Conversation Points for John 1:6-8, 19-28

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• John has a different role in the Gospel of John than he does in the synoptic Gospels. While he does baptize, he is never identified as “the Baptist,” nor is he ever described as the one who announces the coming of Jesus. Rather, his whole role is to witness to Jesus.
• The words translated as “testimony” and “witness” are the same Greek word, martyria. Interestingly, this is where the English word “martyr” comes from. In English, we think of a martyr as someone who is killed for their faith, but its Greek root is one who gives witness.
• John’s Gospel is set up as an extended courtroom scene, which gives “testimony” both religious and juridical dimensions. John’s testimony leads others to faith, but it also is offered as first evidence in the trial being held against Jesus, a trial which comes to its final scene in the Passion. The people questioning John are not curious passersby, but specifically a delegation sent by Jewish leaders.
• The Johaninne community had a complicated relationship with the more traditional Jewish community, especially the Jewish leadership. As such, the phrase “the Jews” (hoi Ioudaioi) has a lot of different meanings in John’s Gospel. Sometimes it means just a group of Judean people. However, most often it relates specifically to the religious leaders who were in cahoots with Rome and were persecuting Jesus, and later the Johaninne community, as is the case with this group sent to interrogate John.
• The central question of the interrogation is the identity of John, a question which must be solved before the central question of the whole Gospel, who is Jesus, can be addressed.
• The language of John’s response (“He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed”) communicates the seriousness of John’s response.
• The Greek of John’s answer (I am not the Messiah), is a specific contrast to the language Jesus used to speak of his own identity. Several times in John’s Gospel, Jesus will use the phrase “I am…” (ex. “I am the bread of life,” “I am the gate for the sheep,” etc.). I am (ego eimi) is meant to evoke the name of God from the Old Testament, when God, speaking to Moses from the burning bush said, “I am who I am.” John uses the same phrasing to say who he is not (ego ouk eimi).
• When John answers “Who are you” by saying he is not the Messiah, the delegation then inserts other prophets with potential messianic expectations. Elijah didn’t die, but was transported to heaven, and many Jews believed he would return to usher in the new age. “The prophet” is a reference to Moses.

Works Sourced:
O’Day, Gail R. “The Gospel of John.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume IX. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.