross. For John, the cross of Jesus reveals that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The Father gives his all, his Son, out of love for the world and for its salvation (3:16-17). The Son, incarnate in Jesus, in turn gives his all back to the Father. He is perfectly obedient to the Father, seeking to do only his will (4:34), and in a supreme act of love and obedience, he lays down his life on the cross for the world’s salvation (10:17-18; 14:31). In Jesus’ cross, the eyes of faith are able to see the glory of God: the Father gives his all in the Son, and the Son gives his all in return to the Father. In this eternal exchange of perfect and total self-sacrificial giving, we catch a glimpse that “God is love.”

As the Word made flesh, Jesus offers to draw human beings to share in this eternal exchange of life and love, the divine communion. People either accept or reject this offer of salvation and eternal life through their acceptance or rejection of Jesus. The incarnation is thus an occasion of judgment (3:19-21; 9:39). Those who reject Jesus also refuse his offer of salvation and eternal life with the Father. This is a choice to remain in sin, leading to future condemnation (8:24; 12:47-48). However, to those who receive the divine Word in faith and discipleship, Jesus gives the “power to become children of God” (1:12). He enables his disciples to become the Father’s children by giving them a share in his own life and relationship with the Father and the Son.

This participation of Jesus’ disciples in the divine communion is fully realized only in eternity, but is genuinely, though imperfectly, enjoyed by the disciples in the present. By drawing his disciples into communion with himself and the Father, Jesus also draws them into communion with each other. In this way, the divine communion becomes the spiritual foundation of the Church. What binds the disciples to Jesus and to the father and to each other is the Holy Spirit, whom the risen Jesus sends to dwell within his disciples (14:16-17; 20:22). As God dwelling in Jesus’ disciples, the Holy Spirit impresses the reality of the risen Jesus onto their hearts and empowers them to be witnesses of his love. The disciples are to love and obey Jesus as he loves and obeys the Father (15:10). As the Father sent Jesus into the world, so Jesus sends his disciples into the world (15:26-27; 17:18, 21, 23). Through their love, faithful obedience, and unity, Jesus’ disciples bear witness to an unbelieving world about the Father’s love, revealed in the death and resurrection of his Son and made present and transformative by his Holy Spirit.

Structure

The Gospel of John is structured, in part, around a sequence of seven miraculous signs. These signs give the book its backbone:

1. The changing of water to wine at the wedding at Cana (2:1-11)

2. The healing of the official’s son at Cana (4:46-54)

3. The healing of the paralytic at Bethesda (5:1-18)

4. The feeding of the five thousand (6:1-15)

5. The healing of the man born blind (9)

6. The raising of Lazarus from the dead (11)

7. The death and resurrection of Jesus (19-20)

These miracles are called “signs” because they point beyond themselves. We don’t want to get attached to the signs themselves. We want to see the one the signs point to. Jesus rebukes people who get fixated on the miracles, who want to see Jesus do “another” magic trick. The miracles are signs; they point to something else: the seven sacraments of the Church.

Outline of the Gospel according to John

1. Prologue (1:1-18)

2. Successive Days of Revelation (1:19-2:12)

3. Jesus’ First Trip to Jerusalem (2:13-3:36)

4. Encounters with Jesus in Samaria and Galilee (4:1-54)

5. The Obedient Son, the Lord of the Sabbath (5:1-47)

6. Jesus and Passover: Food for Eternal Life (6:1-71)

7. Jesus at the Festival of Tabernacles I (7:1-52)

8. Jesus at the Festival of Tabernacles II (7:53-8:59)

9. The Light of the World (9:1-41)

10. The Good Shepherd and the Festival of Dedication (10:1-42)

11. The Resurrection and the Life (11:1-54)

12. Jesus Goes to Jerusalem for his Passover (11:55-12:50)

13. On the Night before he died (13:1-30)

14. Farewell Discourse I (13:31-14:31)

15. Farewell Discourse II (15:1-16:4a)

16. Farewell Discourse III (16:4b-33)

17. Jesus’ Prayer of Communion (17:1-26) / Jesus’ High-Priestly Prayer

18. The Hour Begins (18:1-27)

19. The Trial Before Pilate (18:28-19:16a)

20. No Greater Love (19:16b-42)

21. Encountering the Risen Lord (20:1-31)

22. The Church’s Witness to the Risen Lord (21:1-15)

1. Prologue (1:1-18)

The Prologue contains John’s vision of the Word of God, in relation to whom all creation and history exist and have meaning. The divine word was with God the Father from all eternity, was at work in creation and in the history of Israel, and then became incarnate in Jesus. The Prologue is thus a summary of God’s dealings with the world before and in the incarnation of the Word, Jesus.

The Prologue begins with the eternity of God (1:1-2) and moves to the creation of the world (1:3-5). John then recounts the divine Word’s activity in the world and particularly in the history of his people Israel (1:6-13). We are then given to contemplate the incarnation: the Word of God becomes a human being in Jesus without loss of his divinity. The incarnate Word completes the Father’s plan of salvation when, through his cross and resurrection, he fully reveals the Father and opens the way for humanity to enter eternal life with God (1”14-18). The rest of the Gospel plays out these themes introduced in the Prologue.

1.1 The Eternity of God (1:1-2)

1In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

2He was in the beginning with God.

The opening lines of the Gospel present the ineffable mystery of God: In the beginning was the Word. Throughout the Old Testament, we find many passages about God’s word. In the book of Isaiah, the Lord says, “Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, … so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me, achieving the end for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

The prophet Jeremiah speaks of his call: “The word of the Lord came to me / Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:4-5). In Genesis, God creates the world by speaking (Genesis 1:1-5), and other texts present God as creating through his word: “By the Lord’s word the heavens were made; / by the breath of his mouth all their host” (Psalm 33:6).

The Word also came to be identified with God’s Wisdom: “Lord of mercy, / you who have made all things by your word / and in your wisdom have established humankind” (Wisdom 9:1-2). Some biblical texts personify God’s wisdom as a heavenly figure who was present when God created (Proverbs 8:27-31; Wisdom 9:4). John invites us to have creation in mind by beginning his Gospel with the same words that opened the creation account in Genesis 1: “In the beginning.”

Shortly before Jesus’ birth, many Jewish holy people and mystics reflected on the Lord in light of his creating and governing the world, actions that can be regarded as “the footprints” God leaves in the world. The Jews knew the Lord (YHWH) as God, the creator and ruler of all, and they fiercely defended his uniqueness as the only one worthy of worship. Biblical texts cited above also display thinking about God’s Word” the divine Word can instruct a prophet, be sent on a mission, or be involved in creation. And yet, God’s Word is not a creature, like an angel or servant. In the Old Testament, the Word is greater than these, but not a separate deity. We could say that the word shares God’s unique identity (who God is) in such a way that God’s unity is not compromised.

When the full reality of Jesus’ identity is revealed, first through his own claims and then definitively through his resurrection and outpouring of the Holy Spirit, all becomes clear. What was variously attributed to God’s Word, wisdom, or Torah (law) in the Old Testament and Jewish thought now comes to be seen as attributable to the divine Word, who is one with and yet also distinct from God the Father.

While John is certainly thinking of God’s Word in the Jewish tradition, his Greek word for “Word,” logos, had an established history in Greek philosophical thinking. Plato and Aristotle used the term logos for thought and speech that was rational. For the Stoics, logos was the part of the universe that made it reasonable and thus understandable by humans. Combining elements from Greek philosophy and Jewish religion, the Jewish theologian Philo of Alexandria, a contemporary of the New Testament authors, wrote of God’s Logos as an intermediary between the material world and God, who is absolutely beyond the world.

Evoking creation in Genesis 1, John tells us that the Word already was. In effect, John is saying, “No matter when the beginning of all creation was, at that point the Word already was. He is eternal life God. He existed before all created things.” John expresses the relationship between God and Word as one of distinction and unity. On the one hand, the Word was with God; literally, the Word was “toward God.” In the beginning, there was this relationship, an unimaginable fire of love, between God and his Word: the Word was turned “toward” God’s face, and this turning toward was reciprocated. So there are two. On the other hand, there is a unity: the Word was God. Everything that God is, the Word is: they are one – and yet they are two. Once again displaying the mystery of the divine communion, John concludes, the Word was in the beginning with God

1.2 The Word’s Activity in Creating (1:3-5)

3All things came to be through him,

and without him nothing came to be.

What came to be 4through him was life,

and this life was the light of the human race;

5the light shines in the darkness,

And the darkness has not overcome it.

The divine Word is the agent by which God created everything: All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be (Wisdom 9:1; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2). The expression, “through him” suggest cooperation in the act of creation. God the Father gaze on his Word, who is his perfect expression, “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15), “the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being” (Hebrews 1:3). The Word perfectly reflects all that the Father is, expressing all that can ever be created. God the Father creates what he sees imaged in his Word, and thus nothing came to be without the Word.

What came to be through him was life. There are different levels of life in the world: plants, animals, humans, and angels. While human life has some things in common with animals, we are created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27). Human beings are animated by the light of the Logos, so that we have a soul with the capacity to be in relationship with God by knowing and loving him: this life was the light of the human race. The imagery of light appears throughout Scripture to refer to God’s radiant splendor (Exodus 13:21; Psalm 4:7; 36:10; Isaiah 60:19-20) and his instructions for living (Psalm 119:105, 130). John’s Gospel employs light symbolism to present Jesus as “the light of the world” (8:12; 9:5), who reveals the Father and his will and offers the gift of eternal life.

John continues, The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. In the Fourth Gospel, darkness is a symbol for sin, understood broadly as the spiritual condition of alienation from God. This darkness, or evil, is not an eternal force or “stuff” opposite God, as in the heresy called Manichaeism. Rather, we can think of evil as a corruption in something originally good or as the absence of some good that ought to be present. Moreover, the verb translated “overcome” can also mean “comprehend.” The spiritual darkness can neither overpower the light nor understand the light and its ways.

1.3 The Word’s Activity in the World and in Israel (1:6-13)

6A man named John was sent from God. 7He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10He was in the world,

and the world came to be through him,

but the world did not know him.

11He came to what was his own,

but his own people did not accept him.

12But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.

The Evangelist introduces the last and greatest of the prophets: John the Baptist, who was sent from God. The Baptist’s primary role in the Fourth Gospel was to be a witness to Jesus: the Baptist was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The purpose of his testimony to the light is so that all might believe through him. The Gospel later declares that Moses and the whole of Scripture bear witness to Jesus (1:45; 2:22; 5:39). The Baptist appears here as a representative of all who “testify to the light,” meaning the whole prophetic tradition. Israel’s prophets, to whom “the word of God came” (1 Chronicles 17:3), spoke his will and announced his coming. The Baptist completes this prophetic witness to the light: he came so that the light “might be made known to Israel” (1:31).

