Lars Kierspel, «'Dematerializing' Religion: Reading John 2–4 as a Chiasm», Vol. 89 (2008) 526-554
After offering a critical analysis of Moloney’s synthetical parallelism for John 2–4, this article argues for a chiastic structure of the Cana-to-Cana cycle which directs the reader from the visible signs (2,1-12+4,43-54) and physical properties of religion (2,13-22+4,1-42) to Jesus as the metaphysical agent of
God’s salvation and judgment (3,1-21+3,22-36). The new 'dematerialized' faith thereby subverts expectations of material restoration and reorients the believing eye not towards a sanctuary but towards the Son.
“Dematerializing†Religion: Reading John 2–4 as a Chiasm 549
4. Proposal for the Structure of John 2–4
This meditation in John 3,13-21 does not exhaust the Gospel’s
theology. No predicate “I am†statement has been uttered so far (but
see 4,26), we have not heard anything yet of Satan (13,27; also 6,70),
the “ruler of this world†(12,31; 14,30; 16,11; also 17,15), the
beloved disciple (see 13,23-25; 18,15-16 (?); 19,26-27; 20,2-4.8;
21,7.20.23.24) or the Paraclete (14,16.26; 15,26; 16,7). Yet our
review of John 3,13-21 justifies the conclusion that this monologue
provides the main rationale, main building blocks and essential truths
for Johannine soteriology (99). As Schlatter put it, “The first speech of
Jesus, which John is presenting to us, gives us the whole word of
Jesus†(100).
While John 3 stands thus at the center of an inverted parallelism
in John 2–4, there exist various proposals about how to integrate that
center into the context. Mlakuzhyil and Kinzer offer two attractive
options:
MLAKUZHYIL (1988)(101) KINZER (1998)(102)
A Miracle in Cana (2,1-12) A. First Sign at Cana (2,1-12)
B Dialogue on new temple B. Cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem
(2,13-25+) (2,13-25)
C Discourse on eternal life (2,23-3,21) C. (3,1-36)
C’ Discourse on life (3,22–4,3)
B’ True temple worship B’ Discourse with the Samaritan woman
(4,1-42) (4,1-45)
A’ Miracle in Cana (4,43-54) A’ Second sign at Cana (4,46-54)
(96) See 3,35; 5,20 (with filevw); 10,17; 15,9; 17,23.24.26.
(97) See 14,21.23; 16,27 (filevw); 17,23 (26).
(98) The synonym pevmpw (32 times in John) is used 24 times for God sending
Jesus, 4,34; 5,23.24.30.37; 6,38.39.44; 7,16.18.28.33; 8,16.18.26.29; 9,4;
12,44.45.49; 13,16; 14,24; 15,21; 16,5. The term is applied to John the Baptist
only in 1,33.
(99) SCHNELLE (Das Evangelium, 73) calls the monologue in 3,13-21 the
“Zentrum der joh. Theologieâ€.
(100) “Die erste Rede Jesu, die uns Johannes gibt, legt uns somit das ganze
Wort Jesu vorâ€, A. SCHLATTER, Das Evangelium nach Johannes (Stuttgart 1965)
57.
(101) G. MLAKUZHYIL, The Christocentric Literary Structure of the Fourth
Gospel (Rome 1987) 239-241.
(102) M. KINZER, “Temple Christology in the Gospel of Johnâ€, SBL 1998
Seminar Papers (Atlanta, GA 1998) 447-465, followed by UM (The Theme of
Temple Christology, 186).
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