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.
551
TO WORSHIP JOHANNINE “ SON MAN â€
THE OF
4. Greek Gentiles Went Up To Worship
After its appearance in John 9, the verb proskynew is used
Â¥
only one more time in the Gospel. After Jesus’ triumphal entry
into Jerusalem in John 12,12-19, in 12,20 the evangelist reports that
there were, among the crowd, some Greeks: tinev ek twn ß ˜
anabainontwn â„¢na proskynhswsin en tq eortq. The reader is
ß ¥ ı ¥ ß ˜Ω ˜
told that the Greeks wished to see Jesus (12,21).
At first sight Jesus’ answer to the Greeks’ request to see him
seems enigmatic 54. It seems that he does not answer their question
at all: elhlyuen h wra ™na dojasuq o yıov toy anurwpoy
ߥ Ω™ ı ˜ Ω Ωù ˜ß ¥
(21,23). According to Brown this scene is focused only on the
theologically important coming of the gentiles. The evangelist did
not construe a finalized narrative. The Greeks disappear from the
scene as suddenly as they entere it 55. Schnackenburg puts more
theological weight on the scene. He understands the request of the
Greeks as evidence of true religious searching. He recognizes a
parallel to Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman. However,
in her case Jesus gave instructions about true worship of God
(4,20-24) 56.
In 12,21 the verbs anaba¥nw and proskynew are used in their
ß ı ¥
customary religious context. By means of the verb anaba¥nw, a
ß ı
movement upward is expressed. John primarily uses this verb when
he wants to describe the movement of the characters of his Gospel
to Jerusalem and to the Temple (cf. 2,13 ; 5,1; 7,14; 11,55), or as in
12,21 the movement to a religious festival (cf. 7,8 ; 12,21). Within
the context of John 12 it is clear that the Greeks went up to
Jerusalem to worship during the Passover feast 57.
The use of the verb proskynew in 12,20 seems to have
Â¥
nothing in common with the strong theological meaning of the
verb in 4,20-26 and 9,38. Therefore J. Horst argues that the
Although, see J. BEUTLER, “Greeks Come to See Jesus (John 12,20f)â€,
54
Bib 71 (1990) 333-347.
B R OW N , J o h n , 470, writes: “The coming o f the gentiles is so
55
theologically important that the writer never tells us if they got to see Jesus, and
indeed they disappear from the scene in much the same manner that Nicodemus
slipped out of sight in ch. iiiâ€.
SCHNACKENBURG, John, II, 382.
56
The combination of the verbs anabaınw and proskynew is also known
ß ¥ ¥
57
in the book of Acts (cf. Acts 24,11).
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