The Gospel of John, like Matthew, Mark, and Luke, chronicles the story of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the most important person who ever lived. He is at the same time the son of Mary of Nazareth and the son of God. As we encountered in a previous article, Jesus is the divine Word become flesh, the God-man (John 1:1,14). He was sent into the world by the Father to be the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). His purpose was eternal life.
Read Previous Posts of The Gospel of John – Part One – Part Two – Part Three
In this installment of our overview of the Gospel of John, we enter the heart of the book (Chapters 5-12). It is the part of the book with which most people are not as familiar as they are with the beginning and the end of the book. But so many important events and teachings happen in this middle part that make it so significant to understand. Because of the critical role this part of the book plays, a quick review is needed.
The Gospel of John is composed of four major sections: (1) The Prologue (1:1-18), (2) The Book of Signs (1:19-12:50), (3) The Book of Glory (13:1-20:31), (4) The Epilogue (21:1-25). In the previous article, we began the Book of Signs. The Book of Signs can be understood as containing four parts. We looked at the first two parts in the earlier article (Early Ministry of John & Jesus (1:19-51) and Jesus’ First Two Signs (2:1-4:54)) and will dive into the last two parts in this article (Opposition from Jewish Leaders (5:1-10:42) and Death & Life of the King (11:1-12:50).
Opposition From the Jewish Leaders (5:1-10:42)
This long section is indeed the heart of the book, not only structurally but also thematically. It touches on all the major themes John wants to emphasize. There are, however, three main related themes that are the focus of these chapters. First, there is the theme of opposition. In each of these chapters, we see growing opposition to Jesus by the religious leaders, especially those in Jerusalem. They opposed Jesus out of jealousy and out of a power struggle. They sensed Jesus’ superiority and could not tolerate that reality. We’ll flesh out this theme more as we examine the two other major themes.
This leads us to the second major theme in this section, the Jewish feasts in Jerusalem. In each chapter, except six, we find Jesus at a Jewish feast where he experiences opposition. In chapter five, Jesus is at some unnamed feast where he performs a healing at the temple complex on the Sabbath. This creates a controversy, which leads to serious opposition. The religious leaders attacked Jesus relentlessly for breaking their Sabbath rules. They considered Jesus a Sabbath-breaker, which is a serious offense. In chapter six, Jesus is back in Galilee, where he feeds the five thousand and walks on water. Here, Jesus declares to the people, “I am the bread of life,” the first of his seven “I Am” statements. In this event, we observe an extensive discourse that Jesus taught the people about what it means to follow him in faith. In this exchange, we find opposition from many in the crowds who turned away from following him. In chapters seven through nine, Jesus is at the feast of Booths or Tabernacles. In chapter seven, we see that Jesus delays going to the feast because the religious were seeking to kill him. He later goes to the feast, where he stands up to publicly teach, which leads to further opposition. In chapter eight, we find some of the most profound teachings of Jesus: (1) Jesus is the light of the world, the second of his seven “I Am” statements. He chases out the darkness of sin and evil (8:12-30). (2) Disciples of Jesus will know the truth, and the truth will set them free. The truth is the truth of his gospel teaching (8:31-47). (3) Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I Am,” making himself equal with the Lord God of the OT, which is the third and most profound of his “I Am” statements (8:48-59). In chapter nine, at this same feast of Booths, we see Jesus performing another Sabbath healing, which leads to more controversy and opposition. And lastly, we find Jesus at the Feast of Dedication in chapter ten. At this feast, he delivers his great teaching that he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. The statement of Jesus, “I am the good shepherd,” is the fourth of his seven “I Am” statements. Once again, the religious leaders react with opposition to Jesus, showing that they are not among his sheep. So, the main theme in this section is the rejection and persecution Jesus experiences at the feasts, which is ironic because all the feasts point prophetically to him as the Messiah.
Finally, we see the third major theme in this section, the miraculous signs of Jesus. Again, the major theme of opposition is prominent. John weaves the theme of opposition with other major themes to show that this opposition by the Pharisees and others was all part of the purpose of God in sending his Son to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He does this by showing that Jesus taught in such an amazing way and performed many signs or miracles, yet he was rejected by many. In this section, we find four of the seven signs in the book: the third, healing a paralytic man by the pool of Bethesda (5:1-8), fourth, feeding the five thousand (6:1-15), fifth, walking on water on the Sea of Galilee (6:16-21) and sixth, healing a blind man (9:1-41). These signs clearly reveal that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, so the rejection of Jesus by the religious leaders was especially egregious.
