St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary

John 11:1-44, “The Resurrection and the Light”

Sunday, March 17, 2002

This morning, Father Mike Kreutzer led us through the last of the Adult Education series for Lent, the reading from John 11:1-44: “The Resurrection and the Life,” which is today’s Gospel reading.  Handouts were passed out at the meeting and were used as a guide for the lesson and are the basis for this summary.  The discussion began by noting that the synoptic Gospels do not mention the story of Lazarus, which takes place in Bethany.  The village still exists today but is called by the Hebrew name for Lazarus.  There is also a connection to the “beloved” disciple coupled with the Johannine dual meaning that not only Lazarus, but all Christians will be raised from the dead.

¹ Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  ² Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.  ³ So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”  ⁴ But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”  ⁵ Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶ after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”  ⁸ The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”  ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight?  Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.  ¹⁰ But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.”  ¹¹ After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”  ¹² The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.”  ¹³ Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.  ¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.  ¹⁵ For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”  ¹⁶ Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷ When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.  ¹⁸  Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.  ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.  ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  ²² But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”  ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”  ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”  ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,  ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

²⁸ When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”  ²⁹ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.  ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.  ³¹ The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.  ³² When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.  ³⁴ He said, “Where have you laid him?”  They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”  ³⁵ Jesus began to weep.  ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”  ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸ Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb.  It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.  ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”  Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”  ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”  ⁴¹ So they took away the stone.  And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me.  ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”  ⁴³ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth.  Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

                                                                                         [The New Revised Standard Version]

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1             “Lazarus”:   not mentioned in the Synoptics

             “Bethany”:   the place where Jesus stayed when visiting Jerusalem (Mark 11:11; 14:3);     today it is know as  “El ‘Azariyeh , a name derived from “Lazarus”; it is less than two        miles from Jerusalem

             “Martha and her sister Mary”:   mentioned in John 11:5 and 19); the only place in the Synoptics where they appear is Luke 10:38

 

2           ^“Mary was the one who anointed the Lord”:   obviously added by a later editor, since the scene does not occur until chapter 12

 

4           Jesus looks for the potential in the situation

             “Son of God:”   Jesus uses this title for himself only here and in 5:25

 

8             “Rabbi”:  the last use of this title for Jesus;  this title was used also in 9:2; note the similarities between 9:2-5 and 11:8-10

             In this verse, “the Jews” are those who are hostile to Jesus; but, beginning with verse 19, “the Jews” are just ordinary people on the scene, some of whom might come to believe in Jesus.

 

9           “the light of this world”:  the sun and Jesus

 

10          The Jews appear to have thought that light resided in the eye (cf. Matthew 6:22-23)

 

11-12    “our friend Lazarus”, literally, “beloved”, the same term used for Christians in 3 John 15); the implication seems to be that, just as Jesus gives life to his beloved Lazarus, so will he give life to his beloved Christians

             “fallen asleep”:   in both Hebrew and Greek (including the LXX), this is used as a euphemism for dying; misunderstanding

 

16          “that we may die with him”:   possibly Johannine irony, since in Pauline theology Christians have died with Christ (Romans 6:8; 2 Corinthians 5:14)

 

17          “four days”: emphasizing reality of death; an opinion among the rabbis held that the soul hovered near the body for three days

 

19          Since there was no embalming, burial took place quickly.  A period of mourning (thirty days) followed.

 

22             Martha’s faith is incomplete.  She recognizes Jesus as an intermediary with God (22), but does not realize that he is life itself (25).

 

27          ”the Messiah, the Son of God”: similar to Peter’s confession in Matthew 16:16 (Peter, in John 6:69, confesses Jesus to be “the Holy One of God”)

 

33          “he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved”:   the first of the two Greek verbs used here carries a connotation of anger and indignation (cf. Daniel 11:30 in LXX);  it is used also to describe Jesus’ reaction to the afflicted in Mark 1:43 and Matthew 9:30); it may be that Jesus sees human suffering (and death) as an expression of the reign of evil with which he is in conflict

 

35          “Jesus began to weep.”

 

41          “looked upward”:   a frequent prelude to Jesus’ prayer in the gospels

 

 

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There is a sequence problem if one tries to take the geographical setting of John as it now stands.  The Lazarus story is placed between Hanukkah and Passover, nearer to Passover.  As the story now stands, Jesus, in a short period of time, would have had to leave his retreat in the Transjordan (10:40), come to Bethany, withdrew to Ephraim near the desert (11:54), returned to Bethany six days before Passover (12:1), then gone into hiding the next day (12:36).

