“The Jews” in John's Gospel: Observations and Inferences *

Of the many fascinating aspects of the fourth evangelist’s work, one of the most intriguing is surely the large number of parentheses, or asides to the reader, that together form a key characteristic of John’s writing style. The definitive study of these is by Gilbert van Belle, whose cumulative list contains over 500 instances throughout the gospel, some of which are quite lengthy (e.g. 3.16–21; 3.31–36; 12.37–43). ¹ The asides are devoted to passing on to the reader several different types of information during the course of the narrative, including the meaning of Hebrew and Aramaic terms (e.g. 1.38, 41, 42; 9.7; 19.17; 20.16), indications of time and descriptions of place (e.g. 1.28, 39; 4.5–6; 5.2; 8.20; 10.23; 11.38; 12.1; 18.1), which scripture is fulfilled and when (e.g. 1.23; 2.17; 12.14–15, 38–40; 13.18; 19.24, 28, 36–37), “inside information” on various characters (e.g. 2.24–25; 4.27; 7.5; 9.22; 11.51–52; 12.6; 13.28–29; 18.40; 19.8; 20.14; 21.12) and what not to approve of (e.g. 2.24–25; 12.43). In addition, John ensures that his readers do not lose the thread of his argument by constantly reminding them of the story so far, not only by repeating material from earlier chapters (e.g. 4.46, cf. 2.1–11; 13.33, cf. 8.21; 18.13–14, cf. 11.49–50; 19.39, cf. 3.2; 21.20, cf. 13.23–25), but also even by doubling back on himself within the same paragraph (e.g. 2.9, cf. vv. 5–8; 5.11, cf. v. 8; 7.36, cf. v.34; 13.11, cf. v. 10; 16.19 cf. vv. 16–18; 18.16, cf. v. 15; 20.8, cf. v. 4). Most notably, perhaps, he peppers his narrative with explanations, “readers’ helps”, for his audience: he provides the meaning of Jesus’ words (e.g. 2.21; 6.71; 7.39; 11.13; 12.33; 13.11; 21.19); he explains Jewish customs and attitudes (e.g. 2.6; 4.9; 6.4; 7.2; 10.22; 18.28; 19.40); and in general shepherds them along through the narrative, fussing the while with explanatory comments on why things happen quite as they do. We learn, for example, that John was baptising at Aenon “because there was much water there” (3.23), that there was a charcoal fire in the High Priest’s courtyard “because it was cold” (18.18), and that the soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ tunic because it was seamless with no obvious place to tear it (19.23, cf. v. 24). ² In other words, when it comes to getting his message across to his readers, John is a born pedant; everything necessary is explicitly communicated, false impressions are carefully ruled out, and nothing is left to chance.