John

After Reading a portion of scripture, we are sometimes left wondering exactly what the passage means. If we have been paying attention and haven’t dozed off. it is natural to blame the translators for our difficulty. Although an imperfect translation may hinder our progress somewhat, this is seldom a good excuse as many of our modern translations and study Bibles have helps to make a perplexing text understandable. Often, the real reason we do not understand the passage is because we have not acquired the necessary’ background. In short, we can’t expect to comprehend the end of a story until we have digested the beginning.

As 20th century readers, we have many advantages over our predecessors. Modern Bible versions supply punctuation which usually helps give the sense of the text. First-century readers did not have this benefit as there was no punctuation in the original written records.

Of course, punctuation can also be misplaced, distorting the intended meaning. For example, the KJV renders Jesus’ reply to the thief on the cross as, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Lk. 23:43). Shifting the comma by one word to after “today,” gives a different meaning to the passage. No one can say for sure where Jesus paused. Considering his circumstance on the cross, he probably gasped for breath after each word. Yet the thief must have understood Jesus’ meaning. To understand it ourselves, we must consider carefully what the thief asked: “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Lk. 23:42). He knew Jesus did not teach immediate entrance into paradise, but a hope of resurrection to blessing when Jesus returns to establish the kingdom of God. This is what the thief was asking for.

From other scripture, we know heaven-going is not Bible teaching (cf. Matt. 12:40; John 3:13). The literal reading of any single passage must take into account the teaching of other scripture.

Many false doctrines believed today can be carelessly read into the scriptures. To avoid this type of confusion, we must compare scripture with scripture before settling on the understanding of a passage which can be taken more than one way.

Beware our prejudice

Many times the inflection of a person’s voice alters the sense of his words. Scripture seldom uses adjectives to guide us and we must be careful to interpret the passage properly and not rely on our preconceived notions. Thus Jesus’ reply to his mother at the wedding in Cana may seem harsh to us: “Woman, what have Ito do with thee? mine hour is not yet come” (John 2:4). If the translators had used, “Mother…” we would read the words with a softer tone. Yet “woman” has no hardness to it at all in the Greek. Jesus later addresses his mother from the cross: “Woman, behold thy son!” and Mary Magdalene weeping before the empty tomb: “Woman, why weepest thou” (John 19:26; 20:13,15). In neither case could there possibly be a hard edge in Jesus voice.

So perhaps more than we realize, our understanding of some passages is distorted by our personal prejudice.

The use of irony

A casual reading of some passages will often leave one with the wrong impression. God has built into His word a means of forcing us to read the Bible carefully; irony. This irony is often not apparent unless a certain level of knowledge concerning God’s plan has been attained.

The dictionary defines an expression to be ironic if it states something contrary to what would naturally be expected. Thus, to some extent, our depth of knowledge of the subject matter dictates what we find to be ironic.

Those who have read Genesis, studied the lives of the patriarchs and have a knowledge of Jesus as the Son of God, will appreciate the irony in the statement of the Samaritan woman: “Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself?” (John 4:12). Without a basic scriptural knowledge, the irony of the woman’s words could not be appreciated. Only by knowing the Bible do we realize how much greater Jesus was than Jacob and how much Jacob looked forward to the day of his promised seed.

In John 11, Caiaphas, the high priest, makes a statement to justify his opinion that Jesus must be crucified: “Ye know nothing at all,. .it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not” (11:49­,50). In fact, Caiaphas’ statement is doubly ironic. Jesus did die for the people (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8) and by their rejection of him the Jews guaranteed the destruction of their nation (John 15:22-­24; Matt. 23:36).

Irony helped Jesus endure

Throughout Jesus’ trial, his opponents continually mocked and ridiculed him. For example, Pilate’s soldiers placed a crown of thorns on his head, dressed him in a purple robe and proclaimed, “Hail. King of the Jews!” (19:1­3). As the soldiers did not believe Jesus was king, there is irony in their words and deeds.

After this humiliation, Jesus was brought forth in his “kingly” attire. The chief priests and soldiers stood nearby as Pilate shouted: “Behold the man!” The phrase may have had little significance to Pilate, but Jesus would surely recall the prophecy and take comfort from it: “Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD” (Zech. 6:12).

In spite of the fact Pilate found no fault in Jesus, the Jews desperately wanted Jesus crucified: They cried out, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). He was the Son of God, so that was not blasphemy, but it was true that the law did point forward to the death of the true sacrifice for sins. Jesus later confirmed the necessity of his death when, after his resurrection, he said: “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets. he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Lk. 24:26,27).

Throughout scripture, God has inserted many forms of irony to reinforce His message. Each one we discover increases our confidence that only God could be the author of this book. As you read John’s gospel this month, you will come across many ironic passages. Here are a few more for you to consider: John 7:35,42; 8:22; 19:15,19. No doubt you will discover many more on your own.