 

   

Many of the details of chapter 11 work out the details of the promise of chapter 5:   

²¹ Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. ²² The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴ Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.  ²⁵ “Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; ²⁷ and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

 

 

The raising of Lazarus is the final sign of “The Books of Signs”: the first eleven chapters of the Gospel according to John.

·          changing water to wine at Cana  (21-11)

·          curing the royal official’s son at Cana  (4:46-59)

·          curing the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda  (5:1-15)

·          multiplication of the loaves in Galilee  (6:1-15)

·          walking upon the Sea of Galilee  (6:16-21)

·          curing a blind man in Jerusalem  (9)

·          raising Lazarus from the dead at Bethany  (11)

 

 

For the Synoptics, all the signs that Jesus has done are the reason that his enemies decide upon his death.  For John, Jesus’ raising of Lazarus was the direct cause of Jesus’ death.  The Sanhedrin meet in response to it (11:46-53), and decide that Jesus must die.  (According to John 12:9-11, they planned to kill Lazarus also.)  This theme is reflected in verse 4 (“it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it”), since Jesus’ death is part of his glorification.

 

St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary

John 9:1-38 (39-41), “The Light of the World”

Sunday, March 10, 2002

 

This morning, Father Mike Kreutzer led us through John 9:1-38 (39-41), “The Light of the World” which is today’s Gospel reading.  Handouts were passed out at the meeting and were used as a guide for the lesson and are the basis for this summary.  The discussion began by noting that it used to be considered a punishment from God if a child were born ill.  The infant was thought to have sinned in the womb.  This story highlights how Jesus does not look for blame for the past but focuses on the positive and good in people.

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¹ As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth.  ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  ³ Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.  ⁴ We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.  ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  ⁶ When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, ⁷ saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent).  Then he went and washed and came back able to see.  ⁸ The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?”  ⁹ Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.”  ¹⁰ But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”  ¹¹ He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’  Then I went and washed and received my sight.”  ¹² They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.  ¹⁴ Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.  ¹⁵ Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight.  He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes.  Then I washed, and now I see.”  ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.”  But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?”  And they were divided.  ¹⁷ So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him?  It was your eyes he opened.”  He said, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”  ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹ but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes.  Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”  ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.  ²³ Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God!  We know that this man is a sinner.”  ²⁵ He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner.  One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  ²⁶ They said to him, “What did he do to you?  How did he open your eyes?”  ²⁷ He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you also want to become his disciples?”  ²⁸ Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.  ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”  ³⁰ The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing!  You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.  ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will.  ³² Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.  ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  ³⁴ They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?”  And they drove him out.

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  ³⁶ He answered, “And who is he, sir?  Tell me, so that I may believe in him.”  ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.”  ³⁸ He said, “Lord, I believe.”  And he worshiped him.

³⁹ Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.”  ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?”  ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin.  But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

[The New Revised Standard Version]

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8:59      The leaders of the Jews were trying to stone Jesus.  It seems extremely unlikely that the story of chapter 9, in which Jesus stands around talking, would have immediately followed this event.

 

9:2        “disciples”: The Twelve has not been mentioned as being with Jesus since chapter 6, when they were in Galilee.  “Disciples” might refer to the unidentified Judean disciples of 7:3.

            “Who sinned”?:  idea of  misfortune as punishment for sin still persists.

 

3          The rabbis spoke of God giving people “punishments of love”, which, if accepted generously, would bring long life and rewards.  Jesus seems to view sickness as an evil, and part of the work of darkness.  Rather than accepting the man’s blindness as a punishment for sin, Jesus chooses to see the potential in it for good.

 

4          “We”:   Jesus associates his disciples with him in his work.

 

6:          “He spat”:  appears in Mark (7:33, healing a deaf mute, and 8:23, healing a blind man), but not in Matthew or Luke; could have been considered magical (rejected by the rabbis along with uttering a spell over a wound

 

16         “This man is not from God”:  based on Deuteronomy 13:1-15 which says that a wonder-worker is not to be believed, and is to be put to death, if he leads people away from following the ways of God

            “he does not observe the sabbath”:  Since the affliction was not life-threatening, it was not permitted on the sabbath; kneading was not permitted on the sabbath; anointing an eye was not permitted on the sabbath.

