Whence and Whither A Narrative Perspective on Birth a[nwqen 163 elements, and consistently so when they appear together, signal a second level of meaning. They become a means of expressing the mysterious and enigmatic nature of Jesus’ ministry and his identity, like in John 2,9: “When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, oujk h[/dei povqen ejstivn”, and in John 4,10-11 where Jesus addresses the Samaritan woman by saying eij h[/dei" th;n dwrea;n tou' qeou' and the woman asks him povqen ou\n e[cei" to; u{dwr to; zw'n (28). The three elements occur most frequently in disputes with the Jews over the identity of Jesus, the so-called christologische Streitgespräche (chaps. 7–9), in the introduction of the “hour” in chap. 13, and in Jesus’ farewell to his disciples in chaps. 14 and 16. a) John 7 The celebration of the Festival of Booths forms the framework of the controversy in this chapter, possibly also in the two following chapters. The narrative is introduced by the question of “going up” (uJpavgw) to Jerusalem (7,3), which 7,8 and 10 repeat in terms of anabainw, a traditional term for going up to Jerusalem to worship. A j v reader acquainted with the entire story will here see a reference to Jesus’ going up to Jerusalem as initiating his departure to his heavenly Father (e.g. 20,17). This interpretation is also favoured by u{page eij" th;n ∆Ioudaivan (v. 3) being replaced by uJpavgw pro;" to;n pevmyantav me (v. 33), which becomes the crucial point in the controversy. In the light of the role of the “hour” in the story, this double meaning of “going up to Jerusalem” comes as no surprise (see esp. 13,1-3). John 7,30b is a reminder of the “hour”, and thus prefigures the Passion and Resurrection. In this context a Christological dispute with the Jews occurs. The controversy is introduced in 7,11 and is carried throughout the entire chapter. From these observations we can tell that the language of whence and whither in vv. 27-29 is associated with Jesus’ departure to his Father and is a cipher for true knowledge about Jesus’ identity. Knowing/not knowing the whence and whither of Jesus is essential for understanding who he is. The controversy becomes a question of how this knowledge can be acquired, most expressly stated in the claims in 7,27-29: knowing his identity is to know his whence and —————— disciples ask Jesus if he will again go to (uJpavgw) Jerusalem, since they have already attempted to kill him there. Jerusalem and the death of Jesus are crucial for understanding the whither of Jesus in John’s story. A narrative reading, therefore, throws some doubt on an immediate reading of 11,8. (28) See also John 4,22.32; 5,3; 15,1.