The Passion Narrative: John and the Synoptics

•Stories of the Passion were the first large sections of Gospel material to be formed into consecutive narrativesCommon features are shared with the Synoptic accounts:• arrest in the garden• trials before the Jewish authorities and Pilate•The crucifixion and burial- crucified by Roman soldiers at Golgotha, inscription: King of the Jews, Jesus’ clothes divided and lots cast by the soldiers, Jesus offered something to drink, presence of holy women• Discovery of the empty tomb• Extensive use of Old Testament allusions and quotes.

John’s Passion Narratives

• The narrative begins and end in a garden (18:1,19:41)

• The trial with Pilates dominates and is the centrepiece of the Narratives

• Events take place outside and inside the praetorium

• Focus on kingship: central scene where Jesus is crowned and dressed as a king (19:1-3)

Distinctive Johannine features

• No Agony in the garden- focus not on Jesus’ agony but on God’s power at work in Jesus.

• Central role of “the hour”• Nothing on the centurion’s words or the other

two men being crucified• Jesus carries his own cross (not Simon of

Cyrene)• Sign on the cross in 3 languages- universalism• Extensive use of irony, symbolism and double

meanings

Distinctive Johannine features cont.

• The seamless robe (19:23)• Closeness of the holy women at the foot of

the cross• Role of the Beloved Disciple at the foot of

the cross (19:26-27)• The piercing of Jesus’ side• Jesus near death – “I thirst” (19:28); “It is

finished” (v.30a); giving up his spirit (v.30b)

Johannine theology in the Passion Narratives

• The passion grows out of the work of Jesus, as the necessary consequence of the struggle of the light against the darkness; it is the victorious conclusion of this struggle (Bultmann)

• Jesus is clearly in charge and in his glory from the moment he is arrested. His death is his exaltation.

• Jesus is the one who actually takes the initiative at his trial; in the examination before the High Priest and Pilate. On the cross he makes known his last wish and dies in the consciousness of having completed his work.

• Whereas in the eyes of the world, Jesus’ opponents have achieved a conquest, in the light of a devastating irony they appear as the conquered.

Johannine theology in the Passipn Narratives cont.

• Jesus is the perfect Paschal Lamb, dying for the sins of the world. Jesus dies on the day of preparation when the Passover lambs are being slaughtered in the temple (18:28; 19:14, 31,42)

• Jesus is the Good Shepherd freely offering his life for his own, and cares for his sheep when his own life is under threat (cf. 10:12, 13)

Johannine theology in the Passipn Narratives cont.

• Jesus is the obedient son- perfecting the will of the Father

• Jesus is the Judge of the world and of the power of darkness- the head-on clash between light and darkness takes place in his trial, passion and death. His trial is the trial of the world and its ruler (12:31). Satan himself is judged and condemned.

• Jesus is the messianic King being enthroned into glory. His elevation on the cross is the coronation, the place where the glory of God will shine forth, drawing all to himself (cf 12: 33)

• The evangelist spells it out again his final comment on the death of Jesus: “They shall look on him whom they have pierced.”