The Evangelist traces the active presence of the Light, or Word, in creation and especially in Israel. He first speaks of creation at large: the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. All human beings are illumined by the divine Light in our capacity to reason, to know the truth. As St. Thomas Aquinas teaches, “The light of natural reason itself is a participation of the divine light.” Our natural ability to know the truth “whereby we discern what is good and what is evil … is nothing else than an imprint on us of the divine light.” Human beings can know the truth and discern good from evil by our own natural abilities, which are themselves gifts from God. Wherever there is truth or goodness in the world, there is a trace of the divine Word. As St. Justin Martyr writes: “Everything that the [pagan] philosophers and legislators discovered and expressed well, they accomplished through their discovery and contemplation of some part of the Logos [i.e., God’s Word].” The Light, which was in the world, is the divine Word through whom the world was made.

However, the world preferred to ignore the Light: the world did not know him. As St. Paul writes in Romans 1:18, human beings, despite the witness to God in creation, “in their wickedness suppress the truth.” Although the Fourth Gospel does not have an explicit account of original sin, it affirms that the world, which God created good (see Genesis 1:31), has fallen into sin, spiritual darkness, for refusing to acknowledge and receive the divine Light.

Among the nations of the world, God chose a special people as his own: the people of Israel. God entered into a covenant with them (Exodus 19:3-8) that “has never been revoked” (Catechism 121), because “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). The divine Word was close to them in a particular way, and many drew close to him. But many of his own people did not accept him. The word “accept” means to receive in faith, to receive the Word into one’s self and allow him to transform one’s life. As evidenced in the Old Testament, many Israelites refused to hear the Word that was spoken through the prophets. They persisted in sinning and “forgot” the Lord (Hosea 2:15). As a consequence, the Lord meted out the covenantal punishment of exile and scattering (Deuteronomy 28:63-64), breaking up the people, the twelve tribes of Israel, and scattering them among the Gentile nations (2 Kings 17:6-7, 12, 23; 25:8-11). However, the ever-faithful Lord promised through the prophets that he would redeem his people from their sin and punishment in a great, future act of salvation – a new exodus (Isaiah 43:1-8; Jeremiah 16:14-15).

While many did not accept the divine Word, some Israelites did accept him. John combines the faithful in Israel’s past with those who accept the Word in his own day, the new Israel (John 1:47). He then specifies the gift that the Word gives to those who accept him: he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. The people of Israel were already considered God’s children: “Thus says the Lord: Israel is my son, my firstborn” (Exodus 4:22). Their privileged identity as God’s chosen people was bound up with physical generation, creating kinship and with Torah observance. But John speaks of a new kind of generation, a spiritual generation, which comes about through faith in the Word and by a unique, direct action of God himself. Such people are born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. The reason for this new development appears in the next verse.

1.4 The Incarnation of the Word (1:14-18)

14And the Word became flesh

and made his dwelling among us,

and we saw his glory,

the glory as of the Father’s only Son,

full of grace and truth.

15John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’” 16From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, 17because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.

John presents the heart of the Christian mystery and the cause of our becoming “children of God”: the Word became flesh. It is the mystery of the incarnation: the divine Word, who from all eternity is turned toward God and is himself God, has become completely human in Jesus. God, the creator and ruler of all things, has now become part of creation. The divine Word, who was “in the form of God, … emptied himself, taking the form of a slave” (Philippians 2:6-7).

In the incarnation, the divine Word made his dwelling among us. The phrase “made his dwelling” (Greek skēnoō) evokes the language used to designate God’s “dwelling” among his people in the Old Testament (LXX skene). God dwelt with his people in the wilderness tabernacle (Exodus 25:8-9) and in the first Jerusalem temple, built by King Solomon (1 Kings 8:10-13). God’s wisdom made a home in Israel (Sirach 24:8), and Ezekiel spoke of a future temple to be established in connection with God’s end-time, or eschatological, act of salvation (Ezekiel 37:27-28; 48:10). Thus God dwelt among his people in earlier times, but now he does so in a previously unimaginable way: he dwells among us as a man, Jesus of Nazareth.

As the new, unparalleled place of God’s dwelling, the incarnate Word is the fullness of God’s revelation. John makes this claim with his statement, We saw his glory. The Scripture speaks of the Lord’s “glory” as a perceptible manifestation of his awesome presence. By seeing his glory, John refers to a sensible revelation of God himself in Jesus, the incarnate Word.

What John previously articulated in terms of God and the Word, he now expresses more deeply in the intimate, family language of Father and Son. The Father’s only Son is full of grace and truth, the Lord’s “loving-kindness and faithfulness” for which he is praised throughout Scripture (Psalm 25:10, “mercy and truth”; 117:2, “mercy” and “faithfulness”). Recall that in 1:12 the divine Word enables those who receive him in faith “to become children of God.” The family language of Father and Son sheds more light on this reality: Jesus is the Son, and to become a child of God means to share in Jesus’ own divine life as the Son.

The Baptist, who was previously mentioned as the summit of prophetic witness (1:6-8), now gives explicit witness to the Son: This was he of whom I said, “The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me” (see v. 30).

The Evangelist then begins his own witness to the incarnate Word as the fulfillment of God’s saving plan. The fullness of the Son is his being everything the Father is (“the Word was God”) except that he is distinct from the Father (he “was with God,” 1:1). From this divine relationship we have received, grace in place of grace. John sees salvation history as marked by two great gifts from God. The first is God’s gift of the Torah to Israel: the law was given through Moses. As the Psalmist prays, “How I love your law, Lord! / I study it all day long” (Psalm 119:97). The second and even greater gift is grace and truth, the fullness of divine revelation through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2). The relationship between Torah and Jesus is not to be understood as bad followed by good, but as goof followed by better. The “better” is a direct, living encounter with the Word Incarnate through the Holy Spirit; the “good” was a real but partial encounter with the Word through the Torah – an anticipated participation.

No one has ever seen God, “who dwells in unapproachable light, and whom no human being has seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:16). Even Moses, after he prayed that he might be allowed to see God (Exodus 33:18), was granted only a fleeting glimpse of his “back” (33:23), for God declared, “You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live” (33:20). God is so awesome and magnificent that the direct sight of him would so overwhelm us that we would die. But now, the only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him. The Son, who is God’s Word and Wisdom, has become a human being in Jesus of Nazareth without any loss of his divinity. In Jesus, people can see, hear, and touch God himself directly. As Pope St. John Paul II taught, in Jesus we see “the human face of God.” By receiving his revelation, we can begin to know the truth of Jesus’ words: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9).

2. Successive Days of Revelation (1:19-2:12)

The first major section of the Gospel, “The Book of Signs” (John 1-12), narrates Jesus’ public ministry. Within the Book of Signs, the first subsection (1:19-4:54) contains a series of incidents and dialogues that occur as Jesus travels back and forth between Judea and Galilee. Throughout this section, the invitation to faith in Jesus is offered to different people.

John 1:19-51 contains a sequence of four days of revelation in which different aspects of Jesus’ identity are revealed. This sequence of days of revelation reaches its high point and completion at the wedding feast at Cana (2:1-12). In this sequence of days, John introduces us to Jesus, whose identity and role in the divine plan is given in a series of titles, such as the Lamb of God, Messiah, Son of God, and Son of Man.

2.1 The First Day of Revelation: John the Baptist, the Lord’s Witness (1:19-28)

19And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites [to him] to ask him, “Who are you?” 20he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Messiah.” 21So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” 23He said:

“I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the desert,

“Make straight the way of the Lord,”’

as Isaiah the prophet said.” 24Some Pharisees were also sent. 25They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?” 26John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, 27the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” 28This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Evangelist introduces us to the testimony or “witness” of John the Baptist. Testimony, or witness, is an important term in John’s Gospel. Instead of using the term “evangelize,” John speaks of “witnessing,” which in a Christian context suggests not only personal, firsthand knowledge but also risking one’s all.

A delegation from Jerusalem arrives, sent to find out whether John is, or thinks he is, one of the end-time figures whom Jews were expecting. There was no uniform expectation for a messianic figure in Jewish antiquity, and the various titles in the section (Messiah, Elijah, the Prophet) reflect the diversity of end-time expectations. The Baptist openly acknowledges, I am not the Messiah, God’s promised deliverer.

The Jerusalem delegation then asks, Are you Elijah? Some biblical texts prophesied that Elijah would return before God’s end-time action to save his people and punish the wicked. The prophet Malachi describes Elijah’s role in the end times:

Now I am sending to you Elijah the prophet,

before the day of the Lord comes…

He will turn the heart of fathers to their sons,

and the heart of sons to their fathers. (Malachi 3:23-24; see Sirach 48:4, 10)

As described in Matthew and Mark, John the Baptist’s manner of life and dress were patterned on that of Elijah (compare 2 Kings 1:8 and Matthew 3:4). Here the Baptist denies that he is literally the prophet Elijah; yet in the Synoptics, Jesus speaks of him as Elijah (Matthew 17:11-13) in the sense of acting “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17).

The Baptist also denies that he is the Prophet. In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses says, “A prophet like me will the Lord, your God raise up for you from among your own kindred; that is the one to whom you shall listen.” This text formed the basis for the expectation of a Prophet-like-Moses, a messianic figure to come, and later in the Gospel, many people think of Jesus in this role (6:14-15; 7:40).

After the delegation asks the Baptist to identity himself, he responds in words that were then stirring in the hearts in Israel: I am “the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as Isaiah the prophet said. The Baptist is quoting the opening lines of Isaiah 40. This text is cited in the Dead Sea Scrolls, where it expresses the desire for “the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25) – the hope that God would fulfill his promises to save his people from their covenantal punishment and suffering. By applying these words to himself, the Baptist awakens in many hearts the expectation that the promised time of salvation is close.

Not only are “priests and Levites” (1:19) in the Jerusalem delegation but also Pharisees. Their question, Why then do you baptize?, searches for the basis of the Baptist’s authority and the reason for his activity. The Baptist responds by pointing to the dignity of the one who is coming and the fact that he himself is beneath the status of this one’s slave (whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie). The first day closes with the specification of the geographical location of the Baptist’s activity: in Bethany across the Jordan.

2.2 The Second Day of Revelation: The Baptist’s Testimony to Jesus (1:29-34)

29The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 30He is one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ 31I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” 32John testified further, saying “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. 33I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

The Prologue indicated that the Baptist’s primary role is “to testify” or bear witness to Jesus (1:6-8, 15). On this second day, Jesus appears in the Gospel for the first time, and the Baptist gives his testimony about him.

The Evangelist begins with a turn of phrase that is a recurring pattern in the Gospel: someone sees another person and says something about him or her (1:29, 36, 47; 19:26-27). This is a formula of revelation in which one person sees another and then reveals that person’s role in God’s plan. In the first instance, the Baptist saw Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. The title Lamb of God combines several biblical allusions.

[1] First, the lamb is central in the Passover liturgy, which celebrates the exodus, God’s mighty act to save the Israelites from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12:1-13). New Testament writers depict Jesus as the new Passover Lamb, whose sacrificial death brings about deliverance from sin and reconciliation with God (John 19:14, 36; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 5:9).

