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welcome back to the bible's art .
we explore the literary artistry of the Bible then this week
we're looking at the literary art of the seven signs in John's Gospel Jesus
did a lot of miracles and you can read all about them in the Gospels like Matthew Mark and Luke
you probably remember that famous phrase at the end of John's Gospel
where he said you know if I wrote down everything that he did the world that self
could not contain the book so it's interesting that when we get to John's Gospel
he records only seven no it's not exactly seven but I'll show you what I mean in a second
because what John does is he not only records these seven but he calls them
something different as well see the main word that the other Gospel writers Matthew Mark and Luke
used for the things that Jesus does is Dunamis or mighty deeds mighty actions
these these these powerful things that Jesus is doing but John decides to call them signs
and he does that because he wants to make it clear to the readers that what Jesus is doing is more than just showing
that he has this supernatural power but that it has symbolic significance that is Jesus
has carefully selected the things that he's doing because they reveal something deep about his identity
and what his kingdom is like now I was reading a book called divine symmetries by an author named
Victor Wilson and he pointed out something extraordinary about how these signs are organized
let me show you this the seven signs are organized in a chiasm and if that phrase
new to you you can watch a video here it's up in the card or it's linked in the description
but essentially what it is is where the first section or episode or scene will correspond
connect to the last one in some way in the second scene to the second to last one and so on and so forth until you get to a central
scene and what that does is that that central scene might be a turning
point or it might be emphasis or it might reveal something
central about the whole narrative sequence it's kind of different in every story
we'll see what it does here but let me show you how this is organized so the first and the last sign the the transformation of the water
into wine and Jesus's resurrection are both transformations transformation of water
into wine and death into life and interestingly
our narrator has told us that these both occur on the third day when you move one in and you have the officials son he's sick
and jesus heals him and then you have the raising
of Lazarus after he dies and both of these are resurrections or kinds of resurrections you see neither of these are actually
resurrections why well Lazarus you might think well that's clearly a resurrection
but he's gonna die again right this is a resuscitation but it's an image of resurrection and similarly
with the the official son it's interesting the way our narrator
John describes it he says that he was at the point of death
that is to say he wants us to think about this in the same space as death as sort of a symbolic
death well you move one in and you get two healings a healing of a lame man and a blind
man and both of these occur around pools and then in the central
section you have the feeding of the 5,000 a sacramental
meal well why do I call it a sacramental meal well that's cuz Jesus does this thing he
multiplies these loaves and feeds these 5,000 people but then he has a discussion he gives
a talk about it to explain this thing you see in John Jesus is is constantly doing or talking about normal mundane
things but telling us that they have deeper symbolic significance and explaining
that and that's true here so what's going on what why does he put this at the center
well to understand that we got a look back at the beginning of the gospel
see how he connects this in this talk that Jesus gives this is where those famous
phrases occur where Jesus says I am the bread of life and he'll say whoever feeds
my flesh and drinks my blood has life so you see it's this it's this great feast
where we get to feast on God himself that's placed at the center of this gospel
now why is that well this will unfold something that's central
what Jesus is on about in this gospel you see in the Gospel of John
when it opens up one of the disciples after they are following Jesus right after they start following Jesus will say teacher where do
you abide where do you live where are you staying and we might think that that's just
sort of like a mundane question about the logistics I'm following this new teacher now and I have to learn
I have to know where he's staying but in John there's nothing
mundane because everything is symbolic and has very deep and profound meaning
what this is is that this is a summons to the reader to keep on reading
that is you want to see where I abide Jesus will say come and see that is you want to see you have to keep reading and you will
discover where I abide and the signs will show us many facets
these but at the central sign what we learn that the place that Jesus
abides is in you that is anyone who believes who drinks his blood who eats his flesh
will have the very life of God in him abiding in him but there's more in the beginning of the Bible
we got a sin of eating and so it's not surprising
that when we get the final resolution to the story that it's also connected to eating remember
we ate and we were kicked out of the garden and so when Jesus redeems
us brings us back into the garden and we get to go back to that tree and eat that tree has been transformed
because what we now feed on is the very life of the god man
himself this is why it's not surprising that in later in the gospel Jesus
will say I am the vine and you are the branches this is alluding back to that Genesis
3 text where Jesus is this tree the one on whom we are grafted in and who we feast and this is why in our worship
it's not just about a philosophy that Jesus brings but he brings
where we believe we eat his flesh we drink his blood
we get God's life and John has his place this at the center of the gospel
because this is central to what Jesus is on about is that he lives dies resurrects
and we to feast on him have his life abide in us and my friends once again you can see
why the Bible and the Gospel of John is literary art thanks so much hey guys thanks
so much for checking out the video this week I really really enjoyed making it and I was fascinating by this about John's Gospel
when I first learned it feel free to check out that book by Victor Wilson it's it's chock full of just amazing insights and I put the link
down there and if you have any questions leave them for me and I'll see you next week
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