Martijn Steegen, «M. Steegen: To Worship the Johannine 'Son of Man'. John 9,38 as Refocusing on the Father», Vol. 91 (2010) 534-554
Important early textual witnesses show John 9,38-39a to be absent. Because of the use of uncharacteristic vocabulary, the use of rare verb forms such as e¶fh and pistey¥w, and the unique confession of faith and worship of Jesus as “Son of Man” during his earthly life, John 9,38 has been said to stand outside Johannine theology. I argue that, although John 9,38-39a confronts the Gospel’s reader with uncharacteristic vocabulary, this does not necessarily imply that these words were added by a later hand under liturgical influence. Instead of standing outside Johannine theology, the confession of faith and the worship by the man healed from his blindness function as the first fulfilment of the proleptic prediction of the words in 4,23 kaiù gaùr oO pathùr toioy¥toyv zhtei˜ toyùv proskynoy˜ntav ayßto¥n. Then, I confront the absence of 9,38-39a with yet another text-critical problem in the larger pericope 9,35-41 — the replacement of the title yiOoùv toy˜ aßnurw¥ poy in 9,35 by yiOoùv toy˜ ueoy — and argue that these two text-critical problems cannot be separated from one another. Finally, I explore how the designation “Son of Man” functions within the framework of pistey¥w and proskyne¥w. The worship of the Johannine Jesus can hardly be seen as a goal in itself. Instead, it is an acknowledgement that the Father is made known in the person of Jesus (cf. 9,3), and hence is typically Johannine.
544 MARTIJN STEEGEN
commentators, as well as Metzger, affirm the designation yıov toy
Ωù ˜
anurwpoy as “virtually certain†in light of the external evidence,
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the next step is to see how this designation functions within the
framework of pisteyw and proskynew in the Gospel of John.
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1. John 9,38 as Worshiping the Johannine Son of Man as God?
A c c o r d i n g to Craig S. Ke e n e r the expression yı o v toy
Ωù ˜
anurwpoy suggests a fuller significance for the informed reader by
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its cumulative effect in the Gospel (cf. 1,51; 3,14; 5,27; 6,27;
8,28) 27. He argues that the man born blind in 9,38 reacts with a
high Christology as soon as he is able to understand Jesus’ self-
disclosure in 9,37. Keener recognizes that at first sight the use of
the verb proskynew — in line with the meaning of the verb in
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other New Testament literature — does not necessarily indicate
worship of a deity, since gentiles prostrated themselves before
rulers, and Jewish people often followed this example 28. Thus, the
prostration of the man born blind could reflect his intense respect
for Jesus, or that he was begging or seeking mercy 29. Nevertheless,
Keener emphasizes that “in its broader Johannine context (cf. 4,20-
24 ; 12,20-21), including John’s Christology (cf. 1,1.18; 20,28), it
fits the Johannine portrait of Jesus’ deity and invites John’s own
audience to worship Jesus†30.
Keener’s commentary on verse 38 helps us to focus our
question. Is the healed man only expressing his gratitude to Jesus
when he bows down to him after his healing, or does the
combination of the title yıov toy anurwpoy and the verbs pisteyw
Ωù ˜ß ¥ ¥
and proskynew indicate that Jesus is worshiped as God by the
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KEENER, The Gospel of John, I, 795.
27
See e.g. THYEN, Das Johannesevangelium, 472: “Wenn der Blindgeborene
28
Jesus jetzt mit kyrie anredet, nachdem er denen, die ihn verhörten, zuvor schon
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erklärt hatte, dass Jesus von Gott sei, wird man diese Anrede nicht als bloße
ù
Höflichkeitsfloskel begreifen dürfen, so wenig wie die folgende Proskynese (kaı
prosekynhsen ayt√), mit der er sein Bekenntnis pisteyw sinnenfällig
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demonstriert, als bloße Geste der Dankbarkeit verstanden sein willâ€. See also
BULTMANN, Das Evangelium des Johannes, 472.
KEENER, The Gospel of John, I, 795. He refers to Josephus, Life 138 ;
29
Menander, Rhetor 2.13, 423.27; Herodian 7.5.4; Homer, Il. 1.427 and
Euripides, Orest. 382.
KEENER, The Gospel of John, I, 795.
30
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