[2] Second, the title “Lamb” resonates with the temple’s sacrificial system in which lambs, as well as other animals and items of value, were offered to God in worship as sacrifices. Thus “Lamb” alludes to the animal sacrifices by which the people’s sins were ceremonially purged and reconciliation with God was attained (Leviticus 1:1-13). Jesus, however, is not just one more liturgical sacrifice: he is the Lamb, who definitively lifts off the whole mass of sin and evil that presses upon the whole human race, and he brings about complete reconciliation with God.

[3] Third, the book of Isaiah describes a Suffering Servant of the Lord, who goes to his death to obtain forgiveness for others’ sins as “a lamb led to slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7). Since Jesus talks about his death with reference to the Suffering Servant (John 3:14-15; 8:28; 12:32; see Isaiah 52:13), we can see in the title “Lamb” an allusion to the Suffering Servant.

The Baptist next refers to Jesus’ divine dignity: A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me. These words recall the Prologue. The divine Word existed eternally with God the Father from before creation (1:1). The preexistence of the Word is why the Baptist repeats his testimony from 1:15, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’”

The Baptist also acknowledges that he did not recognize Jesus, even though his vocation was to speak out so that the One to come might be made known to Israel. It was when he baptized Jesus that he saw the Spirit descend and rest upon Jesus and recalled God’s words to him: On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one. The Holy Spirit’s descent and remaining upon Jesus fulfilled God’s promise in Isaiah 11:2 of an ideal future king: “The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.” Through this promised king, “the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:9). The One on whom God’s Spirit rests will bring peace and fill people with the knowledge of the Lord because he will baptize with the Holy Spirit. That is, Jesus will send God’s Spirit to dwell in and purify his people – something God promised to do in the end times (see The Biblical Promise of the Holy Spirit). Anointed with and possessing the Holy Spirit, Jesus is able to pour the same Holy Spirit out upon humanity. After seeing the Spirit descend and remain upon Jesus, the Baptist testified to Jesus’ true reality: He is the Son of God.

2.3 The Third Day of Revelation: The First Disciples (1:35-42)

35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, 36and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” 37The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. 40Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. 41He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

The third day begins with the same “see and say” revelation formula that opened the previous day (1:29). With two of his disciples standing by, John sees Jesus walk by and again declares his role in the divine plan: Behold, the Lamb of God.

Then something new happens. Having heard the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus, these two begin the journey of discipleship: they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and with his first words in the Gospel, asks them a question that confronts every person: What are you looking for? Responding to him, but thinking of Jesus more as a teacher than as Lord, they ask, Rabbi [Teacher], where are you staying? Jesus’ response is both an invitation and a promise: Come, and you will see. The two disciples stayed with Jesus all that day, until four in the afternoon. The Greek verb translated as “stayed” (meno) is theologically significant in John. The same verb is translated elsewhere as “remain.” Jesus uses this verb to denote his intimate relationship with the Father, the divine communion (14:10; 15:10), into which he calls his disciples (15:9). When the two disciples saw where he was staying, they not only learned where Jesus was lodging in an earthly sense, but they also began to discover his true, spiritual abode with the Father.

Andrew is one of these two disciples. Just as these two came to Jesus through the Baptist’s testimony, we now see them bringing others to Jesus through their own testimony. Andrew found his own brother Simon. Andrew tells Simon that he and his companion have found the Messiah. While it is difficult for us to imagine the impact of this claim on a first-century Jew, its meaning is clear: God has come to honor his promises to Israel in this man.

Andrew then brought Simon to Jesus, and we again find the “see and say” revelation formula in which one person sees another and then says what his or her role is in God’s plan (1:29, 36). Jesus looked at Simon and declared, You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas. Jesus thus declares to Peter his role in God’s plan: as Abram became Abraham (Genesis 17:5) and Jacob became Israel (Genesis 32:29), so now Simon becomes Kephas, “the Rock,” the foundation of the Church that Jesus will build (Matthew 16:18). At the end of the Gospel, Jesus will entrust his sheep to Peter and give Peter a unique share in his role as the good shepherd (21:15-19).

2.4 The Fourth Day of Revelation: Disciples in Galilee (1:43-51)

43The next day he decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” 46But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.” 48Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” 50Nathanel answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” 50Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” 51And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of Man.”

After gathering these disciples, Jesus traveled north to Galilee. On the previous days (1:29, 35), the call of the disciples took place through the witness of another. The first two disciples went to Jesus after hearing the Baptist’s testimony, and then Peter was brought to Jesus through Andrew. Noe, in a pattern similar to the call stories in the Synoptics (see Mark 1:16-20), Jesus himself calls Philip: Follow me. Philip’s home was Bethsaida, a rather large town on the northeast tip of the Sea of Galilee and also the hometown of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathanael there (Nathanael has been traditionally identified as St. Bartholomew, one of the twelve Apostles; see Luke 6:14) and declared Jesus’ messianic identity: We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth. After encountering Jesus, Philip sees in him the fulfillment of God’s promises in Scripture to act on behalf of his people. Behind and above all the great figures in the history of God’s people, there is a unifying reality, foreshadowed in the lives of the patriarchs and prophets, hinted at in Israel’s “poor” ones who are especially faithful to and reliant upon the Lord (Psalm 10:17; 14:6), and glimpsed in the righteous kings. He is the one to come, the object of mystical longing. He is the one described in prophecy, anticipated in prayer, and praised by sinners for his mercy. He is the one about whom Moses and the prophets wrote, and – Philip declares – we have found him! He is Jesus from Nazareth.

Nathanael, however, is somewhat let down, because he judges Jesus by his human origins: Can anything good come from Nazareth? This topic of Jesus’ identity in terms of his origins appears frequently throughout the Gospel (7:27-28; 8:14; 9:2-30). Philip’s response to Nathanael’s condescending skepticism echoes that of Jesus to the first two disciples: Come and see.

The “see and say” revelation formula again appears (1:29, 36, 42): Jesus sees Nathanael coming and says of him, “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathanael is a faithful son of Israel, one of whom the psalmist can say, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, / in whose spirit is no deceit” (Psalm 32:2). Nathanael asks how Jesus knows him, and Jesus gives evidence of knowing much more than he can guess: Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree. Some biblical texts speak of being in the shade of a fig tree as a symbol of the peace of the messianic age (Micah 4:4; Zechariah 3:10). Jesus’ words strike Nathanael as a prophetic announcement that he will himself have a place in the messianic age, and Nathanael responds with an acclamation of Jesus as Messiah: Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel. Only when Jesus rises from the dead will the full content of these titles be manifest. Yet Nathanael has made a great stride toward understanding, and he is rewarded by a solemn promise from Jesus: You will see greater things than this.

Jesus says, Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. These words, which are addressed to all disciples because the “you” is plural, are the last step in the successive revelation of Jesus in this chapter, and they open up into the rest of the Gospel. From the beginning of the narrative in 1:19, a series of titles has been given to Jesus by others: “Lamb of God” (1:29, 36), “Son of God” (1:34, 49), “Rabbi” (1:38), “Messiah” (Christ) (1:41), “the one about whom Moses wrote” (1:45), “King of Israel” (1:49). The last title in the sequence, Son of Man, is especially important, because it is the title by which Jesus refers to himself.

The mention of angels ascending and descending from heaven upon something alludes to the theophany, or appearance of God, to Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 28:10-19). God appeared to Jacob in a dream and extended to him the covenantal promises made to Abraham and Isaac. When he awoke, Jacob said, “How awesome this place is! This is nothing else but the house of God, the gateway to heaven!” (Genesis 28:17). Jacob anointed a stone there with oil and named the place “Bethel,” which means “the house of God” (28:18-19).

Jesus combines two important themes from this Jacob story into his title “Son of Man.” The first is revelation. At Bethel, the Lord revealed himself to Jacob in a dream; now he reveals himself directly and physically in Jesus. The second theme is God’s dwelling place. Jacob referred to the site where the Lord appeared to him as Bethel, “the house of God.” Now, “the Word became flesh / and made his dwelling among us” (1:14). Jesus is the direct, physical dwelling of God among human beings; because God has taken on human nature in Jesus, Jesus reveals God in a new, unsurpassable way. The incarnate Word is the new “house of God,” where the glory of the Lord is present and sensible, and he is the “gateway to heaven” (Genesis 28:17). The fulfillment of Jesus’ promise – the revelation of God in Jesus who becomes humanity’s gateway to heaven – will be the substance of the rest of the Gospel.

2.5 Glory Revealed on the “Third Day”: The Wedding at Cana (2:1-12)

1On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. 3When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4[And] Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him. 12After this, he and his mother, [his] brothers, and his disciples went down to Capernaum and stayed there only a few days.

It is striking that in the narrative about a wedding, we hear nothing of the bride, and the groom appears only briefly at the very end. This oddity suggests that John sees more in this event than is first visible. The wedding at Cana illustrates John’s ability to retain the earthly dimension of an event while showing it to reveal a divine mystery. John thus displays the kind of theological vision proper to the spiritual interpretation of Scripture: The spiritual meaning, then, is to be found on all sides, not only or especially in a book, but first and foremost in reality itself. The divine mystery is present in and revealed through the concrete realities of salvation history. By the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, John sees in the Cana miracle a beginning of God’s revelation and salvation in Jesus. He carefully narrates this even to help us see that the interior dimension of Jesus’ compassionate gesture for the banquet’s host is really the initial unfolding of the final act in the Father’s saving plan, a plan promised and made to Israel “in partial and various ways” (Hebrews 1:1) but now made known in his Son.

After four days enumerated in John 1, the Cana account begins, On the third day. The mention of the third day is open to several interpretations. The interpretation we will develop here is that the third day alludes to the giving of the law on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19 and its celebration in Jewish tradition.

After leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, Moses brings them to Mount Sinai, where the Lord offers a covenant relationship to Israel. The people of Israel respond, “Everything the Lord has said, we will do” (Exodus 19:8). The Lord then tells the Israelites that he will appear to them three days later, and he instructs them to prepare for his appearance on the third day: “Be ready for the third day; for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people” (Exodus 19:11; see 19:15). “On the morning of the third day” (19:16) the Lord appears on Mount Sinai in his awesome power and reveals his “glory” (Deut 5:24).

God’s giving of the Torah and the covenant at Mount Sinai came to be commemorated liturgically on the Jewish Feast of Pentecost and some elements of the Jewish interpretation of this even resonate with the Cana narrative. For instance, a second-century Jewish commentary on Exodus 19, the Mekilta of Rabbi Ishmael, enumerates a series of days in preparation for God giving the Torah on “the third day,” and this numbering is similar to John’s listing a sequence of days (1:19, 35, 43) in preparation for “the third day” (2:1).

There was a wedding on the third day in Cana in Galilee. This Cana is most likely Khirbet Cana, located about nine miles north of Nazareth. Beyond being the simple report of a wedding banquet, this notice recalls the biblical prophets likening of the covenant relationship between God and Israel to a marriage (Hosea 2:16-25): God is the groom, and his people Israel are the bride. Isaiah uses marriage imagery to talk about God’s definitive, future act of salvation to redeem his people from sin and reconcile them to himself. God’s saving action is grounded in his covenant faithfulness and love: “For your husband is your Maker; / the Lord of hosts is his name, / Your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 54:5). When God performs this saving action and renews the covenant, the resulting situation is likened to a wedding: “As a young man marries a virgin, / your Builder shall marry you” (Isaiah 62:5). The Sinai covenant, God’s promise of a definitive act of salvation, and its marriage imagery come together here to form a rich context within which John invites us to contemplate the wedding of Cana.

