The Divine Lamp

In my previous post on john 1:19-39 I gave an outline to the overall structure of 1:19-51.  We saw that the passage was divided into five concentrically arranged parts.  That is to say that the five part text was written in the form of a reverse parallel; with part one paralleling part five, and part two paralleling part four.  These parallels were built around the third or center part, thus giving the structure its name.  Today I will comment on parts 2, 3, and 4.  For the sake of the convenience of the one reader who seems to care, I will begin by reproducing the overall outline from the last post.

The following outline is in my own words but the actual structure comes from Peter Ellis’ THE GENIUS OF JOHN. Please not that the text in boldface type is meant to help highlight verbal parallels between the A1 and A2 sections, and the B1 and B2 sections. Text in italics is meant to highlight conceptual parallels
A1) The testimony of the Baptist that the Messiah might be revealed to Israel as the Son of God. Jesus is addressed as Rabbi. The first disciples are told to come and see (1:19-39)

B1) Andrew finds his brother Simon Peter and says we have found the Messiah (1:40-41)

C) Peter is brought to Jesus who predicts a future name change for him (1:42)

B2) Jesus finds Philip, who was from the same town as Andrew and Peter. Philip finds Nathaniel and says we have found… (1:43-45)

A2) Nathaniel, a true Israelite is told to come and see Jesus. He calls Jesus Rabbi and testifies that he is the Son of God and the King of Israel. Jesus speaks of further revelation (1:46-51)

B1)  (1:40-41)

1:4o-41 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard from John, and followed him; this one first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah,’ (which is, being translated, The Anointed).

C)    (1;42)

He brought him unto Jesus; and having looked at him, Jesus said, ‘Thou are Simon, the son of John, thou shall be called Cephas,’ Iwhich is, being interpreted, a rock).

B2)  (1:43-45)

1:43-45  The next day he willed to go to Galilee, and he found Philip, and said to him, ‘follow me.’  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, ‘The one of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and the prophets wrote of, we have found, Jesus, the son of Joseph, who is from Nazareth.

Parallelism is achieved by the repeated word found; the introductory speech formula ’said to him’; the rather clumsy repetition of the names Andrew and Peter; and by the attempts at stating who Jesus is (Messiah/ one written of in Moses/prophets).

In the previous post we looked at the A1 section (1:19-39) and it was noted that the focus was on the testimony of the Baptist who, with the exterior aid of the spirit identified Jesus as the Messiah.  There was also a focus on the mission and function of the Baptist.  The identity of Jesus is still the focus here, but the Church’s mission in the presence of the risen Christ is also being foreshadowed.  This becomes clear when we look at the end of this Gospel.  It is structured as follows:

A1)  20:19-23  Jesus gives the Apostles a mission

B1)  20:24-29  The risen Jesus needs to be present for the conversion of Thomas

C)    20:3031  Reason for the signs

B2)  21:1-14  The risen Jesus needs to be present for the finding of fish

A2)  21:15-25  Jesus gives Peter a special function

Notice how the commissioning of Peter (A2) stands in parallel to that of the Apostles (A1).  Yet His function is special, it is not given to the others, in fact, after his commissioning we read that the beloved disciple followed “them” (i.e. Jesus and Peter, the risen shepherd and the shepherd on earth).  Clearly Peter has some function in relation to the other Apostles that they do not have in relation to him.

Notice too how in the B1 and B2 sections the presence of the risen Jesus is needed for Thomas’ conversion and the finding of fish.  Finding fish is clearly a symbol of the Church’s mission (see Luke 5:1-11), and I would suggest that it is here used as a symbol of how people are converted and get to Jesus:  through the mission of the Church and the Petrine function, exercised in the presence of the risen Christ.

The fact that, in the current text under discussion(1:40-45), Peter is singled out with a promised name change takes on added meaning, inasmuch as that name change is sandwiched  between two texts foreshadowing the Church’s future mission to testify (witness) and to make disciples.  The fact that one of the individuals doing the finding of disciples is Jesus foreshadows his risen presence which will be necessary for the Church’s mission.

Further note:

Andrew claims to have found the Messiah, yet he did no such thing.  John the Baptist pointed him out with the exterior help of the Holy Spirit.  Philip also claims to have found “the one written of in the law of Moses and the Prophets”, but this to is not true; Jesus found him.  This raises questions about how trustworthy their testimony is at this stage.  Yes Jesus is the Messiah and the one written of; but do they really know what that means?  As John will point out on more than one occasion in his Gospel, what people think they know about the Messiah is often far from the truth.  Only in light of the resurrection and the giving of the Spirit will this be rectified.

Posted by Dim Bulb

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