Gail R. O'Day > Quotes

“Interpreters have sometimes distanced John from Jewish tradition, arguing that Jesus offers an alternative to the Jewish stories. In such a reading, for example, the manna loses its importance, for Jesus has arrived. His claim to be the “bread of life” renders the former bread unnecessary. In contrast to this, our reading of John emphasizes that by putting these various images in relationship to Jesus, the Gospel claims that Jesus in some way embodies or continues these traditions. God is still giving manna to the people, God is still shepherding the people, God is still tending the vineyard. And now God is doing all of these things in and through Jesus, who is manna, shepherd, and vine.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“eternal life” is not a gift of immortality or a future life in heaven, but of a life shaped by the knowledge of God as revealed in Jesus.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“fluidity of verb tenses. Jesus declares the fulfillment of the events of his hour in the past, present, and future tenses.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“Logos figured prominently in Greek philosophy of the time, for example, where it was used to speak of the rational principle that governed the universe. Among Jewish writers, most especially Philo (a Jewish contemporary of the author of the Fourth Gospel), logos was used to speak of the creative plan of God that governs the world. God and God’s Word also have a prominent role in the Hebrew Scriptures. In the creation account in Genesis 1, the world is called into being solely through the power of God’s word.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“As in verses 3–4, shepherd and sheep are characterized by their relational knowledge—they both know and are known by the other.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“Jesus’ next words, “Do not hold on to me” (v. 17), imply that Mary’s comprehension of Jesus is still not complete. Because Jesus has not yet ascended to the Father, Mary must not interrupt the events of the hour by trying to hold onto Jesus. John’s metaphor for Jesus’ glorification, being “lifted up” (3:14; 8:28; 12:32), includes his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The glorification began in his life (2:11; 12:28), continued through the earlier events of his hour (13:1, 31–33), and must be completed by his ascension (17:5, 13).”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free”: the much-quoted words of verse 32 are not about truth in the abstract, but the truth of God as revealed in Jesus.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“Jesus’ raising of Lazarus is a metaphor for the kind of life that he offers all believers. This is not a life that is otherworldly, but one that abides in the grief and loss of this world. And yet it is a life that also overcomes death, against which the power of the grave does not have the final word.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“As we have noted repeatedly, faith is not a one-time event, but a process. Many believe in Jesus only to later reject him; others have a tenuous belief that competes with their fear; even those who do believe do not fully understand. The Gospel offers its invitation to any who would begin to believe, or continue to believe, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“spoken at the breaking of the bread. Jewish worship practices, however, not later Christian practices, provide the background for understanding John’s words here. Because these words are spoken at the breaking of the bread, Christians assume that the words “lamb of God” point to Jesus as a sacrifice offered for the purification of sin. But in Jewish temple practices, a bull, a sheep, or a goat (see Lev. 4–5), not a lamb, was the animal offered for a sin sacrifice. The lamb is the animal offered at Passover, and the Passover lamb is not offered as a sacrifice for sin but to commemorate Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt (see Exod. 12:1–13). John the Baptist is not pointing to Jesus as a sacrifice for human sins but as a symbol of deliverance and liberation. Jesus as the Lamb of God takes away “the sin of the world,” not “the sins of the world.” The singular noun “sin” is crucial to understanding John’s words and to seeing Jesus as the liberating lamb of the Passover tradition. Most Christian eucharistic liturgies contain the plural (“sins of the world”), not the singular, and this change in number completely”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“The inclusion of others in Jesus’ flock has been hinted at in the inclusion of the Samaritans (chap. 4), and is mentioned again in 11:52 and 12:32 (see also the discussion of 12:20–26).”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“The perception of irony calls on the reader to make judgments about who is trustworthy and who is not. Should one trust the soldiers’ perspective as accurate? By leaving this question open, John draws the reader into an act of decision making about who they understand Jesus to be. The reader who understands that the soldiers’ words have greater significance than they intend has grasped a central message of the Gospel.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“Although the Gospel identifies belief in Jesus as a primary goal (20:30–31), the practical question of who does believe in this Gospel is a difficult one to answer. This is true even for those who are closest to Jesus: Peter denies Jesus; Judas betrays him; Mary Magdalene does not recognize him; Thomas will not believe he is risen without proof.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“In John, the meal occurs on the evening before Passover begins (13:1a), and there is no institution. The foot washing, not the Eucharist, is the centerpiece of the final meal in John. This single difference with the Synoptics is as much a theological difference as a chronological one: as we have seen in chapter 6, the Eucharist is a celebration of all of Jesus’ life and is not exclusively associated with “the night of his betrayal.” (See the excursus, “The Eucharist in John.”) The foot washing has similar roles to the Lord’s Supper in the Synoptics: it enacts and makes visible Jesus’ love for his own, and his followers are instructed to do likewise.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“John’s language is coherent, even if it is not logically consistent at every point. It speaks to the mystery of human relationships to God. Overlapping statements of the role of Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, and the believing community are not simply redundant but express something of the interlocking nature of these roles.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“The richness of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus (and the later appearances of Nicodemus in John 7:45–52 and 19:38–42) show that Jesus’ works (his “signs”) and his words required all who met him to reevaluate where they looked for God’s presence in the world. This story shows that Jesus’ relationship with the religious leadership cannot be described by simple categories like “for” or “against.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“Their silence is attributed to their being “afraid of the Jews” (v. 22). In four other places in John (7:13; 12:42; 19:38; 20:19), such fear is the cause of people’s silence and secrecy about Jesus. Since verse 22 makes clear that the man’s parents are themselves Jews who worship in the synagogue, fear of “the Jews” is odd (see discussion of 7:13).”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“In the Fourth Gospel, “sin” is not a moral category about behavior but a theological category about one’s response to the revelation of God in Jesus (see discussion of 1:29 and 5:14).”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“This conversation is full of wordplay on Jesus’ part. This is an intentional strategy by the evangelist that will be repeated throughout the Gospel (see especially 4:4–42; 11:11–16, 23–27). Any reader of John must recognize the centrality of such wordplay, as well as other uses of symbolic and figurative language, to the way the Gospel tells its story of Jesus. This Gospel is not designed for the reader to rush through. Instead it is designed so that readers will linger over the words of Jesus and will have to work to understand what Jesus is teaching. This is not a Gospel full of quick and easy answers, even though sayings from John are often used that way in many contemporary Christian settings. By lingering and puzzling over the words of Jesus, the Gospel reader is able to have a sense of hearing Jesus”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“And Jesus is not merely a vehicle for this message of freedom: it is in Jesus himself that freedom from captivity is to be found. The presence of Jesus makes available new life for all.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“This declaration, “We have no king but the emperor,” flies in the face of Israel’s claim that God alone is king (for example Judg. 8:23; 1 Sam. 8:7; Isa. 26:13). Wayne Meeks has pointed out that the language of this verse is an ironic twisting of the Nišfnat, a hymn sung at the conclusion of the Passover Seder meal (Meeks, The Prophet-King). A portion of the Nišmat reads: From everlasting to everlasting you are God; Besides you we have no king, redeemer, or savior, No liberator, deliverer, provider, None who takes pity in every time of distress and trouble. We have no king but you.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“John 1:1–18 can be very frustrating to read if we think that we must figure out the precise meaning of each word and how everything fits together in order to understand these verses.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“Sometimes aspects of John’s metaphors are so distinct that they may seem to contradict each other.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“First-century Judaism defined community identity around three religious practices: circumcision, food laws, and Sabbath observance.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“The choice between opposites is complicated by the presence of John’s characters, most of whom would be difficult to categorize as, for example, “born from above” or “from below.” Such birth is held out as a metaphor for receiving the new life that Jesus offers; at the same time, John’s characters communicate that receiving this life is not a matter of a one-time assent or belief. Their stories point instead to a need for constant transformation to a way of seeing the world in which death no longer captures the human imagination.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“Irony occurs when the reader notes the presence of some disparity or incongruity in the text, and as a result perceives a double meaning.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“many of the stories of Jesus’ life are set at the time of Jewish festivals. The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand in John 6 takes place at the time of Passover (v. 4). Another lengthy segment of the Gospel is set during the Festival of Booths (see 7:2). In each of these cases, the stories draw on other imagery from the festival: the feeding of the five thousand is told in ways that evoke the Exodus story; Jesus’ discussion during the Festival of Booths draws on imagery of light and water that was associated with that festival.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“The ability of this Gospel to evoke the reader’s questions arises in part because the status of John’s characters as believers is often somewhat ambiguous. The Gospel sends conflicting signals about the degree to which a particular character has understood Jesus and believes in him.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“The full significance of much that is said in these verses will become clearer after the whole story has been told, and like the overture to a good musical, one’s joy from recognizing key themes continues to increase with time.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John

“Characterizing the theology of the Fourth Gospel is a difficult task. One reason is that the Gospel conveys a variety of views on important theological topics. For example, regarding the subject of Jesus’ relationship to God, the Gospel makes both of the following statements: “the Father and I are one” (10:30), and “the Father is greater than I” (14:28). A result of this diversity has been that Christians have drawn on John as support for a variety of theological positions.”
― Gail R. O'Day, John