The first person mentioned is attending this wedding is the mother of Jesus; Jesus and his disciples are mentioned after her. Several things about John’s presentation of Jesus’ mother are significant. First, she appears only twice in the Gospel: at Cana and at the foot of the cross (19:25-27). Her presence in these two episodes is not an accidental curiosity. The two incidents point to spiritual truths about the mother of Jesus that do not readily appear in a surface reading of the text. Moreover, John never refers to the Blessed Mother by her proper name, Mary, but only as the mother of Jesus. By leaving her unnamed, John allows her to have a larger symbolic role in the Gospel. Scripture often personifies the people of God as a feminine figure, such as the Lord’s covenantal bride. In the Old Testament, Israel is personified as “daughter Zion” (Psalm 9:15; Isaiah 62:11; Zephaniah 3:14) or as the children of Mother Zion (Isaiah 66:7-9; see also 60:1-7), and in the New Testament, the Church is personified as the bride of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:29-32; Revelation 19:6-8; 21:2, 9). At Cana, the mother of Jesus appears as the embodiment, in a single person, of the faithful, obedient people of God. Just as the people Israel expressed perfect faithfulness to God at the covenantal wedding at Mount Sinai – “We will do everything that the Lord has told us” (Exodus 24:3; see 19:8; 24:7) – so too the mother of Jesus instructs those present at the wedding to “Do whatever he tells you” (2:5; compare Luke 1:38). The mother of Jesus is the model of those obedient to God: she both displays and encourages perfect covenant faithfulness and love for God.

A problem arises at the wedding and needs resolution: the wine runs short, and the mother of Jesus brings this need to her Son. Running out of wine would be cause of embarrassment for the host of the wedding banquet. Thus Mary’s notice that They have no wine implies a request for Jesus to help their friends. But the biblical overtones of the story suggest that the wine has a spiritual meaning beyond simply being the drink required at the wedding (see comments on 2:9-10 below).

Jesus’ twofold response to his mother has been much discussed. The first part, Woman, how does your concern affect me?, literally reads, “What to me and to you, woman?” “What is this to me and to you?” is a Semitic expression that creates a distance in interest or understanding between two parties. Here, in addition, it serves to place the relationship between the two parties on a new basis. While the title “woman” was a typical way of addressing women in antiquity (John 4:21; 8:10; Matthew 15:28), it was not a form of address for one’s own mother. In this first part of his response, Jesus in a certain sense distances himself from an exclusively mother-son relationship, as he is recorded to have done in the Synoptics. Yet through the culturally surprising address of his mother as “woman,” Jesus also reestablishes the relationship between them on a different basis: discipleship and the accomplishment of God’s saving work.

In the second part of his response, Jesus tells his mother, My hour has not yet come. This is the first time that Jesus speaks of his hour, a frequently recurring topic in the Gospel. Jesus’ hour is the time of the cross and resurrection when he fully reveals the Father’s love and accomplishes his saving work. It is also grammatically possible to read Jesus’ words here as a question, “Has not my hour already come?” Understood in this way, Jesus would be announcing that the hour to inaugurate his saving work is now, and its completion will be at the cross when Jesus again addresses his mother as “Woman.”

Mary shows that she accepts her new relation to Jesus as his disciple who has a special role as a companion in his work. Recognizing this shift in their relationship is the key to understanding the full dimension of the narrative. Jesus’ mother tells the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” These words assign Mary a twofold role. First, she is the model disciple, subordinate to her Son. Her words echo Israel’s response to God’s offer of the covenant: “Everything that the Lord has said, we will do” (Exodus 19:8; see 24:3, 7). Mary instructs the servants to listen to her Son as the people Israel listened to the Lord at Sinai. Second, by first bringing the host’s needs to Jesus and encouraging the servant to be docile and obedient to him, Mary is an intermediary between her Son and the members of the household. As St. Thomas Aquinas writes, Mary “assumed the role of a mediatrix [in two ways]. … First, she intercedes, with her Son. In the second place, she instructs the servants.” The mother of Jesus presents the needs of the people to Jesus, and she encourages the people in the ways of discipleship, instructing them to obey Jesus.

The mention of the six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings recalls the ordinances about ritual purity in the Torah. Ritual purity was a condition that allowed a person to be near God’s presence. Moving into a state of ritual purity often involved washing oneself or various items with water. It is not clear what specific purification washings are meant here, but they nevertheless fit within the general allusions to the Sinai covenant in this story.

Jesus gives the servants two commands: Fill the jars with water and Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter. In both cases, the servants heed the advice of Jesus’ mother and do exactly as he says. The servants filled the water jars to the brim. Jesus will turn this huge amount of water – between 120 and 180 gallons – into wine! Such a large quantity, more than one could expect for a wedding banquet, subtly suggests a deeper meaning to these events beyond simply meeting the need for more wine. An abundant supply of wine appears in many biblical texts speaking about God’s eschatological act of salvation. When God brings about the definitive salvation of his people, there will be great celebration, with a superabundance of wine. Amos says, “The mountains shall drip with the juice of grapes, / and all the hills shall run with it” (9:13); later Joel declares, “On that day, / the mountains will drip new wine” (4:18).

Then the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, but he did not know where it came from. However, the servers knew that Jesus was the source. The headwaiter then called the bridegroom, and his words both conclude the narrative and proclaim its meaning.

According to ordinary human practice and expectation, Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one. But the Lord does not work according to human ways or expectations: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, / nor are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8). The headwaiter concludes that something new and unexpected has happened: but you have kept the good wine until now.

We can now draw together the different biblical allusions in this account and glimpse the spiritual meaning of this event. Through his prophets the Lord promised a definitive act of salvation by which he would redeem his people from sin and renew the covenant. This New Covenant was likened to a marriage between God and his redeemed people, and in this new, perfected state of affairs, God would meet and vastly exceed his people’s needs, such that no one would want for anything. Hence the prophets described it as a time of great prosperity, including such things as a superabundance of good wine. In this seemingly simple event at a wedding, john invites us to see a great mystery: God’s great, end-time act of salvation to fulfill his promises and renew his covenant is being accomplished in his Son Jesus. God’s covenant marriage with his people on the third day at Sinai is being renewed in the eschatological marriage of the Messiah with his people, personified by his mother, on the third day at Cana. The water of the Sinai covenant is not being thrown out, but it is being transposed into the wine of the Gospel in the new context of the Word made flesh.

The miracle at Cana was the beginning of Jesus’ signs. John refers to Jesus’ miracles as signs because these mighty deeds of divine power reveal or point to spiritual truths about Jesus through sensible means. Jesus’ signs are an extension of his incarnation. Just as Jesus’ humanity reveals his divinity, so also do his signs reveal his glory, his divinity. Jesus’ transformation of water into wine discloses his fulfilling God’s promises of salvation and covenantal renewal. Just as “the glory of the Lord” was revealed to Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:16-17), so too at Cana is his glory revealed in this sign performed by the incarnate Word.

After witnessing this sign, Jesus’ disciples began to believe in him. Faith in Jesus goes hand in hand with the proper apprehension of his signs as disclosing spiritual mysteries. Jesus’ disciples already have some rudimentary faith, as evident in their discipleship and their various affirmations about Jesus in John 1. They are able to see the Cana miracle as a sign, and now, moving beyond a series of affirmations, they begin to believe in Jesus personally. Faith goes beyond assent to doctrinal claims, moving to a personal commitment of trust in God himself. As we shall see, the disciples’ faith remains imperfect throughout the Gospel (see John 13-16). It reaches maturity only after Jesus’ resurrection, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit.

John adds that Jesus, with his mother, [his] brothers, and his disciples, went down to Capernaum and stayed there only a few days. The order of those listed is significant, because it is the inverse of how the account started. The Cana narrative began with the mother of Jesus named first (2:1), but now Jesus, here Son and Lord, appears in the leading role.

* * *

The first thing that we want to note is when this sign took place. Verse 1 says “On the third day there was a marriage”. That immediately raises the question, “Third day from what?”

To find out, let’s go all the way back to the first verse of the Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “In the beginning” is used in Genesis. The parallel is that Jesus is a new beginning, a new Genesis, a new creation. The connections continue: “all things were made through him”; the Word is the Light. This is Day One: “Let there be light”. Next, we read, “The next day”, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:6, 20, 29).

The pattern continues, and the phrase, “the next day” recurs in verses 35 and 43. By the end of chapter 1, four days have elapsed in the Gospel, and so Chapter 2 begins, “on the third day”. All total, this is the seventh day. This is the new creation in Jesus. In Genesis, Adam is made on the sixth day, falls into a deep sleep, God takes his rib, makes Eve, wakes Adam, and brings Eve to him. When Adam wakes up, this would be the morning of the seventh day. And that’s when Eve is introduced to him for the first time. Likewise, in the Gospel of John, it is on the seventh day of the gospel that a woman is first mentioned: “There was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there” (2:1). Mary is the New Eve.

Jesus is also invited to the marriage. Jesus is the New Adam. Obviously, it is not Jesus’ marriage, but it is a marriage, and the only identified people at this marriage are Jesus and his mother. So they stand to the forefront as the New Eve and the New Adam.

By providing wine, Jesus has performed the duty of the bridegroom, and he’s done it a lot better than the guy whose party it really was. Jesus makes 180 gallons. He makes it abundantly, just as the prologue stated: “From his abundance, we have all received grace upon grace” (1:16). This theme of abundance is going to run through the Gospel as Jesus does everything in a big way: an enormous amount of bread and fish for the five thousand (ch. 6), a large amount of spices poured on his body at his burial (ch. 19), a large catch of fish in the Sea of Galilee (ch. 21). Jesus is our bridegroom who has come to satisfy us to the full.

In this sign that Jesus performs at Cana, we see a relationship to the Sacrament of Matrimony. Jesus is the true bridegroom of his people. Marriage is not something humans just invented. God designed marriage and put it in place at the beginning of creation. And God designed that the husband and wife relationship reflect the covenant relationship between himself and his people. The covenant relationship between himself and his people comes first, and God designed marriage to reflect it. Marriage is an icon of Christ and his Church.

The sign Jesus performs also points to the Eucharist. The early Christians who read the Gospel of John realized that if Jesus had the power to turn water into win he also had the power to turn wine into his blood. From early times, the Eucharist has been called the “Wedding Feast of the Lamb”.

After the wedding at Cana, the next story points to the seventh sign, when Jesus says: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. He was talking about the temple of his body (2:21). The sign that Jesus will show them to demonstrate he has the authority to cleanse the Temple is the raising up of his temple-body after they have destroy it. So here, near the beginning of the Gospel of John, we already get a forecast of what the seventh and final sign is going to be: the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The theme of Jesus as bridegroom that we saw at the wedding of Cana continues into John 3, where Jesus discusses with Nicodemus how a man needs to be “born anew” by “water and the Spirit” in order to “enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3-5). This is a follow-up from the wedding at Cana. The children of God are born through water and the Spirit.

