- Alyce McKenzie writes, “Parables are short narrative fictions that seek to make us evaluate our lives. While we think we are interpreting them, they are actually interpreting us” (p. 1)!
a. Parables, according to McKenzie, help us answer two questions (p. 2-3):
i. What is the kingdom of God like?
ii. How am I to respond to the reign of God?
b. Parables offer four answers to the first question (p. 3):
1) The kingdom of God is not under our control.
2) The kingdom of God shows up when we least expect it.
3) The kingdom of God disrupts business as usual.
4) The kingdom of God is a reign of justice and forgiveness.
c. Parables also offer us four responses to the second question (p. 3-4):
1) We divest ourselves of our need for control.
2) We discern the presence of God among the details of daily life.
3) We accept the disruption that God brings to our complacent values, attitudes, and assumptions.
4) We set ourselves in the destination of the kingdom that brings and will bring justice and forgiveness. - The Synoptic Gospels contain over 100 proverbs and 40 parables that deal with McKenzie’s two questions.
- However, John’s Gospel contains only one reference to the Kingdom of God (3:5), and “Jesus’ teachings take the form of a series of explanations of his identity and mission that are often called the ‘I am’ sayings” (McKenzie, p. 7; cf., Metzger,2003, p. 113-114).
- Brian Stiller offers seven characteristics which are common to the parables in the Synoptics (p. 15-17):
1. The parables are “earthy” (McKenzie calls them “paradoxical”, p. 23).
2. The parables do not require previous learning.
3. The parables are direct and concise.
4. The parables have a unique structure with a major and some minor points.
5. The parables use repetition.
6. The parables offer a conclusion, although it is an affective conclusion rather than an informative conclusion (McKenzie refers to this as the “open-ended quality”, p. 26).
7. The parables use a surprise element of a reversal of expectation. - Although the word parabole is not used in John’s Gospel, this is the nearest example of a parable. This illustration may be more akin to the Hebrew mashal, which also includes analogy and parallelism.
a. 10:6; cf. 16:25—The word that is used here is paroimian (or “figure of speech”), a technique that compares two worlds in order to draw the physical world into the spiritual world.
b. The implication is that Jesus’ entire life is a parable, which is the basis for John’s “come and see” theology.
John 10:1-10
- 10:1—A “sheep pen” was a court surrounded by walls, yet open to the sky and with only one entrance.
- 10:1-3—The legitimacy of Jesus is set against those who are false or malicious teachers.
a. 10:2-3—The image is of a communal sheep pen where each shepherd has a call for his specific group of sheep (Brown, 1966, p. 385).
b. 3 John 15—John asks that his personal greetings be given.
c. The voice the sheep hear is the voice of the Creator.
d. John 10:5—Some connect this to the Blind Man narrative (9:1-12) because he responds to the voice of the Shepherd while the religious leaders, who can see Jesus, do not respond to Him. - 10:6-10—Some did not understand what Jesus was talking about.
a. 10:9—Those who go in and out of the gate are led by the Shepherd.
b. 10:10a—This may be a reference to some form of incipient Gnosticism.
c. 10:10b; 5:22-26—The “life” that is mentioned here is zoe not bios.
John 10:11-18
- 10:11—The Good Shepherd will lay down His psuche (“life”) for His sheep.
a. The worthy shepherd will always put his life in front of danger to protect the flock.
b. 10:12-13—The hired hand, who may be a church worker or a false teacher, will not defend the sheep (i.e., the Church).
c. The idea behind the use of psuche is His personality as the Good Shepherd, Savior and Messiah (Cullmann, 1963, p. 58). - Isaiah 56:9-12—God had given responsibility of guiding the people to the religious leaders, yet they had failed.
- Characteristics of a “Good Shepherd”:
a. Caretaker
b. Personal-“calls them by name”
c. Loyal
d. 10:4—Salvation
e. Leader
f. Calls - 10:16—Is this the Samaritan group or the Gentile mission?
a. 10:19—Those opposed to Jesus are not a solid opposition against Jesus.
b. The “background music” of this reality is the sheep listening to the true voice and others only hearing the voice (Jeff Peterson, AGST).
c. Schisma—“tear, rip,” Greek - The relinquishing of one’s life is the very essence of zoe.
a. Some see the Incarnation as a one-time deal where Jesus gets everything back in spades when He returns to Heaven. However, we must remember that the Cross is a continual action (Morris, p. 456-457).
b. Jesus does not take up His psuche again. He will receive His life again from the God who always sustains the faithful. - 10:18; cf. Philippians 2:6-7—Jesus is not saying that He has an ace up His sleeve. He is saying that He trusts that He is doing what God has asked Him to do.
a. The fullest expression of self-expending love (agape) is giving up one’s life (Ballie, 1948). b. Luther wants us to cling to the Cross and ignore the dark mystery of God’s wrath, yet the Cross swallows God’s wrath because the Cross becomes His essence.
c. 13:34-35—Our loving one another as Christ has loved us continues the love seen through the Cross (Grenz, p. 194-195).
d. 17:21—This love is then made flesh through mission.
John 10:19-30
- 1 Maccabees 4:8-9—In 164 BC, Judas Maccabees cleanses the Temple of Antiochus Epiphanes IV’s abominations. The memorial festival becomes known as Hanukkah, or the Feast of Dedication, which is held in winter.
- 10:22—Could this reference to “winter” be a time of discontent with the religious leaders?
a. 10:23—Solomon’s Porch was a place where one could stand to stay out of the harsh December winds.
b. 10:24—“How long will You continue to provoke us?” - 10:25-30—How much more proof do they need? According to Talbert, Jesus provides two answers to thie question (p. 174):
a. 10:25—Jesus has and will continue to perform signs that reveal His true identity.
b. 10:28-29—The religious leaders will attempt to tear Jesus’ followers away from Him.
John 10:31-42
- 10:31-39—This is another possible example of the “replacement motif.”
a. The Lamb is again standing in the Temple courtyard.
b. 10:38—This is more of a call for faith. - 10:40-41—The people revered John the Baptizer.
References
Donald Ballie, God Was In Christ: An Essay on Incarnation and Atonement (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1948).
Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John I-XII, Anchor Bible 29 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966).
Oscar Cullmann, The Christology of the New Testament, rev. ed., New Testament Library (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963).
Stanley J. Grenz, Created for Community: Connecting Christian Belief with Christian Living, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: BridgePoint Books/ Baker 1998).
Alyce M. McKenzie, The Parables for Today, For Today Series (Louisville/London: Westminster/ John Knox Press, 2007).
Bruce M. Metzger, The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, and Content, 3rd ed. (Nashville: Abingdon, 2003).
Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, rev. ed., New International Commentary on the New Testament 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995).
Brian C. Stiller, Preaching Parables to Postmoderns, Fortress Resources for Preaching (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005).
Charles H. Talbert, Reading John: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Fourth Gospel and the Johannine Epistles, rev. ed., Reading the New Testament (Macon, GA: Smyth and Helwys, 2005).
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