            “they were divided”:  as was the crowd in 7:43

 

22         “put out of the synagogue”:  experience of the Johannine community, not during Jesus’ ministry

 

22-23    an attempt to “bring the story up to date”, viz. as an expression of what was going on with the Johannine community who had been expelled from the synagogues

 

24         “Give glory to God!” an oath formula, taken before giving testimony of a confession of guilt; here, another example of Johannine irony

 

24:        “We know”: contrasted with the man’s “I know” of verse 25

 

29         “we do not know where he comes from”:  Johannine irony; may also hint at rumors of illegitimacy

 

30         ““Here is an astonishing thing!  You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.”:  The man’s sarcasm parallels that of Jesus toward Nicodemus in 3:10

 

31         “We know”:  continues the pattern of verses 24-25

 

32         “Never since the world began has it been heard”:  literally, “not heard from of old”, which is a phrase used by the Pharisees

 

34         attributes congenital blindness to prenatal sin

 

35         contrast between Pharisees (“had driven him out”) and Jesus (“he found him”);

            cf. John 6:37, “anyone who come to me I will never drive away”

            “Son of Man”:   a title that is often associated with judgment; it was possibly used here by John to prepare the way for verse 39

 

38         “he worshiped him.” Bowing down in worship was a usual Old Testament reaction to a theophany; people bow down and worship Jesus several times in the Synoptics (especially in Matthew), but this is the only place where this occurs in John

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“The internal construction of the story shows consummate artistry; no other story in the Gospel is closely knit.  We have here Johannine dramatic skill at its best...   The story starts in vs. 1 with a blind man who will gain his sight; it ends in vs. 41 with the Pharisees who have become spiritually blind.” (Raymond E. Brown, John, The Anchor Bible, Vol. 29, pages 376-377)

 

There is a clear evolution in the blind man’s perception of Jesus:  “The man called Jesus” (11),

“He is a prophet” (17), “If this man were not from God” (33), full belief “worshiped him” (38)

 

3 times (vss. 12, 25, 36) the man confesses his ignorance, yet he is gaining sight

3 times (vss. 16, 24, 29) the Pharisees state confidently what they “know” of Jesus, and yet they are descending further into blindness

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Baptismal Intent by the Evangelist / Redactor

 

Unlike the healing of the paralytic in chapter 5, this healing takes place only when the man has been washed in water.  The pool is “Siloam”, which John points out, means “Sent.”  In John Jesus is the one who has been “sent” by the Father (cf. 3:17, 34; 5:36, 38).  Siloam was the setting of the great water ceremony of the Feast of Tabernacles (and may have been the setting for this story, which occurs somewhere in between Tabernacles and Hanukkah).  In a prayer for the water needed for crops, and for life, a solemn procession went seven days in a row from the spring Gihon (from which water flows into the Pool Siloam) to the Temple.  A priest carried a golden pitcher filled with water, which he then poured on the altar.  On the seventh day, this pouring was preceded by a procession that continued seven times around the altar.  It was in this context that Jesus proclaimed, “ Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.”  (7:37-39)  Jesus is the source of the true living water, and is himself the replacement for Tabernacles.

 

Baptismal Usage in the Early Church

This story appears several times in catacomb art, always in connection with baptism.  By at least the third century, the practice of three “scrutinies” for catechumens had developed.  At the conclusion of the last of these, the “great scrutiny”, once the candidate had been judged worthy of baptism, readings from the Old Testament, having to do with cleansing water, were proclaimed.  Then there was a solemn opening of the Gospel book, and this story was read to them.  Verse 38, “I believe,” was the climax of the reading, and was followed immediately with the candidates reciting the creed before the church for the first time.

 

As Jesus approaches his death, his healing power increases.  Life will triumph over death.  The light will shine even more brightly in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.

 

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St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary

John 4:1-42, “The Water of Life”

Sunday, March 03, 2002

 

This morning, Father Mike Kreutzer led us through John 4:1-42, “The Water of Life” which is today’s Gospel reading.  Handouts were passed out at the meeting and were used as a guide for the lesson and are the basis for this summary.  It was explained that there are two different scenes to consider followed by the third scene where the Samaritan woman and the townspeople come back again.  Mike then began by reading through the verses.