Jesus leaves to go throughout Judea, preaching and letting his disciples baptize. John the Baptist hears of Jesus’ ministry, which is now attracting more followers than his own. But John is not jealous; he calls Jesus the “bridegroom” and compares himself to the best man (3:29). The best man is happy for the bridegroom and ready to step into the background.

Bridegroom themes continue into the next chapter, where Jesus encounters a woman from Samaria. While traveling through that country, he sits down by a well. As soon as he does so, we know a woman is going to show up because that is what always seems to happen in the Old Testament: Isaac, Jacob, and Moses all met their future wives at a well (see Genesis 24, 29; Exodus 2).

Jesus proceeds to ask her for a drink. That reminds us of Genesis 24, where Abraham’s servant asked Rebekah for a drink in order to tell if God intended her as a bride for Isaac. The Samaritan woman shows surprise that Jesus, a Jew, has asked her for a drink, and the two get into a conversation. At some point Jesus promises that ha can provide “living water” for the woman. This reminds us of Jacob, who provided water for all Rachel’s flock when he first met her at the well. In fact, the watering hole where Jesus and the woman were talking was known as “Jacob’s well”. Then Jesus brings up the subject of marriage explicitly by telling the woman to go get her husband. This brings up the woman’s personal history and after a bit of theological discussion, Jesus flabbergasts the woman by claiming to be the Messiah. Floored, she wanders back into town and calls the townspeople to come out and meet this astounding Jewish prophet. The townspeople do, and listen to Jesus’ teaching. After two days, they are won over and come to believe he truly is the Messiah (John 4:1-41).

The point of this story in John 4 is not that there was a romantic relationship between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Rather, this woman was a symbol of the Samaritan people as a whole. The Samaritans were the lasting surviving descendants of the ten northern tribes of Israel. These tribes were the “bride” of God according to the prophet Hosea. And although they had been unfaithful to their husband God and had intermarried with five pagan peoples and worshipped their gods (2 Kings 17:24-41), still Hosea had promised that God would return and “marry” them once again (Hosea 2:4-23). Jesus is God, returning to the last descendants of Israel and inviting them to “marry” him again, to return to him in love.

3. Jesus’ First Trip to Jerusalem (2:13-3:36)

The Gospel records four visits of Jesus to Jerusalem for Jewish religious festivals (2:13; 5:1; 7:10; 12:12). During this first trip, Jesus starts his public ministry with a dramatic, prophetic action in the Jerusalem temple, the most important institution in the most important biblical city (2:13-25). A prominent Jewish leader named Nicodemus, who realizes that there is something extraordinary about Jesus, pays him a visit, and Jesus engages Nicodemus in a dialogue to lead him to a deeper faith (3:1-15). After a proclamation by the Evangelist about Jesus’ role in salvation history (3:16-21), we are given John the Baptist’s final testimony about Jesus (3:22-30) and another theological reflection from the Evangelist (3:31-36) that sums up themes in John 3.

3.1 The Temple, Old and New (2:13-25)

13Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. 15He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, 16and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” 17His disciples recalled the words of scripture, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. 23While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. 24But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, 25and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.

After a short sojourn in Capernaum, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and the text implies that the disciples accompanied him (2:12, 17, 22; 3:22).

For the first time in the Gospel, we meet with a direct notice of a Jewish liturgical feast: the Passover of the Jews is near. As an observant Jew, Jesus makes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and enters the temple area. The temple was the most important institution and building in Jewish life. It was the place where God dwelt among his people in a special manner, and thus it was a central factor and component in Jewish life. The temple was God’s house, the place where he made himself known, instructed his people, and received their worship. As the psalmist sang,

How lovely your dwelling,

O Lord of hosts!

My soul yearns and pines

for the courts of the Lord (Psalm 84:2-3)

The temple operated under the auspices of the high priest and the priestly aristocracy in Jerusalem.

Upon entering the temple precincts, Jesus saw those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. Since Passover was a pilgrimage festival, it attracted an international crowd of pilgrims, which swelled the population of Jerusalem with hundreds of thousands of people. The temple’s Court of the Gentiles would have been inundated with pilgrims, who were given entrance to the temple precincts in successive waves, Since foreign coinage often carried the image of emperors or kings (Mark 12:15-17) and such images were considered a violation of the law (Exodus 20:4), the pilgrims needed to exchange their currency to pay the temple tax and buy sacrificial animals in money acceptable in the temple (hence the money-changers). Pilgrims would have their Passover lambs ritually slaughtered and offered in sacrifice for the nation (hence the sheep and birds).

Jesus then drove out those who supplied pilgrims with the proper temple coinage and the animals for the Passover sacrifices. The Synoptics locate the temple incident shortly before Jesus’ passion, during the only visit of Jesus to Jerusalem during his public ministry mentioned in the Synoptics (Matthew 21:12-17). But John, for theological reasons, places this event at the start of Jesus’ public life.

Several things in Jesus’ command, Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace, provide insight into John’s theological understanding of the temple incident. Of the four Gospel accounts of this incident, only John has Jesus calling the temple my Father’s house. This unique phrase reveals that John understands Jesus’ action here in terms of his relationship with the Father. Jesus is the Son of God, and his relationship with the Father legitimates his astonishing action, which disrupts the business related to sacrificial offerings (and implies a claim to have control over the temple). By disrupting the sacrificial system, Jesus symbolically announces changes to come in the worship of God. Just as the water of Sinai was transformed into the wine of the gospel at Cana, so will the worship of God be transposed into the worship of the New Covenant, “worship in Spirit and truth” (4:24).

Only in John’s account does Jesus of the commerce in the temple as turning it into a “marketplace.” This could be a subtle allusion to the end-time vision in Zechariah 14. There the prophet envisions the day of the Lord, when he will come in power to rescue his people, defeat their enemies, and establish a perfect state of affairs in the world. God will so sanctify his people that they will have no need to purchase animals for sacrifices in the temple: “No longer will there be merchants in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day” (Zechariah 14:21). Jesus’ command that the commerce in the temple must stop could be a prophetic indication that the Lord has now come with the salvation for his people that Zechariah foretold.

Jesus’ disciples recalled the words of scripture, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The quotation is from Psalm 69:10, but John has a subtle but very significant difference. In the ancient Greek version the text reads, “Zeal for your house consumed me” (Psalm 68:10 LXX), but in John the verb is in the future tense, “will consume me.” Jesus’ zeal for his Father is one of the principal reasons that he will be consumed on the cross.

By placing the temple incident at the start of Jesus’ public ministry, John provides a lens for viewing the whole of Jesus’ life and work. For the first time in the Gospel, Jesus speaks of his relationship with the Father. The Father is the source of Jesus’ authority and his mission of salvation. His claims about his relationship with the Father and his actions that follow from it will be the cause of controversy between him and the Jerusalem religious authorities throughout his life and will lead to his death.

The temple authorities (the Jews) then challenge Jesus: What sign can you show us for doing this? They are looking for some sign from God that would provide sanction for Jesus’ provocative actions in the temple. Jesus gives them an answer: Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. The Gospels report that Jesus connected his actions in the temple with a statement that prophesied the temple’s destruction. His words and deeds in the temple recall the prophet Jeremiah, who threatened the destruction of the first Jerusalem temple if the people of Judah would not repent of their sins (Jeremiah 7:1-15). These prophetic words of Jesus must have been quite memorable because they reappear, in a misunderstood (and twisted) form, in accounts of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion in Matthew and Mark (see Mark 14:56-59; 15:29-30).

The temple authorities, however, do not understand, and they issue a further challenge: This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days? The construction works referred to is the renovation and expansion of the temple started by Herod the Great in 19 BC. In fact, the temple was still receiving its final touches in AD 70 when it was destroyed by the Romans.

The temple authorities think that Jesus is talking about destroying and rebuilding the actual temple building, but John provides us with the intended spiritual meaning of Jesus’ words: He was speaking about the temple of his body. The Evangelist has taught that the incarnate Word is the new dwelling of God in the world: the divine Word “made his dwelling among us” in Jesus (1:14). Similarly, when Jesus alludes to Jacob’s dream at Bethel (which means “the house of God”; 1:51), he suggests that his disciples will see that the incarnate Word is the “house of God,” the place of divine revelation. The bodily resurrection of Jesus – the raising up of the temple of his body after death – will be the sign that provides the Father’s confirmation and sanctioning of all that Jesus said and did.

Like the temple authorities, Jesus’ disciples did not understand his words at the time. But when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. In 2:17 and 12:16, the disciples are said to remember. This activity goes far beyond simple recollection. At the Last Supper, Jesus tells the disciples that the Holy Spirit, “will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you” (14:26). The disciples’ remembering will be guided by the Holy Spirit in them after Jesus’ resurrection. The New Testament writings often speak of Jesus’ resurrection as the key to fully understanding the Scriptures in their depths. In Luke 24 the risen Jesus, standing in the midst of his disciples, “opened their minds to understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45; see 24:25-27). When John tells us here that the disciples came to believe the scripture, he probably refers to the whole Old Testament, which, when read in light of Jesus’ resurrection, clearly speaks of the death and vindication of the Messiah.

Jesus also performed some miraculous signs, and as a result, many festival pilgrims began to believe in his name. Jesus’ miraculous signs are a way by which people come to believe in him, but these actions must also be seen in the proper light. Sometimes in the Gospel, people are drawn to Jesus simply because they are bedazzled by his miracles. They see him as a wonder-worker and do not understand that the miracles are signs, revealing spiritual truths about him and his work. Jesus would not trust himself to such people, for he knew what lies within the human heart. He saw that their interest in him was shallow, a “house [built] on sand” (Matthew 7:26).

3.2 Dialogue with a Scholar and John’s Reflection (3:1-21)

1Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” 3Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again from above.” 4Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” 5Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. 7Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ 8The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9Nicodemus answered and said to him, “How can this happen?” 10Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? 11Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. 12If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. 14And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. 15so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

16For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. 20For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. 21But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

While in the environs of Jerusalem, Jesus receives a respectful visit from a distinguished guest. We have not a confrontation but a dialogue between Jesus and a ruler of the Jews. Nicodemus is a Pharisee belonging to a prominent wealthy family, several of whom were devout Pharisees. The dialogue contains a kind of symbolic language that resembles the Prologue (1:1-18) and is suitable for a learned audience. Another important feature of this dialogue, and indeed most of the dialogues in John, is misunderstanding. Nicodemus has difficulty grasping what Jesus teaches. Jesus speaks of spiritual, supernatural things, but Nicodemus tends to think in terms of earthly, natural things. Jesus seeks to lead Nicodemus into a deeper understanding, to raise his natural thinking to reckon with spiritual realities. In this way, Jesus wishes to communicate a vitally important lesson for all believers: the new, eternal life that he has come to bring is a pure gift from God that totally exceeds our natural abilities.

Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. Since night can be taken literally as meaning after sundown, this meeting is not necessarily a clandestine encounter but a respectful visit. Given John’s use of light and dark symbolism, however, night can also symbolize Nicodemus’s initial state of unbelief and misunderstanding. Later in the Gospel, John speaks of some Jewish authorities who believed in Jesu but did not acknowledge him “openly in order not to be expelled from the synagogue” (12:42). Joseph of Arimathea seems to have been one such person (19:38), and Nicodemus may also be included in this group. Nicodemus appears twice more in John: in 7:50-52, where he defends Jesus somewhat before other Pharisees, and in 19:39, where he finally manifests his allegiance to Jesus by bringing a huge amount of precious spices to Jesus’ burial.

In their first encounter, Nicodemus acknowledges to Jesus, We know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him. The “we” to whom Nicodemus refers may be a group of disciples who have accompanied him in his visit, for a “ruler” would hardly have come alone. In light of his being a “ruler” (3:1), Nicodemus’ use of “we” could be an authoritative singular, expressing his authority in the group. Nicodemus has made an honest conjecture about Jesus based on his signs (2:23): Jesus is a teacher sent by God. Nicodemus may not grasp things fully, but he is moving in the right direction.

Jesus seems to acknowledge that Nicodemus has at least partially understood the significance of his signs. But in order to grasp the signs as a revelation of Jesus and his work, one needs to receive a new spiritual life. Jesus, therefore, raises the discussion to a higher level: Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above. John’s Gospel sometimes uses a word that has two rather different meanings in order to teach something related to each of those meanings. Here, the Greek word anothen means both “from above” and “again.” Accordingly, this birth of which Jesus speaks is both heavenly in origin (“from above”) and a second birth (“again”). Jesus teaches that human beings need to receive a new, spiritual life from heaven. Not to receive this new life means failure to experience (“see”) the kingdom, the reigning of God as king in Jesus.

Although the Synoptics record Jesus’ preaching of the kingdom of God as the core of his message, the phrase “kingdom of God” occurs only twice in John’s Gospel, both times in this episode (3:3, 5). However, the theme of Jesus as king is prominent in John’s passion narrative. The Evangelist, writing many years after Jesus’ ministry, shows a deep spiritual understanding of the substance of Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom. For John, the kingdom, or God’s kingly rule in the world, is in Jesus himself. As Benedict XVI puts it, “The new proximity of the Kingdom of which Jesus speaks – the distinguishing feature of his message – is to be found in Jesus himself. … He himself is the treasure; communion with him is the pearl of great price.” In order to see God’s kingly rule in Jesus, one must be born again, from above.

Nicodemus, however, does not understand. Jesus spoke in spiritual terms of a new heavenly birth, but Nicodemus is thinking in earthly terms of physical birth: How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he? The tone of his response is unclear. It may be a total lack of comprehension, even touched with sarcasm. Or it could also be a rabbinic mode of discourse, which draws an extreme conclusion from a speaker’s statement in order to force the speaker to explain himself more fully. Obviously, a man cannot be born physically from his mother twice, and so Nicodemus invites Jesus to clarify his teaching.

Jesus develops his initial statement: Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. In 1:33, the Baptist had testified that the one coming after him “will baptize with the holy Spirit.” With the solemn phrase “Amen, amen, I say to you,” Jesus speaks of the fulfillment of the Baptist’s witness. This second birth from heaven is baptism, which is an action of the Holy Spirit. Through the water rite, the believer is joined to Jesus’ death and resurrection (Romans 6:4-5) and receives the indwelling Holy Spirit. If the kingdom of God is Jesus himself, then to enter the kingdom is to be given a share in Jesus’ own divine life. By means of baptism, we are born into communion with Jesus and the Father through the Holy Spirit.

This birth of water and Spirit also alludes further back to God’s promise through Ezekiel. The prophet taught that when God works his great act of salvation, he will cleanse his people with “clean water” and put his “spirit within” them (Ezekiel 36:25, 27). God will give his redeemed people a “new heart and … a new spirit” (36:26), hearts that are receptive and capable of love. God thus promises to form an obedient people by putting his Spirit within them. John develops this symbolic connection between water and the Holy Spirit throughout the Gospel (see 4:10, 13-14; 7:37-39).

Nicodemus had been thinking about natural birth, while Jesus has been talking about spiritual birth. The two are analogously related, but they are ultimately of distinct orders: What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. This is the heart of Jesus’ message to Nicodemus and to the world, and its basic principle was set forth in the Prologue: “But to those who did accept him he gave power to become the children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God” (1:12-13). Through faith and baptism, believers are born into a spiritual life as children of God, sharing in Jesus’ own life as the Son (compare Romans 8:14-17). This new heavenly life is a gift from God, not a matter of physical descent or human choosing.

Jesus uses a parable-like statement to illustrate the gracious, mysterious work of the Spirit in a person’s being born from above. The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. There is a play on words here as in 3:3, because the Greek word translated as “wind” (pneuma) also means “Spirit.” Just as the wind eludes human mastery, so does the Holy Spirit. Everyone born from above grows in the new divine life to the degree that they experience and accept the free and gracious work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Now Nicodemus realizes that he is in the presence of someone who himself is “from above.” More docile and intrigued than before, Nicodemus asks, How can this happen? Jesus’ reply – You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? – is not an insult but a challenge, inviting Nicodemus to open himself up to these realities that fulfill the biblical tradition. Nicodemus first addressed Jesus with an authoritative “we” (3:1-2). Now Jesus responds with his own authoritative “we”: We speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen; that is, Jesus speaks of what he received from the Father, but you people do not accept our testimony.

There is much more for Nicodemus to learn: If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? In a very important statement, Jesus points to the source of his authority and teaching: No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. Jesus first used the title Son of Man when he promised believers that they would see him as the place where God dwells among humanity, reveals himself, and opens up heaven to them (1:51). Added here is the teaching that the Son of Man has come down from heaven. Only the Word made flesh can reveal the Father and speak of heavenly realities because only he has come down from heaven and will return there. Jesus has come to make known to us the heavenly realities of which earthly realities such as natural birth are models and figures. By doing the Father’s saving work, Jesus will give us a share in what is heavenly.

Jesus employs a biblical figure to explain how he will reveal the Father and bring us eternal healing: Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. This is the first of three occasions in the Gospel where Jesus refers to his death on the cross as being “lifted up” (also 8:28; 12:32). The verb “lifted up” (hypsoo) has a twofold meaning. It can mean lift up in a literal sense, as in Jesus being physically lifted up from the ground on the cross. It can also mean lift up in the sense of exalt. Jesus uses the word in both senses. Jesus’ being lifter up in ignominy from the ground while on the cross will also be the moment of his exaltation, when he preeminently reveals God’s love. Like the title “Lamb of God” (1:29), the mention of “lift up” is an allusion to the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. In the Septuagint text (LXX) of Isaiah 52:13, the Lord says that his servant will be “lifted high”- using the same Greek verb – “and be exceedingly glorified.” The same Servant, “like a lamb led to slaughter, … took away the sins of many” (Isaiah 53:7, 12 LXX). The Son of Man, who will be lifted up, is also “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Jesus unfolds the mystery of the cross by referring to the bronze serpent raised up by Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9). In that incident, the Lord afflicted the Israelites with fiery serpents as a punishment for their rebellious complaining, and the Israelites then appealed to Moses to intercede for them. God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and affix it to a pole. When an Israelite gazed at the symbolic portrayal of the effects of his sin, the bronze serpent, he was granted healing and life (21:9). Similarly, whoever gazes in faith at the ultimate effect of human sin, the crucifixion of the Son of God, is changed and given life eternal. The vision of faith looks through the sign to the spiritual reality. Thus a living faith experience of heavenly realities becomes the means of entry into eternal, divine life. With this biblical example for Nicodemus, Jesus opens up the possibility of a spiritual understanding of his own tradition, inviting Nicodemus to genuine faith in him.

Having set forth Jesus’ teaching about eternal life, which his cross makes available and into which believers are born by the Spirit’s action, the Evangelist now penetrates to the heart of this Gospel’s message: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. The Father’s love for the world leads him to give his only Son, his all, for the world’s salvation. The world is under condemnation and in spiritual darkness on account of sin, but the Father does not want any to perish (see 2 Peter 3:9). Hence he gives his Son so that the world might be saved through him. The gift of salvation, which the Father offers us all through Jesus, is eternal life: a participation in the divine life of the Trinity. We accept this gift through faith in Jesus. Faith is yielding to the action of the Spirit, who first moves a person to assent to what God has revealed and to commit one’s whole life to God. As Jesus will later tell a crowd, faith is our consenting to and cooperating with God’s work in us: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him” (6:44).

The human response to this transaction has the most serious of consequences, for the decision for belief or unbelief in the Son is directly linked to eternal life or condemnation: Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. One either accepts this witness of God and believes in “the name,” meaning the reality, of the Son of God, or one refuses the witness and remains under condemnation and in the darkness of sin.

The Evangelist explores the inner dynamics of belief or unbelief through a contrast between coming to the light or staying in the darkness. In doing so, he summarizes an important theological theme in the Gospel: judgment.

And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world. The Father sent his Son into the world out of love. As the spiritual light, the Son comes into the fallen world, which is enshrouded in the darkness of sin (1:5; 8:12; 9:5). As the light shining in darkness, the presence and work of the Son in the world necessarily provokes a response: people respond to the light with either faith or unbelief. Thus the Son’s appearance is a situation of judgment. It is a crisis in the deepest sense: krisis is the Greek word translated as “verdict.” Ultimately, there are only two options: either people receive the light or they reject him.

John makes clear the dynamics of faith in ways that are both honest and familiar: but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. The decision for faith or unbelief is not simply an intellectual matter: it also has moral dimensions. John unmasks our reluctance to break off from our evil ways and come into the light of truth as a consequence of our attachment to our evil acts. We hesitate to embrace the truth because it means having to give up all those sinful behaviors. Point to the same dynamic, St. Paul speaks of the willful refusal of God’s revelation by those who “in their wickedness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18, our translation). As St. Augustine comments, people “love the truth for the light it sheds, but hate it when it shows them up as being wrong.”

But whoever lives the truth comes to the light. Coming to Christ in faith requires that people turn away from sin and embrace a way of life marked by love, in imitation of Jesus (13:34-35). If we are animated and empowered by God’s own action, the divine light ultimately reveals the true character of our lives: so that our works may be clearly seen as done in God.

3.3 The Baptist’s Final Testimony and John’s Reflection (3:22-36)

22After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing. 23John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized, 24for John had not yet been imprisoned. 25Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washings. 26So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.” 27John answered and said, “No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said [that] I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him. 29The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of min has been made complete. 30He must increase; I must decrease.”

31The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven [is above all]. 32He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. 34For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. 35The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.

The Evangelist gives us a final word from John the Baptist. Jesus and his disciples leave Jerusalem but stay in Judea, where they conduct a baptizing ministry. It seems that Jesus continues the Baptist’s conversion rite of baptism, but without the theme of preparing for the one who is to come, for he is now present. Jesus likely connects this action to his baptizing “with the Holy Spirit

The setting for the Baptist’s final testimony to Jesus is a dispute over ceremonial washings between the disciples of John and a Jew. The dispute must have something to do with the baptizing activity of Jesus and his disciples, because the Baptist’s disciples come to him with the report: Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, … here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him. The Baptist takes the opportunity to clarify once and for all the nature of the relationship between Jesus and himself.

