One Thing I Know

How the Blind Man of John 9 Leads an Audience toward Belief

Leslie

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781498209717
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

This work employs multiple methodologies to analyze the story of the man born blind (John 9) in order to discern how this episode serves the greater purpose of the Gospel, stated in 20:31: "so that you may trust that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and through trusting you may have life." The analysis of linguistic patterns; narrative structure; cultural anthropology; and an analysis of irony, humor, and wit are each employed. These are all synthesized in the final chapter, which makes an attempt to discern how an ancient performance of John 9 might look, and how such a performance might sway an ancient audience toward trust in Jesus as Messiah.

1

Introduction

The Question for Investigation

It is my thesis that the episode1 of the blind man in John 9 is designed to evoke in hearers2 a relationship of trust in Jesus as light and an experience of Jesus as light of the world. Light is thought of in antiquity as both a source of life and evidence of life. This is explicit in John where we see Jesus described as both “light” and “life” (John 1:3–5). This thesis about chapter 9 is in line with the overall stated purpose of the gospel of John, namely that the gospel was written “so that” (ἵνα) you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31 NRSV).

I wish to investigate my thesis by use of a synthetic multidisciplinary approach. My hope is that in combining the disciplines of narrative criticism, social-science criticism, discourse studies, and performance criticism, an analytical and interpretive benefit will be yielded which exceeds that of simply adding the individually yielded insights of each discipline.

Thesis

The overall purpose of the Gospel of John is to elicit in the hearer trust (πιστεύω) in Jesus (John 20:31), a relationship that brings with it abundant life (ζωή) (John 10:10). Life in the Gospel of John is bound up with the concept of light (φῶς) (1:4). John 9, like the larger gospel narrative, seeks to elicit in the hearer, trust in Jesus and an experience of Jesus as light (= life) of the world. Specifically, John 9 accomplishes the characterization of Jesus by demonstrating (primarily showing rather than telling) the direct effects of this light on a man lacking inner light (blind) from birth. Such a person is the perfect subject to demonstrate Jesus’s effect as light of the world. Because he was born blind, any light (light = sight) that he acquires must have come from Jesus his healer.3

I shall attempt to demonstrate how the episode of the man born blind functions rhetorically to kindle in the hearer light, that is, a relationship of trust (πιστεύω) with Jesus as light of the world. Note that I have chosen the English word “trust” here for the Greek verb πιστεύω rather than the usual translation of “believe” (as in the above quoted NRSV translation). I think that “trust” more fully captures the nuance of the Johannine use of πιστεύω, which is relational.4 The modern English speaking Westerner, for the most part, can understand “believe” on the level of a purely mental exercise, where “trust,” in addition to mental assent, implies more of a relational investment.

In summary there are two parts to the above thesis. First, it is my thesis that John 9 asserts and demonstrates a statement about Jesus: Jesus is the light of the world who brings life. Second, it is my thesis that through John 9 the author attempts to elicit in the hearer trust in Jesus as light. The second part of this thesis goes a step beyond the first part from an assertion about Jesus to an attempt to elicit a response, namely a relationship of trust, between the hearer of John’s Gospel and Jesus.

In fact, John 9 seems to almost provide a template for the incorporation of a member of the Johannine community. It is the story of a person who receives his sight, both physical and spiritual, is then cast out from his own people for witnessing that his healer is from God. He is sought out by his healer, trusts and worships. The central figure of the Johannine community then pronounces that the representatives of the broader (expelling) community abide in sin.

John 9, and particularly the climactic scene vv. 35–39, functions within the rest of the gospel to accomplish that expressed goal of trust in Jesus in two ways. First, it removes the negative cultural consequences which come from trust, namely expulsion from the synagogue (9:22; 12:42; 16:2) and being removed from one’s community. This is demonstrated when Jesus seeks out and elicits the trust of the healed man after his expulsion. Second, this initiation into the new community of Jesus the Good Shepherd (cf. 10:3–4) happens specifically through trust (cf. 9:35, 38) in Jesus. Furthermore, this is an initiation into a community where one will never be “cast out” (ἐκβάλλω, 6:37 cf. 934). The members of the synagogue community may well be “cast out” (ἐκβάλλω, 9:34) by their leaders, but those who are part of the community that Jesus establishes (John 6:37; cf. 1:12) will never be “cast out” (6:37) by their leader.

Previous Investigations

Historical Critical/Purpose of the Gospel

Martyn

In History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel,5 Louis J. Martyn attempts to link the Fourth Gospel with the history and experiences of a particular community, the Johannine Community. Essentially Martyn sees John 9 as a kind of narrative autobiography of the Johannine Community. They are made to see who Jesus really is, come to belief, and are expelled from the synagogue because of their witness. He essentially sees three phases of the community’s development. 1) Prior to the 80s CE, those who believed in Jesus as Messiah continued living life as a Jew and engaging in synagogue worship. 2) Sometime after the 80s a middle period existed within the community where they were viewed with suspicion over the community’s claims about Jesus and eventually were expelled from the synagogue (9:33; 12:42; 16:2). The Brikat ha-minim was used as an instrument to enforce this. This is acted out in John 9 as an autobiographical drama. 3) The expelled community, gradually forming an identity apart from the synagogue and Judaism, began to address the Christian Jews who remained in the synagogue. They argued that there could be no middle road and one had to be a part of the Johannine community openly (cf. 12:42–43).

Brown

Raymond Brown traces out his theory in his Anchor Bible commentary on John, his book The Community of the Beloved Disciple, and also his Anchor Bible commentary on the Johannine Epistles (which contains much of Community).6 His reconstruction of the history of the community is more complex than Martyn’s. He sees four phases in the life of the community.

1) Prior to the writing of the Gospel, the community begins with the Beloved Disciple, an historical figure and ex-disciple of John the Baptist. He is a follower of Jesus from the beginning, but not one of the twelve. The Beloved Disciple links the historical Jesus with the Johannine community.

2) As the Gospel was being written, the community began to be in conflict with various groups: Jews, Jewish Christians with a lower Christology, followers of John the Baptist, and “crypto-Christians.” The conflict with the Jews may have been from the admittance of Samaritans into the community. An increasingly higher Christology developed and those who did not share this Christology were also considered to be in conflict with the community. The “crypto-Christians,” or Jews who believed in Jesus but did not confess op...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Patterns and Structures in the Text of John 9
• 3. Narrative Analysis
• 4. Social-Science Analysis
• 5. Irony, Humor, Sarcasm, and Wit
• 6. Conclusions
• Bibliography