John 5 Note

Jesus Fulfils and Reinterprets the Jewish Festivals – 1

Unidentified Festival – The Sabbath

Introductory Note

The Gospel had already referred to Jesus' involvement in a Jewish religious festival: a first Passover in Jerusalem, when he had temporarily interrupted the marketing, and consequent worshipping activity, in the temple, and had been challenged by the priestly establishment [2: 18-20]. The narrative would proceed to review the actions and words of Jesus on the occasion of other feasts:

• the unidentified feast that would follow immediately;
• a second celebration of Passover;
• the festival of Booths/Tabernacles;
• the Dedication of the Temple;
• and the final Passover during which Jesus would be crucified.

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Jewish Religious Festivals

Exclusion. To the Jewish mind, the regular liturgical celebrations of the annual festivals allowed participants to connect with the same power of God at work in their lives that had been at work in the original incidents remembered at the festivals. 

Why the emphasis on religious festivals in the Gospel? The author does not answer the question directly. The reason would seem to lie in the actual experience, not so much of Jesus himself, as of the Christian community for whom the Beloved Disciple wrote the Gospel. This community, many of whom were Jews, had recently been expelled from one (or more) of the many synagogues scattered throughout the Diaspora.

A variety of groups within Judaism had been engaging in controversy for decades, each claiming to represent faithful Judaism. The Christians were one such minority group. After the Jerusalem temple had been destroyed in the year 70 AD [and priesthood rendered superfluous], mainstream Judaism felt a strong need to regroup and consolidate. In the confusion, the Pharisee group, a lay group, gained the ascendancy and sought to impose a strong and unified identity. Other Jewish groups were ostracised from synagogue gatherings, particularly the Christians among them.

These Christians were dismayed. They believed Jesus to be the fulfilment of all the genuine aspirations towards which Judaism had been leading. But others did not share their faith. Ostracised from their former, and now unbelieving brothers and sisters, they were unable to take part in synagogue worship and, thereby, to access the traditional celebrations of the festivals they loved. They were left to go their own way along an unfamiliar and lonely path. They were deeply hurt. They felt themselves to be “hated” [verse 7] by their former brothers and sisters.

Salvation history fulfilled. To address this situation, the Gospel used the setting of the important religious festivals to show Jesus as the one who in fact fulfilled the long Hebrew journey across history. Jesus was the fulfilment of the things they remembered and celebrated each Sabbath and at the annual festivals of Passover, Booths (Tabernacles) and the Dedication of the Temple. Due to their allegiance to Jesus, they might be excluded from the static traditions observed by their brothers and sisters, but had embraced and been drawn into a tradition that was alive and eternally assured; they were missing out on nothing. Continuing mainstream Jews were the ones missing out on the fulfilment of God’s saving activity.

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Next >> John 5:1-16