¹ Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” ² —although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— ³ he left Judea and started back to Galilee. ⁴ But he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  ⁶  Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

⁸ (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)  ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)  ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”  ¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?  ¹²A re you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”

¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.  The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”  ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.”  ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.”  Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”  ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 

²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”  ²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 

²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  ²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.  ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”  ²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.”  ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

²⁷ Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?”  ²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city.  She said to the people,  ^{2 9} “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!  He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”  ³⁰ They left the city and were on their way to him.

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.”  ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”  ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?”  ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.  ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’?  But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.  ³⁶ The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.  ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’  ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor.  Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

³⁹ Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.”  ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.  ⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word.  ⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”            [The New Revised Standard Version]

 

 

9            Jews…Samaritans;  origins of conflict from the division of the monarchy c. 922 B.C.E.; destruction of Samaria in 722 by Assyrians; Samaritans had tried to block the resettlement of Judah after the Babylonian Exile (ended in 539), had helped the Syrian monarchs in their war against the Judeans (168-164 B.C.E.); in 128 B.C.E., the Jewish high priest burned the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim;  “Jacob’s well” still in Shekham today;  unusual for a woman to be at the well at noon time;  normally men and women didn’t mingle, let alone with a Samaritan woman.

 

10-11    “living water”; an example of Johannine misunderstanding;  Jesus = spiritual, woman = earthly things

            Greek “phrear”, denotes a cistern (used of the well in later verses of the passage)

            Greek “pege”, denotes a fountain

            “gift of God” and “living water” were terms used in Judaism to refer to the Torah; John may intend to portray Jesus himself as being the replacement for the Torah

            since the second century, this “living water” has been seen as referring to both Jesus’ revelation and the gift of the Spirit; Johannine symbolism is often ambivalent

 

11         Greek “Kyrie”: can mean “Sir” or “Lord”; probably a progression from one to the other is intended

 

12         “greater than…Jacob”: Johannine irony; the woman is unconsciously stating a truth “who gave us this well”:  no account of this in the Bible, but a Palestinian Targum says that, when Jacob had lifted the stone form the top of the well, it overflowed for 20 years (contrasted with Jesus’ living water that flows forever);  two Greek words for water meaning cistern or fountain.

 

14            “gushing up”:  not used elsewhere in the Bible to refer to water: it is used for quick movement by living beings; in LXX, it is used of the Spirit of God as it leaps upon Samson, Saul and David

 

18         “five husbands”:  Jewish women were allowed a maximum of three husbands; if the Samaritans followed this same rule, this would have placed her outside any bounds of accepted morality;  the woman was being sarcastic towards Jesus at this time.

 

19            “prophet”:  Jesus not only exhibited special knowledge, but indicated that he intended to restore the moral order in this case;  the Samaritans did not accept the prophetic books, so this probably referred to the Prophet-like-Moses of Deuteronomy 18:15-18), the “Taheb” (lit. “the one who returns’)

 

20         “this mountain” = Gerizim, probably the original mountain referred to in Deuteronomy 27:4, in which Moses commands Joshua to set up an altar

 

22            Johannine dualism: “in spirit and truth”, possible a hendiadys; only those who have been born “of water and Spirit” (John 3:5) can really worship the Father in truth;  both the Samaritan and Jewish temples were destroyed at this time

 

23         realized and future eschatology

 

24         “God is spirit”; not a definition, but a description of the way that God acts toward human beings;  cf. “God is light’ (1 John 1:5) and “God is love” (1 John 4:8);  very practical definition of God

 

26         “I am he”:  perhaps with a secondary meaning of the diving “I am”;  Jesus did not accept the Jewish attribution of the title “Messiah” to him, possibly because it carried with it the connotation of an earthly king; he does accept the Samaritan woman’s use of that term (Taheb – the one who returns and would bring them to perfection)

 

29         “He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”:  (Greek meti); denotes that the situation is unlikely, but leaves open the possibility

 

31-34            misunderstanding about food, just as the Samaritan woman had had a misunderstanding about water

 

34         in the Synoptics, doing the work of God is a more general term; in John, it refers directly to Jesus’ mission

 

35         “four months”: from sowing to harvest;  historically Jesus did not travel among the Samaritans, but the Johannine community did;  someone else sowed the seeds but God provides the growth

 

42            development of belief; contrast 2:23-25 (the Jews who had a tentative “faith” in Jesus because of the signs they had seen) with 4:42 (the Samaritans who had a much deeper belief in Jesus’ own words)

 

 

“In this scene John has given us the drama of a soul struggling to rise from this world to belief in Jesus.  Not only the Samaritan woman but every man must come to recognize who it is that speaks when Jesus speaks, and must ask Jesus for living water.”  (Raymond E. Brown, John, The Anchor Bible, Volume 29, page 178);  these  passages are often used with baptisms for that very reason

 

In the final scene, we see, not just the role of an individual coming to belief, but the role of apostles as they call others to belief.