Here, in chapters five through ten, we can treat each chapter as an episode in the story and flesh out how each episode develops as an integral part of the overall story of the book. We can chart the flow of the story to help us better see how this works.
Chapter Five: Life Only in the Son (5:1-47
1. Sabbath Healing (5:1-15)
2. Who is Jesus? (5:16-30)
3. Witnesses to Jesus Rejected (5:31-47)
Chapter Six: Bread of Life (6:1-71)
1. Two Miracles: Feed Five Thousand, Walk on Water (6:1-21)
2. Two Messages: Bread of Life (6:22-59)
3. Two Responses: Rejection & Faith (6:60-71)
Chapter Seven: Deeper Conflict (7:1-52)
1. Discerning the Ways of God (7:1-13)
2. Knowing & Doing the Will of God (7:14-24)
3. Understanding Jesus (7:25-36)
4. God’s Grace Provision (7:37-39)
5. Reactions to Jesus (7:40-52)
Chapter Eight: What is the Source of Truth? (8:1-59)
1. Woman Caught in Adultery: Religion vs. Grace (8:1-11)
2. The Light of the World (8:12)
3. Contrast in Perspective (8:13-30)
4. Freedom through Jesus (8:31-32)
5. Who is Your Father? (8:33-47)
6. The Glory of Jesus (8:48-59)
Chapter Nine: Blindness Revealed (9:1-41)
1. The Work of God (9:1-12)
2. A Picture of Religion (9:13-34)
3. Spiritual Blindness (9:35-41)
Chapter Ten: Jesus the Shepherd of the Sheep (10:1-42)
1. The Good Shepherd (10:1-21)
2. My Sheep Hear My Voice (10:22-42)
Death & Life of the King (11:1-12:50):
After the events of chapter ten and the intense persecution at the Feast of Dedication, Jesus moved east of the Jordan River to the area of Perea. This small section of just two chapters serves as a transition from the larger section on opposition (5:1-10:42) to the final confrontation at the Feast of Passover in Jerusalem.
The story of the raising of Lazarus in chapter eleven is, at the same time, a touching story filled with emotion and a revelation of the glory of the Son of God who comes to bring Life. In this setting, Jesus says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life,” which is the fifth of his seven “I Am” statements. The main theme of the book, faith, pervades the story (11:15, 25, 26 (2 times), 27, 40, 42, 45). The action of Jesus in the story is meant to engender faith, as is the telling of the story by John. This is the seventh and most dramatic of the seven signs in the book of John. It points forward to the resurrection of Jesus and to the resurrection of believers.
At the end of chapter eleven, Jesus had withdrawn to the village of Ephraim, some twelve miles from Jerusalem. In the first verse of chapter twelve, we find Jesus in Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, just six days before the Feast of Passover. At a dinner there in honor of Jesus, Mary anoints Jesus with expensive ointment. This simple act shows us three great truths: Mary’s heart of devotion, Judas’ greed, and Jesus’ understanding of his destiny.
The next day Jesus enters Jerusalem to the praise of a large crowd, hailing him as the coming messianic king. Some of those cheering him on Sunday may have been in the crowd calling for his crucifixion on Friday. Jesus teaches the people that week, calling for faith, knowing full well his rendezvous with the cross.
Once again, we can see the two chapters in this short section as two episodes in the unfolding story of Jesus and the salvation he brings.
Chapter Eleven: Resurrection & Life (11:1-57)
1. Death & Life (11:1-16)
2. I Am the Resurrection & the Life (11:17-44)
3. Jesus For Us – We Against Him (11:45-57)
Chapter Twelve: Walking into the Storm (12:1-50)
1. Love for the Crucified One (12:1-11)
2. Triumphal Entry (12:12-19)
3. Life from Death (12:20-26)
4. Victory through Jesus (12:27-36)
5. Crisis of Unbelief (12:37-50)
Conclusion
We have examined the major section of the Gospel of John, which we’re calling the Book of Signs (1:19-12:50), in two articles, each dealing with two of the four parts of that large section. In the Book of Signs, we see the seven signs of Jesus pointing to who he is as the Christ, the Son of God. In this section, we find Jesus spending much more time in Judea and Jerusalem at the feasts than we do in the other gospels. And we noticed the growing opposition to Jesus by the religious leaders that will ultimately lead to his crucifixion in Jerusalem. We also see in these chapters large teaching blocks of Jesus. Jesus testifies to who he is by his miraculous signs and by his teaching. We read these chapters for the same reason John wrote them. He reveals his purpose in 1:11-12, “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But to as many who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”