The Baptist first states a basic theological principle: No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven. The Baptist can do only what he has received from heaven: he is not the Messiah, but he was sent before him (1:20-23). He then gives a poetic testimony to Jesus: The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. The scene in the Baptist’s witness is a wedding procession in the evening. Everyone is waiting at the bride’s house for the bridegroom to come and lead his bride back to his own house, accompanied by her bridesmaids, family, and friends. Then the celebration can begin. The best man listens for the bridegroom’s voice, which will tell him that the wedding rejoicing is about to begin and that his own task has been completed. The Baptist’s purpose has been to make Jesus “known to Israel,” the Lord’s covenantal bride (1:31), and now Jesus has arrived, the messianic nuptials can begin (2:1-11). The Baptist ends by voicing sentiments shared by every friend of the bridegroom throughout the centuries: He must increase; I must decrease.

It is not clear whether 3:31-36 continues the Baptist’s testimony. More likely, it is a reflection offered by the Evangelist, which brings together certain teachings in this chapter. In 3:1-15, we learn of the heavenly gift that Jesus brings: eternal life. Then in 3:16-21, the Evangelist reflects on the gift of faith, its relation to Jesus’ passion and resurrection, and the darkness that will tempt us to stay attached to our sins rather than come to the light. After a change of scene (3:22-30), we learn the true greatness of the Baptist and his role in God’s saving plan as a witness “to the light” (1:8). Finally, in these concluding verses (3:31-36), the Evangelist returns to consider Jesus himself, the one from heaven, who testifies to what he knows because from all eternity he is the Son who is always with the Father.

The one who comes from above is above all. The term “from above” (anothen) recalls the dialogue with Nicodemus, where Jesus spoke of the need to be born again from above (anothen, 3:3, 7) and also of himself as the Son of Man “who has come down from heaven” (3:13). Jesus distinguished between “earthly things” and “heavenly things” (3:12) and between going up and coming down from heaven (3:13). The Evangelist develops this contrast between the one who is of the earth and the one who comes from heaven. A person who is of the earth is someone who has refused to accept the testimony of the one who comes from heaven. Implied here is a call for people not to remain in the mode of merely earthly life but to be elevated by God and be “above.”

The heartrending fact is that Jesus, “who comes from heaven” (3:31), testifies to what he has seen and heard – he reveals the Father – but no one accepts his testimony (as in 1:11). There are other witnesses who testify to Jesus, such as the Baptist, Jesus’ own works and the Scriptures (5:31-40; 14:11).

However, whoever does accept his testimony certifies – that is, confirms – that God is trustworthy, for the act of faith always includes an element of trust. As the one sent from God, Jesus speaks the words of God, who holds nothing back: He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. The Spirit remains upon Jesus, and Jesus baptizes “with the Holy Spirit” (1:33). As Jesus has received the Spirit entirely from the Father, he can pour out the Spirit upon others (7:37-39), and outpouring that will occur after Jesus is glorified.

As evidenced in the complete anointing of Jesus’ humanity with the Spirit, the Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. The Evangelist speaks here of the divine life that the Father without reserve pours into the Son (5:26). Since the Son possesses in himself the fullness of divinity, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Belief here is not just intellectual assent to a proposition or fidelity to a practice. Rather, it is the personal acceptance of Jesus by which we accept his offer of eternal life (3:15-18). Faith yields to Jesus as the gift and revealer of the Father. Our act of faith is the Father’s work within us, the crown of his many actions to which we have yielded: “Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me” (6:45). Since faith is a personal act of yielding and obedience, Jesus can contrast belief with disobedience: whoever disobeys the Son will not see life. By refusing the Son, one turns down God’s invitation to eternal life, thus choosing to remain in spiritual darkness under the condemnation of sin. Hence, the wrath of God, the punishment due to sin, remains upon him (see 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 5:9).

4. Encounters with Jesus in Samaria and Galilee (4:1-54)

John 4 continues the theme of faith with two stories about non-Jews coming to believe in Jesus. In the first story, Jesus begins a journey from Judea back north to Galilee, a walk of about two and a half days, and he decides to go through Samaria. Along the way, as he is resting at Jacob’s well, a Samaritan woman comes at midday to draw water. Jesus initiates a conversation with her – a very countercultural thing to do – and leads her on a journey of faith to recognize him. The Samaritan woman, whose name we never learn, then becomes the evangelist to her fellow villagers who, through her, come to believe that Jesus is the savior of the world. The second story takes place after Jesus arrives in Galilee. A Gentile royal official asks Jesus to heal his son. Upon learning that Jesus has cured his boy, the official arrives at a genuine faith in Jesus and spreads the word to his household. In both cases we see non-Jews coming to faith in Jesus and sharing that faith with others. Through these accounts, John leads us on the same journey taken by these individuals, moving us to a deeper understanding and experience of faith in Jesus.

4.1 A Samaritan Woman’s Faith Journey I: Gift of Living Water (4:1-15)

4.2 A Samaritan Woman’s Faith Journey II: Worship in Spirit and Truth (4:16-26)

4.3 A Samaritan Woman’s Faith Journey III: Reaping the Fruit of Evangelization 4:27-42)

4.4 A Galilean Gentile’s Faith Journey: Jesus Heals an Official’s Son (4:43-54)

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As we move on to the end of John Chapter 4, we get the account of the second sign. Once again, the sign occurs in Cana. An official from that town comes out to find Jesus and pleads with Jesus to heal his deathly ill son. Jesus says, “go, you son will live.” The official returns home to discover that his son had recovered at the very moment Jesus had spoken the word of healing, so “he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee (John 4:50, 53-54).

Here we can see a connection to the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. Note the parallels between this sign and the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. The official’s sign is gravely ill. He says to Jesus, “Come down before my child dies” (4:49). And this is the usual condition when a person calls for the Sacrament. And then the word of Jesus restores the son to health. So what we’re seeing is the power of Jesus to restore those who are approaching the point of death – and that’s the fundamental connection with the Sacrament of Anointing. The Sacrament aims to unleash this same power of Jesus for the healing of a person’s soul and body. It’s not a perfect comparison because the Sacrament involves anointing and Jesus does not use oil in this miracle.

The exact form of the Sacrament began to take shape very early in Church history. James makes reference to how the early Church dispensed Jesus’ power for the sick: “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders (presbuteros) of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15). So anointing is a very biblical practice, when the priest is called for anointing, prayer, and forgiveness of sins. This is the way the Church continued to pass on Jesus’ power to heal those near death, a power we see in his second sign in John 4.

5. The Obedient Son, Lord of the Sabbath (5:1-47)

The Gospel again shifts from Galilee to Jerusalem, where Jesus goes for a liturgical festival. With this journey, the Book of Signs opens a new subsection (5:1-10:42), which treats Jesus’ relation to some major Jewish liturgical feasts: Sabbath (5:1-47), Passover (6:1-71), Tabernacles (7:1-10:21), and Dedication (10:22-42).

John 5 begins with Jesus healing a paralyzed man on the Sabbath (5:1-9), and this event becomes the cause of controversy (5:10-18). Like Jesus’ other miracles in John, this healing is a sign, and Jesus teaches that this sign reveals his unique relationship with the Father and the divine power with which he acts (5:19-47). These events mark the beginning of open hostility to Jesus from the Jerusalem religious authorities, whom John calls the Jews.

5.1 Jesus Heals on the Sabbath (John (5:1-18)

* * *

The third sign follows immediately after in John 5. We have the account of the healing of the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda. The pool was thought to have healing powers, o many ill and handicapped gathered around it. An angel stirred the waters, and the first one in afterward was healed. Jesus went there and came across a man who had been waiting by the pool for 38 years for healing. “Do you want to be healed?” Jesus asked. The man doesn’t give a straight answer: “I have no man to put me into the pool,” he says. Jesus commands, “Take up your pallet, and walk” (john 5:6-8). The man does and is healed. Later, Jesus finds him and warns him: “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you” (v. 14).

Jesus asked this man a very profound question: “Do you want to be healed?” This is not just about physical healing, but also spiritual healing. This man’s illness is a sign of our sin. We are like the blind the lame, the paralyzed who are lying by this pool. Our sins blind us, make us lame, and paralyze us spiritually. Do you want to be healed, Jesus asks us. The sign that Jesus performs for this man calls to mind the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Note some of the parallels here: first, it’s not necessary for the man to enter the water again, which would be like a form of Baptism. Instead, it’s just the word of Jesus that heals. This is like Reconciliation, which the Church Fathers called a “second Baptism”, but doesn’t require us to enter the water once more. Second, at the end of the account, Jesus says, “See you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you”, indicating that sin was at the root of this man’s illness, and his sins had been forgiven. The priest as well, forgives sin and urges us to “go and sin no more”.

5.2 Controversy Begins: Working on the Sabbath (5:10-18)

5.3 The Work of the Father and the Son (5:19-30)

5.4 Witnesses to Jesus (5:31-40)

5.5 The Accusers Accused (5:41-47)

6. Jesus and Passover: Food for Eternal Life (6:1-71)

Continuing the motif of this subsection of the Gospel (5:1-10:42), John presents Jesus in relation to another Jewish liturgical feast: Passover. John 6 is composed of several interrelated scenes. First, Jesus performs a miraculous sign near Passover time: he multiplies loaves and fish to feed a great multitude, a miracle that recalls God feeding Israel with manna in the wilderness (6:1-15). Then Jesus begins to reveal the meaning of the sign by walking on the stormy sea and declaring “I am” (6:16-21). After a brief introduction (6:22-31), Jesus delivers a discourse on himself as the bread of life in which he teaches what the true bread provided by God is and what it means to feed on this bread (6:32-59). Last, Jesus’ radical teaching causes some disciples to fall away, while others reaffirm their faith in him (6:60-71).

John 6 is one of the most theologically complex chapters in the Gospel. There is a deep reflection on Jewish liturgical traditions and on many biblical themes: the tree of life in Eden, the manna in the wilderness, Wisdom’s invitation to share in her food. These Old Testament realities help us to understand Jesus and the gift of his body and blood on the cross and in the Eucharist. Through many allusions, we are led to appreciate Jesus’ gift of himself to the Father and to us. Jesus’ self-gift was actualized in his passion and is made present as our nourishment in the Eucharist, our foretaste of the heavenly banquet.

6.1 Jesus Provides Bread for a Multitude (6:1-15)

Upon seeing a large crowd approaching, Jesus asks Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” Jesus does not ask this question out of ignorance but to test Philip. By doing so, he invites Philip to grow in his faith in him. Instead, Philip thinks in terms of money: it would take an enormous sum, the better part of a year’s wages, to feed such a large crowd—and only for each of them to have a little.

Andrew intervenes in the conversation by calling attention to a young boy with five barley loaves and two fish. His mention of barley loaves recalls the incident in 2 Kings 4:42–44, where the prophet Elisha fed more than one hundred men with twenty barley loaves. But like Philip, Andrew contrasts the enormity of the crowd with the small means at hand: What good are these for so many?