 

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St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary

John 3:1-17, “Born from Above”

Sunday, February 24, 2002

 

This morning, Father Mike Kreutzer led us through John 3:1-17, “Born from Above” which is today’s Gospel reading.  Handouts were passed out at the meeting and were used as a guide for the lesson.  It was explained that Nicodemus represented a group of Jews who were just starting to believe in Jesus.  Mike then began by reading through the verses.

 

John 3:1-17:  1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by 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 do apart from the presence of God.”  3 Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”  4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”  5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.  6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’  8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

11 “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.  12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?  13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

 

*****

 

This passage is “the first oral exposition in John of the revelation brought by Jesus, and in capsule form it gives the principal themes of that revelation.”  (Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John, I-XII, The Anchor Bible, Volume 29)  The scene takes place during the Passover in Jerusalem (cf. 2:23-25).   Jesus has been performing signs there even though none of these have been recounted in John.  John has just said that Jesus knew what was in people’s hearts, and now he shows that Jesus knows what is in Nicodemus’ heart.  Nicodemus serves as an example of one of those Jews who had come to believe that there was something special about Jesus, but only because of the signs they had seen.

 

*****

 

Structure:    In verses 2, 4 and 9, Nicodemus makes three statements; the first is an implicit question, and the other two are explicit.  Jesus responds to each of them with a statement beginning “Very truly, I tell you.”  The responses grow in length.

 

2:   “a leader of the Jews” = a member of the Sanhedrin: the highest governing body in Judaism; it consisted of priests (Sadducees), scribes (Pharisees), and lay leaders of the aristocracy, and was presided over by the High Priest

“at night”: important symbol for John.  Opposition to Jesus’ early ministry (unlike the Synoptics) is highlighted by John.  The use of “night” is symbolically important.  Nicodemus was kept “in the dark”.

“come from God”:   dual meaning.  Jesus was a teacher sent by God but he himself came from God.

 

2-5:   “no one can” // “no one can see the kingdom of God” (vs. 4), “no one can enter the kingdom of God”; “can” is used six times in verse 2-10.  Jesus’ reply was a play on Nicodemus’ words.

“anothen”: Greek word meaning “from above” or “again”.  Nicodemus was confused from the dual meaning of this word, but the dual meaning does not exist in Aramaic which was most probably the language spoken by Jesus at that time.

“see” (Greek, “idein”) = “experience”

 

4:    Nicodemus’ failure to understand opens the way for Jesus to explain in greater detail

 

5:    “water and Spirit”;  reference to baptism and being born from above.

 

6:    “What is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of Spirit is spirit.”  (Johannine dualism).   The other Gospels do not use this good vs. evil approach.

 

7:    “Do not be astonished”: an introductory phrase used by the Pharisees.  This was a common way of introducing something important.

 

8:    “pneuma” = wind or spirit.  This play on words happened to be the same in Greek or Hebrew.

“phone” (Greek) = lit. “voice” or “sound”.

 

9:    last mention of Nicodemus in this scene; he fades back into the night from which he came

 

11:  “speak” (lalein):   in the Septuagint, refers to the transmission of the revealed word of God by a prophet; in Acts, refers to the transmission of the gospel; in John, refers to the revelation of the truth from God by Jesus.  This was the beginning of Jesus revealing who he is and why he has come.

 

13:   “has ascended”:  problematic; ascension has already occurred; in Johannine writings, there is a transcendence of, and certain indifference to, “normal time”

 

14:    reference to Numbers 21:9 ff.: “lifted up” = the first of three (3:14; 8:28; 12:32-34) uses in John; includes entire saving event (“Pascha”).   There may be a parallel in the Synoptics with Jesus’ three warnings.  The serpent of the wilderness is first mentioned in the Book of Numbers.  Later in II Kings the serpent becomes a pagan god.

