Reading the Gospel of John

‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’

This passage from John 6:1-29 is included in the revised common lectionary provided by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. The text is from the NRSV.

You can hear a recording of this passage here

Reading the Gospel aloud invites the audience to experience human encounters with the divine as revealed in the Bible. We can leave interpretation and meaning to members of the clergy and other scholars. What we are most interested in as lay readers is the human experience found in the narrative.

First Impressions

As you reading through the passage the first time, listen for the voices. Who is speaking?  Who are these people?  Here we have the voices of Jesus and two of his disciples. Jesus ministers to the crowd, but he speaks with and listens to his disciples. Two key relationships stand out in the passage: Jesus to the crowd and Jesus with his disciples.

What is really happening here?

Two separate “miracles” are recounted in this passage. I put miracles in quotes because to those present they are indeed experienced as miraculous. But in this passage, Jesus “…himself knew what he was going to do.” Jesus does not purposefully put on a great show of miracles. What he does is simple, easy and seems natural: what needs to be done. Afterwards, when we see how much food was left over and when the disciples arrive at the shore after wanting to take Jesus into the boat, what just happened seems miraculous. How were those things possible? These are transforming events for those that experience them. The experience of them is key.

They seem miraculous because what happens is entirely unexpected. The disciples are at first baffled as to how they might provide 5,000 people with a Passover meal and later terrified by the appearance of someone walking across the lake. “Do not be afraid. It is I,” Jesus tells them. Jesus is walking on the water and they want to “take him into the boat.”  Clearly, he doesn’t need to be in the boat, in the usual place.

Reacting to what we read

This is where I think humor is to be found in the Gospels. The disciples respond normally to the breathtakingly unexpected. Ask the crowd to sit down? Sure, no problem. Feed 5,000 people? Really? And we have 5 loaves and 2 fish?  Quick, get into the boat!  In retrospect, you have to laugh. I don’t know how he did it. It was truly a miracle! You have to understand what it was like to be with him.

Miracles are intended to impress, and so are recounted in the Gospels. But Jesus seems to resist and turn away from personal recognition. He “went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee” where he “withdrew again to the mountain, by himself.” Yet in turning his attention to the needs of others, he can’t seem to avoid providing evidence that he is indeed the prophet who is come into the world.

Text Analysis

The declaration and proclamation, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world,” is the cornerstone of this reading. All that surrounds is evidence and proofs that this is true.

The many descriptive words in this passage and attention to detail make the accounts real and vivid. There’s a “you are there” quality to the reporting.

• also called the Sea of Tiberias
• a large crowd
• up the mountain
• There was a boy
• Simon Peter’s brother
• Passover, the festival of the Jews
• was a great deal of grass in the place
• it was now dark
• a strong wind was blowing

The sequence of events is also important. They sit down. They give thanks. They serve and share a meal. The disciples go out in the boat, they row for a long time, the weather is forbidding. There is a careful and deliberate unfolding of the evidence.

The voices are between Jesus and his disciples. A behind the scenes look. Again, the focus is on understanding what it was like to be there, to be with him.

 Reading this passage aloud

“This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world” has to be read so that everyone, young and old,  hears it and everyone understands it.

The events are truly miraculous, but they are recounted in a clear and calm voice.

There may be a slight desperation in the voices of the disciples. You can almost imagine them thinking, “It ‘s really hard to keep up with all this.”  But Jesus knows what he is going to do. His voice is sure.

This is not a dispassionate reporting, it’s a sharing of experiences in full and careful detail and in a way that communicates the wonder of them. It’s specific and “OMG, I can’t believe this happened”, both at the same time.

Take your time but also convey what happened in what seems, in retrospect, like a rush.

What do you hear in this passage?