One of the characteristics of the good shepherd of John 10:11–18 is a phrase that is usually translated “he lays down his life” (vv. 11, 15, 17, 18). Although interpreters often acknowledge the alternate meaning, “he risks his life,” this option is usually rejected. This article sees the notion of risk as an important element of John’s metaphorical presentation of Jesus as shepherd. Drawing on cultural conventions of shepherding, the literary context, and metaphor theory, the author argues that John portrays Jesus as one who risks his life for the sheep, and not simply as one who dies for them. This idea of a shepherd who risks his life for the flock can illuminate the reader’s understanding of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and the way that disciples are called to follow him.
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Robert Kysar, John (ACNT; Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986), p. 162. Cf. Ludger Schenke, Johannes Kommentar (Düsseldorf: Patmos Verlag, 1998), pp. 196–97; Craig R. Koester, Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel: Meaning, Mystery, Community (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2nd edn, 2003), p. 18; Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971), p. 509 n. 36; Jerome Neyrey, “The ‘Noble Shepherd’ in John 10: Cultural and Rhetorical Background,” JBL 120 (2001), pp. 267–91 (281); D. Moody Smith, John (ABTC; Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999), p. 209.
Francis J. Moloney, The Gospel of John (SP 4; Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1988), p. 304.
Rudolf Bultmann, The Gospel of John (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1971), pp. 370–71 n. 5. Other interpreters who separate the meaning of the phrase in vv. 11 and 17 include Brown, John, vol. 1, pp. 386–87; Gail R. O’Day, The Gospel of John (NIB 9; Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), pp. 670, 671.
George Lakoff and Mark Turner, More Than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), pp. 1–8. For a general discussion of metaphors as conventional speech, see also Lakoff and Turner, More Than Cool Reason, pp. 57–139. In biblical studies, see Lynn R. Huber, Like A Bride Adorned: Reading Metpahor in John’s Apocalypse (New York: T & T Clark, 2007), pp. 70–88; Susan Hylen, Allusion and Meaning in John 6 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2005), pp. 60–68.
Rodney A. Whitacre, John (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1999), p. 260; italics original. Although Adele Reinhartz only deals with 10:11–18 as part of the literary context for interpreting 10:1–5, she reads vv. 11–18 only in reference to Jesus’ death (Adele Reinhartz, The Word in the World: The Cosmological Tale in the Fourth Gospel [SBLMS 45; Atlanta: Scholars, 1992], p. 96).
C.K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), p. 313. Other interpreters understand the aorist as a reference to previous attempts on Jesus’ life within the Gospel; see, for example, Edwyn Clement Hoskyns, The Fourth Gospel (ed. F.N. Davey; London: Faber & Faber, 1947), p. 380; M.-J. Lagrange, Évangile selon St. Jean (ed. J. Gabalda; Paris: Libraire Lecoffre, 8th edn, 1948), p. 283. Brown thinks either is possible (Brown, John, vol. 1, p. 387). The NA27 prefers the present tense. Without referring to the aorist, Wengst argues that vv. 17–18 only make sense from a post-Easter perspective (Klaus Wengst, Das Johannesevangelium [2 vols.; Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 2000], pp. 385–86).
Sharon H. Ringe, Wisdom’s Friends: Community and Christology in the Fourth Gospel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1999), pp. 56, 80.
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One of the characteristics of the good shepherd of John 10:11–18 is a phrase that is usually translated “he lays down his life” (vv. 11, 15, 17, 18). Although interpreters often acknowledge the alternate meaning, “he risks his life,” this option is usually rejected. This article sees the notion of risk as an important element of John’s metaphorical presentation of Jesus as shepherd. Drawing on cultural conventions of shepherding, the literary context, and metaphor theory, the author argues that John portrays Jesus as one who risks his life for the sheep, and not simply as one who dies for them. This idea of a shepherd who risks his life for the flock can illuminate the reader’s understanding of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and the way that disciples are called to follow him.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 761 | 72 | 1 |
Full Text Views | 300 | 12 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 178 | 32 | 1 |