Jesus acts on his intention to feed the crowd. He first tells the disciples, Have the people recline: get them ready to eat. The comment about grass recalls Ps 23:2, where the psalmist says of YHWH his shepherd, “In green pastures he makes me lie down.” The disciples obey Jesus’ instruction, and the men reclined, about five thousand in number. With the presence of women and children, the crowd would have been even larger.

Jesus’ gestures resemble accounts of the Last Supper in the Synoptics: he took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them. While John’s Gospel does not narrate the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, it underlies Jesus’ teaching on the giving of his body and blood throughout chapter.

Another important detail concerns the one who feeds the crowd. In the Synoptics, Jesus gives the bread to the disciples, who then feed the crowds (Matt 14:19; Mark 6:41; 8:7; Luke 9:16). But John does not mention any role of the disciples; Jesus feeds the crowd directly. John thus underscores that Jesus is the ultimate source of the bread for the crowd. Philip and Andrew stressed the scant means to feed such a huge crowd, but Jesus miraculously produces a superabundance of bread. The entire crowd was completely satisfied, for all had as much bread and fish as they wanted.

6.2 Theophany upon the Sea (6:16-21)

6.3 Setting up the Discourse: Context, the Basic Principle, and God’s work (6:22-29)

6.4 The Bread of Life I: God is Giving the Bread of Life (6:30-34)

Earlier the crowd thought that Jesus was the promised Prophet-like-Moses (6:14–15). Now they realize that he is claiming to be even greater than this promised prophet, indeed, greater than Moses himself. They ask him for another sign so that they may see and believe in him (compare Matt 16:1–4). If Jesus is greater than Moses, they reason, he should do something even greater than the signs and wonders Moses did.

They cite Scripture and appeal to a great act associated with Moses: Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” Their citation does not exactly match any biblical text, but it is closest to Exod 16:4, which recounts the Lord’s gift of manna to the Israelites (see also Ps 78:24; Neh 9:15). This scriptural text about the manna is at the center of the whole ensuing discourse.

Presented with this text, Jesus begins the Bread of Life Discourse. The discourse follows an established manner of Jewish preaching, which elaborates on the elements mentioned in a biblical quotation, in this case, Exod 16:4, referenced in John 6:31.11

Jesus begins his response to the crowd’s challenge with the assertion that it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. As with the Samaritan woman (4:20–21), Jesus redirects the crowd’s attention from their ancestral past to the present moment: My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. Moses was not the source of the manna: it was the Lord. The Lord provided Israel with manna, and he continues his providential care by now providing true bread from heaven. The modifier “true” should not be taken to imply that the manna was false, but rather that it was incomplete or less than perfect. The manna was a genuine gift from God, and it also foreshadows the even greater care that God provides in Jesus.

The description that this bread comes down from heaven connects this bread with Jesus, who, as the Son of Man, came down from heaven (3:13, 31). This heavenly bread gives life to the world. Like the Samaritan woman who asked for water that would quench all thirst, the crowd says, Sir, give us this bread always (see 4:15). As he has done before, Jesus will now raise the discussion to a whole new level.

6.5 The Bread of Life II: The Father’s Gift (6:35-40)

6.6 The Bread of Life III: Yielding to the Father (6:41-47)

Jesus spoke of “food that endures for eternal life” (6:27) and then was challenged by the crowd to perform a sign greater than the manna (6:30–31). Jesus went on to speak of “the bread of God . . . which comes down from heaven” (6:33) and identified himself as this heavenly “bread of life” (6:35).

Jesus now returns to the manna, and his discourse crescendos in the revelation that the bread from heaven that gives eternal life is the crucified and glorified flesh of Jesus himself (6:48–51). With strong realism, Jesus teaches that he gives this very same flesh as nourishment to believers in the Eucharist, the sacrament of his body and blood (6:53–58).

Returning to the themes of manna and life-giving bread, Jesus compares himself as the bread of life with the manna. The manna was a providential gift from the Lord to sustain the Israelites in the wilderness. But despite its wondrous nature, the manna did not give eternal life: Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died. However, the bread of life from heaven does what the manna could not: it gives eternal life, so that whoever eats this bread will live forever.

The food that gives immortality is an allusion to the tree of life in the garden of Eden. According to Genesis, the tree of life’s fruit could give immortality. After their sin, God expelled Adam and Eve from Eden to keep them from eating this food (Gen 3:22–23). Now Jesus says that anyone who eats the bread he gives will live forever. Jesus opens the way to paradise and offers the food that gives immortality.

Then Jesus explains what it means to eat the living bread that came down from heaven. At one level, in light of the biblical imagery for God’s wisdom and Torah, eating this bread means taking Jesus in as spiritual nourishment and wisdom. But there is a much greater depth to his words. Jesus now specifies that this bread that gives eternal life is his own flesh. He gives his flesh for the life of the world in his perfect act of love and obedience on the cross. Once crucified and transformed by the resurrection, Jesus’ human flesh becomes the source of eternal life for the whole world. It is Jesus’ own flesh that people must eat.

6.7 The Bread of Life IV: The Bread is Jesus’ Flesh (6:48-59)

Jesus’ words about his flesh and blood have a strong realism. The verb used for “eat” in 6:54–58 is different from the verb used in the preceding conversation and is very graphic. In other Greek literature, it designates how animals eat.

While obedient listening and faith are means of ingesting God’s Word and wisdom, the change to a more concrete verb for eating accents the fact that Christ’s offer of his body and blood entails something even more radical: consuming his flesh and blood in the Eucharist. All the material food and drink in the world, including the manna and the multiplied loaves, are gifts from God to sustain mortal life. They are also imperfect foreshadowings of the true food and true drink by which God gives us eternal life.

Jesus explains the Eucharist as the food of eternal life by linking it to participation in the divine communion: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. In John, the verb “remain” (menō) designates the mutual indwelling of Father and Son, the eternal relationship between them in which Jesus invites his disciples to share (see 1:39; 14:10; 15:4–10). By our consuming Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist, he dwells within us, and we in turn share in his divine life. The Eucharist is truly “holy communion” (Catechism 1391). As St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation [Greek koinōnia, literally, “fellowship, communion”] in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16).

Jesus continues, Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. In 5:26, Jesus spoke of his own possession of the divine life, which is the Father’s eternal gift to the Son. As the bread of life, Jesus came down from heaven to give “life to the world” (6:33). Jesus’ divine life is given to those who receive Jesus in faith as God’s wisdom and, even more profoundly, consume his Eucharistic body and blood.

6.8 Rebellion among Jesus’ Followers (6:60-71)

Some of Jesus’ disciples refuse his words about his body and blood. They describe his saying as hard, as unacceptable. Now they are murmuring like the Israelites in the wilderness and the Jews who objected to Jesus’ teaching (6:41–42).

Instead of watering down his teaching, Jesus challenges them: Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? Jesus, the Son of Man and bread of life, has come down from heaven and will offer his flesh and blood as eternal food. If these disciples cannot accept that Jesus came down from heaven, took flesh, and commands his followers to eat his flesh and drink his blood, how will they accept his returning to the Father by means of his death on the cross and resurrection?

Jesus must offer his flesh for the world’s salvation on the cross, displaying his love for the Father and the Father’s love for the world (14:31; 3:16). After being gloriously transformed in the resurrection, Jesus’ flesh will be apt for heavenly existence and having ascended to glory, become spiritual food for believers.

The remedy for these disciples is to be more spiritual—that is, to believe with a deep faith, born of the Spirit: It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail (compare 3:6). These disciples should not make Jesus conform to their human standards (“the flesh”) but should conform themselves to his Spirit-filled, life-giving teachings: the words of spirit and life.

As St. Cyril of Alexandria comments: “It is not the nature of the flesh that renders the Spirit life-giving, but the might of the Spirit that makes the body life-giving. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit, that is, both spiritual and of the Spirit, and they are life.”

With some of his disciples

Jesus’ words

While Peter speaks as leader of the Twelve (“We have come to believe”), Jesus knows that not all of the Twelve agree. Jesus speaks figuratively of a devil in their midst, referring to Judas, one of Jesus’ closest disciples, a member of the Twelve.

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After healing the man in Jerusalem, Jesus returned to the north, to the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where crowds came to hear him teach, and the occasion arose for another “sign”. All the people gathered on the mountainside to hear Jesus teaching seemed hungry. Jesus posed a question to the apostle Philip: “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” Philip answered, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little” (John 6:5-7).

A denarius is a day’s wage at minimum wage levels. 200 denarii would be around 12,000 dollars. Like the wedding at Cana, here also Jesus produces in abundance. The point is, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:11). Jesus wants abundance, lives full of joy, full of attraction, overflowing with grace and love. The apostle John has told this miracle in such a way that the early Christian would make the connection to the Last Supper recounted in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, where Jesus established the Eucharist. Scholars point out that John uses words or phrases that also show up in the Last Supper accounts: “take”, “loaves”, “give thanks”, “break”, “distribute”, and “recline”. At the Last Supper, Jesus takes loaves, gives thanks, breaks them, and distributes them to the disciples reclining at the table. In John 6, Jesus takes loaves, gives thanks, distributes the loaves and the fish to the reclining crowds, and then has the fragments picked up.

The following day, the crowds searched Jesus out again because they wanted another bread miracle, Jesus preached to them instead, a famous sermon we call the “Bread of Life Discourse”. In this sermon, Jesus compares his body to certain kinds of miraculous food from the Old Testament, such as the manna that fell from heaven in the wilderness. The crowds were shocked that he could compare himself to the manna: “The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, ‘I am the bread which came down from heaven’” (John 6:41). The Greek word used here is the same word used in the Old Testament about the Israelites traveling through the desert, and they “murmur” against Moses because they don’t have enough food (e.g. Exodus 15:24; 16:2, 7, etc.). John is doing this in a beautiful way so we can hear echoes of the past. It’s just as if history is repeating itself. They’re murmuring again, and he’s talking to them about a new bread from heaven, a new manna, which is himself. Remember, the manna was supernatural food, and you had to eat it to stay alive. That’s important because Jesus is going to stress the need to eat his body: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:47-51). Now he says a couple of times that the one who eats his flesh will not die. Only one kind of food in all the Bible had the power of eternal life: the fruit of the tree of life, which we have not have access to since our first parents were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.

So, remember how we saw that the beginning of this gospel presented a “new creation week”. Why is the coming of Jesus like starting creation all over again? Because he gives us the tree of life back. We’ve been restored to a situation where we can reach out and eat of a food that promises eternal life. And that’s like begin back in the Garden of Eden.

But remember, the fruit of the tree of life had to be eaten. And as Jesus continues in the Bread of Life Discourse, he becomes very emphatic about the need to eat his flesh and blood. In fact, when talking about his body and blood, he switches from the usual word “to eat” to the word for “chew”. This is very graphic. Some think that Jesus is only speaking symbolically. But God wants us to share in divine life: “Unless you drink his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53).By bringing up the topic of drinking blood, Jesus is speaking about the Eucharist. The fourth sign, then, points to the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

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