Tonight, our instructor began by providing some additional information about what she expects from our papers. She wants it to include an introduction, a body, and a conclusion (naturally), and she wants it handed in as a printed copy. She also handed out a preferred cover page, and warned us about getting “off track”. Evidently someone asked if we can share our papers with each other and although ILM doesn’t have any formal system to do this, it would be alright with her.
After this she returned to the story about the Man Born Blind from the end of last week’s lecture, which follows the literary structure found in earlier stories and is another example of a chaism:
- A - v9:1-7 - Conversation between Jesus and the blind man
- B - v9:8-12 - Conversation between the blind man and neighbors
- C - v9:13-17 - Conversation between the blind man and the Pharisees
- D - v9:18-23 - Conversation between the parents and the Pharisees
- C' - v9:24-34 - Conversation between the blind man and the Pharisees
- B' - v9:35-38 - Conversation between the blind man and Jesus
- A' - v9:39-41 - Conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees
In this example “D” is the most important conversation indicating that the main point of this story is that the Pharisees and the Jews do not accept what they see with their own eyes. For the Johannine community becoming a disciple of Jesus meant openly confessing a belief in Jesus; without being afraid of the consequences. The parents were too afraid to acknowledge the miracle for fear of being expelled from the Temple; figuratively throwing their son “under the buss” in their own defense.
Like the stories of the Woman at the Well and Nicodemus, the blind man probably didn’t actually exist: They are literary constructs as well as theological constructs. Nevertheless, the message is real and important for our understanding. For John’s community it's simply about belief or unbelief in Jesus as the Son of God. The characters in each of these stories is more than an individual, they are spoke persons for an encounter with Jesus.
While the blind man could not see physically he was able to see theologically, in contrast to the Pharisees who could see physically but couldn’t see theologically. Beforehand the blind man was truly blind and afterwards the parents were truly afraid. It is also another example of our own progressive understanding of who Jesus is. The Blind Man originally referred to him as “the man called Jesus”, then later as “the prophet”, and then as “having come from God”, he eventually acknowledges that Jesus is the “Son of Man”.
Unlike the woman at the well who came to an understanding of who Jesus was through a long conversation with Him, the Blind man acknowledges his understanding through a confrontation with his enemies. This has also been the history of the Johannine community, who at times have been criticized, abused, and scared. From this the Johannine community understood that whatever happens in conflict with outside rulers, that experience will bring you to the One who brings sight to the world.
The message to Johannine community is that through their trials they were able to come to an understanding of who Jesus was. This story contrasts the increasing blindness of interrogators to the one who gradually sees clearly. It also contrasts the parents who refused to publically acknowledge sight in their encounter with Jesus.
This was an ongoing struggle for the Johannine community; why are some able to see and others cannot? They came to believe that while some are looking for the glory of God others are looking for our own glory. The story of the Man born Blind was a symbol of struggle of the Johannine community, who came together to defend the faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment