ii.2 Development in discourse section

The thematic background of Passover exerts a shaping influence on the discourse section of the chapter, as well.236 Commentators commonly note the intrinsic linkage between the feeding “sign” and the later discourse. Within the narrative of John 6 the miraculous meal Jesus provided for the people was not an end in itself but a symbolic pointer to the real provision he would make.237 This is evident already from the conclusion of the scene when Jesus reacts to the crowd’s effort to make him king by fleeing their presence. In this way Jesus signaled that the real import of his “sign” lies elsewhere.238 Beginning, then, with the rebuke of verse 26 the “discourse...draws attention away from the feeding miracle itself, interpreting it only as a ‘sign’, a symbol of the ‘real bread’.”239 The discourse functions to clarify the real nature and goal of Jesus’ provision.

Though invoked in this way at the outset of the discourse, Passover recedes from prominence as the focus shifts to the wilderness experience (6:31-51). Nevertheless, the manna theme which runs from 6:31 throughout the discourse likely carries some Passover overtones, though to what extent is difficult to determine with certainty.240 In Josh 5:10-12 the manna provision is brought into association with Passover when the manna ceases following the celebration of the first Passover in Canaan. Mekilta de Rabbi Ishmael on Exodus 16:1 explains that the manna first fell precisely one month after the

234 _{On this connection between the sign-prophets and Passover, see Colautti, Passover, 207-217.}

235 _{That Jesus provides bread, and not lamb, is no obstacle to this reading. For as we will see subsequently, this} bread symbolizes the “flesh” of Jesus body which he would give over to death as the true Passover sacrifice, thereafter to be “eaten” by all who would enter the life he offers.

236

Again, cf. the quotations above from Hoskyns, John, 281, and Keener, 665. Meeks, Prophet-King, 92, states, “the Evangelist’s mention of the season in v.4 justifies attempts to discover allusions in the Johannine discourse to Passover traditions”.

237 _{Cf. Beasley-Murray, John, 98; Borchert, John, 1.261-262; Lincoln, John, 216, 226. Representative is Dianna} Swancutt, “Hungers Assuaged by the Bread from Heaven,” in Early Christian Interpretation of the Scriptures of Israel: Investigations and Proposals (eds. Craig A. Evans and James A. Sanders, JSNTSupp 148; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997) 245, who characterizes the discourse as “a commentary on Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand and the crossing of the sea.”

238 _{So, Witkamp, “Features”, 50; Lincoln, John, 216. The express Passover setting leads Moloney, Signs, 38, to} regard the gathering of the leftover pieces in 6:12-13 as a prolepsis drawing the reader “further into the narrative” to discover, over against the manna provided in the wilderness, the nature of the bread Jesus gives.

239 _{Meeks, Prophet-King, 93 (cf. 91); and see Brown, John, 264.} 240 _{Brown, John, 245, 265; Moloney, Signs, 46.}

71

departure from Egypt, the fifteenth day of the second month, the date associated with the celebration of the second Passover according to Num 9:9-11.241 This source is, of course, quite late and so cannot be considered decisive for a connection between Manna and Passover in John 6.242 However, the work of Bertil Gärtner on the Jewish Passover Haggadah (JPH) and John 6 may prove useful at this point. Gärtner argued that the essential structure and content of John 6 has been modeled after the meal-

questions-interpretation format of JPH.243 Though his major thesis of direct Johannine dependence on

JPH has not been accepted by most scholars, much of the evidence he marshals is suggestive of a contemporary association between the manna and Passover traditions. Following a survey of the evidence of John 6, Kerr tentatively proposes, “there could have been some form of JPH in the

background that has been worked over and molded into the narrative dialogue of Jesus with the Jews. My conclusion is that there is a general allusion to JPH rather than specific correspondences.”244 Thus, while the language of the manna tradition predominates from 6:31-51, the eschatological correlation of the manna and Passover traditions in JPH suggests the latter should not be excluded from the

background of 6:31-51 (though it should not be overstated, either).245

Beginning with verse 51 and continuing through the conclusion of the discourse Passover returns to the foreground and supplies the essential conceptual matrix for the imagery of eating and drinking.246 The convergence in 6:51 of the terms “give”, “flesh” and “on behalf of” suggest that a sacrificial death is envisaged here.247 Some commentators argue that John 6:51 identifies Jesus with the

241 _{Cited by Brown, John, 265.} 242

Brown recognizes this and remains uncertain about its importance.

243 _{He argued that the four questions asked in JPH are appropriated in John 6:28, 32, 42, 52. Gärtner was anticipated} by David Daube, The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism (Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion; London: Athlone Press, 1956), 163-169, and later elaborated upon by Edward J. Kilmarten, “Liturgical Influence on John 6,” CBQ 22 (1960): 183-191. For concise summary and critique of Gärtner’s work, see esp. Kerr, Temple, 211-215, who surveys the parallels and concludes they are too weak to establish direct dependence. Note, also, the incisive, earlier critiques of Meeks, Prophet-King, 92 n. 2,; also Brown, 266-267, who regards the question-answer format as a characteristic Johannine technique (cf., e.g., 4:9/13, 11-12/14).

244 _{Kerr, Temple, 214. Along similar lines, Brown, John, 245, rejects suggestions that the author has constructed the} entire discourse from his own imagination to bring it into line with Passover themes; he argues instead that the many points of contact between Jesus’ discourse and the OT ideas prevalent in contemporary Jewish liturgy during Passover season are best explained as indications of Jesus’ intention to strike thematic chords that would be on the forefront of people’s minds at that time.

245 _{Kerr, Temple, 219 n. 36 and 220 n. 40.} 246

Hoskyns, John, 297; Grassi, “Eating”, 28; Godfrey W. Ashby, “Body and Blood in John 6:41-65,” NeoT 36 (2002) 59; idem., Sacrifice: Its Nature and Purpose (London: SCM Press, 1988), 96; Kerr, Temple, 220 n. 40; Keener, John, 688; Hoskins, Temple, 177. Beasley-Murray, John, 87 (cf. 94), says that the Passover setting (6:4) as well as the Lamb of God logion (1:29) make the concept of the sacrifice of the Pascal lamb “fundamental to vv. 51- 58”, while Bultmann, John, 156, believes the pascal orientation of the passage is so obvious as to indicate that the original note about the setting (6:4) was added by the same redactor who added 6:51-56.

247 _{So, emphatically, Bruce, John, 158. Cf. Beasley-Murray, John, 94; Barrett, John, 298; Lindars, John, 267;} Hoskyns, John, 297; Hoskins, Temple, 177; Smith, Theology, 116. Keener, 687, suggests “the future tense of ‘give’

72

Suffering Servant of Isa 53, while others argue for an association with the pascal lamb.248 For each, appeal is made to the surrounding context (i.e., the Passover setting or the citation of Isa 54 in John 6:45) and it is probably best to retain both associations.249 If this is correct John 6:51 represents the second of three contexts in which John has conflated the Suffering Servant of Isa 53 and the pascal lamb (cf. 1:29 and the trial scene in 18:28-19:16). I suggested earlier that the reason for invoking both of these backgrounds to characterize the death of Jesus was to draw upon unique features of each

tradition to illumine different facets of Jesus’ death. In a word, it is his death as Suffering Servant which accomplishes the atonement for sin requisite for national restoration; and it is as the sacrificed pascal lamb that he supplies the Passover meal for the people to eat.250 I will argue in detail for this last point in my final section below.

I conclude by observing that considerable subtlety surrounds the presence of Passover throughout John 6 and its prominence must not be overstated.251 Notwithstanding this caveat, however, mention of the feast in John 6:4 represents a critical signal (or better, invitation) to read the feeding narrative against the backdrop of Passover.252 Furthermore, the hermeneutical relationship recognized by many scholars between the sign in 6:5-13 and the discourse in 6:26-58 justifies the expectation that the Passover background continues to play an important role in the remainder of the chapter. It seems, then, that the provision of food Jesus makes for the people is a symbolic pascal meal, and the food he provides is nothing other than his own flesh given to death as the pascal sacrifice. But to what end? I turn next to the way in which this pascal meal becomes oriented toward the national hopes of restoration.

D.iii. Isaianic New Exodus theme in John 6