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38 | Claudia Setzer www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/1, 35â47
gospel. In about half the cases, they mean âto see with the eyesâ, and in half they
mean âto knowâ or âto understandâ, while in six places they mean both kinds of see-
ing. Jesus is called a âlightâ eleven times in the gospel. Hating evil and doing good
equals coming to the light (3:20â21). Many statements show Jesus as the mirror of
the Father; seeing him is seeing the Father (5:19, 6:40; 14:7; 14:9). Knowing the Father
comes from seeing Jesus: âIf you know me, you will know my Father also. From now
on you do know him and have seen himâ (14:7) and, to Philip, âWhoever has seen me
has seen the Fatherâ (14:9). Belief in the resurrection is the result of seeing. The Be-
loved Disciple sees the empty tomb and believes (20:8). Mary Magdalene and other
disciples express their belief as âwe have seen the Lordâ (20:18, 25).
The symbols of light and darkness pervade stories that are juxtaposed in chapters
one and four. Nicodemus, the Jewish teacher, comes to Jesus by night, but fails to un-
derstand. The Samaritan woman, by contrast, meets him in broad daylight and comes
to understand him in stages, beginning with âI see that you are a prophetâ (4:19).
Potent symbolism appears in the story of the healing of the blind man, which plays on
images of real and metaphorical blindness. Jesusâ claim âI am the light of the worldâ
(9:5) introduces the story. The verb âto seeâ in the sense of âto knowâ appears seven
times in this story (e.g. âwe know that this is our sonâ [9:20] or âOne thing I do know,
that though I was blind, now I seeâ [9:25]). As Jesus heals the man blind from birth,
the man grows in knowledge of Jesusâ identity, proclaiming him a prophet, his heal-
er, the one whom God listens to, then, finally, the Son of Man. The Pharisees/Jews,
by contrast, sink lower in understanding as the story progresses. Jesus proclaims, âI
came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and that
those who do see may become blindâ (9:39). The Pharisees ask if they are blind and
the punchline of the story is âIf you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that
you say, âwe see,â your sin remainsâ (9:41).
The seven miracles of Jesus in John are called not miracles, but âsignsâ to provoke
belief.6 In the Hebrew Bible, signs and wonders are Godâs manifestations of Godâs
power. The gospel makes clear that seeing signs reveals Jesusâ identity as the man
from God and brings viewers to belief. After the changing of the water to wine at
Cana, it reports, âJesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed
his glory; and his disciples believed in himâ (2:11). When Jesus tells the disciples that
Lazarus is dead, he adds, âfor your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may
believeâ (11:15), namely as a result of seeing Jesusâ forthcoming miracle of raising La-
zarus back to life. The editor mentions other signs not written in the gospel,7 but
âthese are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son
of God, and that through believing you may have life in his nameâ (20:31).
6 Chapter twenty-one is considered a later addition to the gospel, but it contains a sign in 21:14.
7 The possibility of a âsigns sourceâ, a collection of Jesusâ miracles known to the author, was first ar-
ticulated by Rudolf Bultmann and developed by Robert Fortna and others, but it has not produced
consensus.
JRFM
Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/01
- Title
- JRFM
- Subtitle
- Journal Religion Film Media
- Volume
- 02/01
- Authors
- Christian Wessely
- Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati
- Editor
- Uni-Graz
- Publisher
- SchĂźren Verlag GmbH
- Location
- Graz
- Date
- 2016
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Size
- 14.8 x 21.0 cm
- Pages
- 132
- Categories
- Zeitschriften JRFM