Overview of John 5:1–11:57
John presents Jesus as the one from whose “fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:16–17). God graciously liberated Israel from slavery via the exodus from Egypt and entered into covenant with them at Sinai, then provided for them on their pilgrimage through the wilderness to the Land of Promise. The grace of the OT prototypes is fulfilled in Christ. Jesus enacts the fulfillment of the exodus as he dies as the Lamb of God, taking away the sin of the world and accomplishing the liberation of God’s people. Jesus also fulfills the covenant made at Sinai as he brings his people into the new covenant made in his blood, and John depicts the ministry of Jesus prior to the cross in such a way that the people of God are assured that Jesus will bring about the fulfillment of the pilgrimage to the Land of Promise, shepherding the captives he liberated to the new Jerusalem, leading them through green pastures by still waters.
Israel’s feasts were instituted to commemorate what God had done for them at the exodus (Passover), how he had provided for them in the wilderness (Tabernacles), and the good life in the good land under the good law he gave them (Weeks). John 5 is set at an unnamed feast, but the healing accomplished there points to a restoration that enables worship. Chapter 6 is set at Passover, and feeding the multitude, ascending the mountain, crossing the water, and teaching the people all point to how Jesus fulfills what was typified in the OT. Chapters 7–9 are set at Tabernacles, which celebrated how God gave water from the rock and led his people through the wilderness by pillars of fire and cloud. Chapter 10 takes us to the intertestamentally instituted Feast of Dedication, likely pointing to how Jesus will bring about the fulfillment of the rededication of the temple. And in chapter 11 we arrive again at Passover, where Jesus will make his sacrifice. We see the centrality of Passover in John’s narrative as the whole of chapters 2–11 is bounded and centered on the Passover Feasts of chapters 2, 6, and 11, and chapters 12–20 are set at that final Passover introduced in chapter 11.
It seems that John 5–11 is structured to present a thematic chiasm, with corresponding parts mutually interpreting one another (the words of Jesus in chapter 5 about the dead hearing the voice of the Son of God and coming to life are realized in the raising of Lazarus in chapter 11; Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand in chapter 6 illustrates his comments about the Good Shepherd in chapter 10; and the disputes in chapters 7 and 9 afford John’s audience an opportunity to evaluate objections to Jesus), with the whole architectural structure being designed to spotlight the chiastic center point: Jesus as the world’s true light, the radiant I Am, in chapter 8.
- John 5: The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and live.
- John 11: Jesus calls Lazarus to come out from the tomb.
John’s narrative not only relates Jesus’ actions during his earthly ministry prior to the cross; it also points forward to how Jesus will shepherd his people and provide for them once he has liberated them at the new exodus through his cross and resurrection. Luke in Acts 2 will present the fulfillment of the Feast of Pentecost (Weeks) as the Spirit is poured out from on high.