 

16:    “loved”   refers to a supreme act of love

 

Nicodemus reappears two times in the Gospel according to John:

 

John 7:  50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, 51 “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?”  52 They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you?  Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”  (Note it was mentioned that the Galileans were looked upon in those days as “country bumpkins”.)

 

John 19:  38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus.  Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body.  39 Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds.  40 They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews.  41 Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.  42 And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.  (Finally by the end Nicodemus is willing to step out of darkness and into the light.  Once again, the dark/light and day/night symbolism is used.)

 

The entire story is used extensively during Lent and in preparation for baptism.  Mike noted that in paraphrasing from Leonel Mitchell’s book, that Lent is a time of penitence and fasting and a time of renewal.  It is a time to mend your hearts and prepare for the Pascal feast.  Some additional group discussion followed.  There was a question regarding the meaning of Jesus, the son of man.  One interpretation is to mean that he was just an “ordinary guy” or it could refer to his role at the end of time.  Then the question arose as to whether Nicodemus may have been a real person or not.  After all, there was no one there taking notes while he and Jesus spoke with one another.  One explanation is that the Evangelist may have created the specific character to portray Jesus’ interactions with others.  There are many passages and parallelisms in the Bible that cannot be directly explained.  It was also mentioned that even different versions of the Bible available today, can offer slightly different meanings and interpretations to some of the verses.

 

 

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St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary

“An Introduction To The Gospel According To John”

Sunday, February 17, 2002

 

This morning, Father Mike Kreutzer led us through “An Introduction To The Gospel According To John.”  He explained how it held a special place within our observance of lent and celebration of Easter.  We are in Year A of the lectionary cycle.  Today’s session will focus on the introduction.  The first Sunday in begins with the story of Jesus’ temptation and on Good Friday the Passion according to John is used.  The second through fifth Sundays rotate through the synoptic Gospels whose events and chronology line up more exactly than does John’s Gospel.  Next, Mike walked the group through a handout that described the Paschal cycle.

 

THE PASCHAL CYCLE

 

T he paschal mystery of the dying and rising again of Jesus Christ and our participation therein is the theological core of the gospel, and its liturgical celebration is the central event of the church year. This celebration includes not only the special services of Holy Week and the Easter Vigil, but a substantial part of the year, roughly from February to June, the seasons of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter.

 

Not only is celebration of the resurrection of Christ theologically central to this annual cycle, the entire celebration of the paschal cycle is "dependent upon the movable date of the Sunday of the Resurrection or Easter Day" (BCP 15). Easter is actually a fixed date in a lunar calendar. Its earliest recorded celebration was among the Quartodecimans of Asia Minor, who celebrated the Pascha on the fourteenth day of the Jewish month of Nisan.  Irenaeus claimed that this celebration went back to the time of Polycarp, who died around 155. It celebrated both the passion and resurrection of

 

Christ. In other parts of the Christian world, and eventually everywhere, L: the celebration was held on the Sunday following, Sunday being the weekly eschatological celebration of the resurrection. In our calendar Easter Day is the Sunday after the first full moon of spring. It therefore falls between March 22 and April 25.

 

The celebration of the Pascha included both fasting and celebration. In the Roman model, which became normative, Friday and Saturday were observed as days of fasting, with the celebration of the Eucharist either during Saturday night or at dawn on Sunday; so that it occurred on the first day of the week (which began at sundown in the Jewish world but at midnight in the Roman). The festival rejoicing continued for fifty days, called the Pentecost, all of which were treated as one great Lord's Day, celebrating the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the descent of the Holy Spirit.

 

In the fourth century the week before Easter came to be filled with celebrations tied to the historical commemoration of the resurrection on Sunday; The Friday; already a fast day; became Good Friday; the commemoration of the passion and crucifixion; the Last Supper "on the night in which he was betrayed" was commemorated with a Thursday evening Eucharist. From this grows our Holy Week. At about the same time the period of preparation of catechumens for Easter baptism, marked by penitence, fasting, and instruction, came to be identified as Quadragesima (the Forty Days), which we translate as Lent.

 

The Easter cycle of the liturgical year in our Prayer Book developed from the medieval version of this sequence of celebrations. The Proper Liturgies for Special Days mark major occasions in this cycle. As we observe these separate occasions, though, we need to keep in mind the unity of the entire celebration. The Great Vigil of Easter, with the celebration of the paschal sacraments of baptism and Eucharist, is at its core and is its organizing theme, but the Easter cycle encompasses everything from Ash Wednesday through Pentecost. Its theme is the salvation of the human race through the mighty acts of Jesus Christ. In its celebration we become participants in those mighty acts and enter into the risen life of Christ.

 

In summary, the Pascal cycle is the core of our church year.  The Great Three Days are actually a single celebration, which is divided into three parts.  There is no dismissal after the Maundy Thursday or Good Friday services.  Easter is celebrated the first Sunday after the first full moon in spring.  In Rome, the day begins at midnight, but in the Jewish community, the day begins at sundown of the day before.  Pentecost lasts fifty days.  Lent, or Quadragisima in Latin lasts forty days.  The duration is actually forty-six days since Sundays are feast days and as such, not included as part of Lent itself.

 

Those preparing for baptism during Lent had special times.  It is meant to be a time of renewing baptismal covenants for all Christians.  Thus, many of the readings are related to baptism.  John’s writings give a different perspective on Jesus’ life.  Mark was probably written around 65 AD, Matthew and Luke around the mid 80’s, and John sometime in the 90’s.

 

Next, Mike reviewed the outline of the upcoming lessons, which also included various definitions

 

 

The Gospel According To John

 

Sources:

1)  Original material, similar to the Synoptics

2)  Johannine patterns

3)  Organization into a consecutive gospel

4)  Secondary editing by "the evangelist"

5)  Redaction by a follower / disciple of the evangelist

            (possible addition of chapters 11-12, 15-17, 21)

It was unknown who the secondary editor was or who did the redaction or final editing.  The description of the Last Supper in chapters 15 through 17 is the longest of all of the Gospels.  Chapter 21 starts a different pattern with a different writing style.

 

Exact information:

Chap. 4, Samaritans: belief, theology, Geriz~ Jacob's well

Chap. 5, pool of Bethesda: name, location, construction

Chap. 6-8: theological themes related to the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles reflect accurate knowledge of practices and synagogue readings

Details about Jerusalem: pool of Silo am (9:7); Solomon's Portico (10:22-23); stone pavement at the Praetorium (19:13)

John seems to have a lot of exact information.  Some of the stories follow in the traditions of both Palestine and western Asia Minor (western Turkey today).  The pool at Bethesda matches with the archeological finds.

 

 

Material/information not found in the Synoptics:

Jesus baptizing before his public ministry (3 :22);

public ministry lasting more than one year;

several journeys to Jerusalem;

ongoing opposition of the authorities in Jerusalem (not just in last days);

many details about the passion and death

John is the only place in the Bible where it is made mention of Jesus baptizing people before his ministry.  He also mentions that Jesus’ ministry lasted three years and not just one.

 

 

Jesus portrayed in terms of Old Testament "Wisdom"   (wisdom coming forth from God).

 

Use of terms from the Pharisaic tradition (e.g. "Rabbi") 

 

The liberal Pharisee believed in angels and the raising of the dead.  The conservative Sagusees believed in the literal translation of the Torah.  Most of the Sagusees lost their lives in the 66 AD rebellion against Rome, which is why the liberal philosophies flourished after that time period.

 

Purpose: teaching to encourage believers; defense against Jewish opponents, followers of John the Baptist, and early heresies  (An analysis by Raymond Brown compares the relationship of Jesus at the top (all knowing), the reader in the middle (in-between) and the disciples at the bottom (knowing very little) with the Sherlock Holmes – Watson relationship.)

 

ecclesiology: a community of believers is assumed ("vine and branches", "sheep and shepherds")

 

sacramentalism: no specific sayings or "institution narratives", but references to Baptism and the Eucharist scattered throughout the gospel; used to show how the sacraments of Christian life are rooted in Jesus own words and actions    (“I am the bread of life.”)

 

eschatology: both realized and imminent   (This refers to the view at the end of time.  There was the initial waiting for the second coming and the “realized” eschatology, which recognizes we are already at the end of time and must live our lives accordingly.) 

 

poetic format: parallelism, inclusions, chiasm, double-meaning, misunderstanding  (Inclusions as is seen in the Book of Psalms which ties together with the overall theme.  Chiasms have the AB-BA format.  The double meanings relate to a single word, which can have two completely different meanings.)  John has a higher Christology than the synoptic Gospels.

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