There Was Much Grass in That Place
By Colin Smith
Reflective Reading: The Book of John (no, seriously!)
What would you think if I told you that the central focus of the Gospel of John is a field of empty grass? What if I told you that this unoccupied field is the key to understanding the Gospel of John? Sound crazy? Well, let’s take a look.
First, it is important to understand that John structured his gospel according to Jesus’ miracles. The first miracle is found in John 2:1-12. There in Cana of Galilee, a bridal party has run out of wine for their guests. To help, Jesus commands the servants to fill the stone jars with water. As a result of their obedience, Jesus turns the water into wine, providing divine wine for the guests. The last miracle John recorded is found in John 21:1-14. Here, John records how Jesus appeared on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and calls seven of his disciples to cast their net on the other side of the boat. The result of their obedience was a net supernaturally full of fish. Although it may not appear so at first glance, there are some striking similarities between these two miracles. In each case, Jesus' true identity is unknown to the people he commands and He is obeyed, resulting in abundant provisions (wine and fish.) Both miracles occur when Jesus shares a meal with his disciples.
The second miracle recorded in the Gospel of John is the healing of an official’s son in John 4:46-54. In this miracle, Jesus refuses to go with the man to see his son, even though he is dying. Rather, Jesus says, "Go; your son will live." John carefully records, "The man believed the word that Jesus spoke…" showing us the power of Jesus' words.
In the second to last miracle recorded in John, Jesus refuses to see a dying person; this time, it is Lazarus, His friend (John 11). Much like the healing of the official's son in John 4, the result is the same: the sick person’s family receives a miracle that is based on what Jesus says, even if he doesn’t arrive before someone dies. Once again, the miracle causes family members to believe in Jesus’s words—John 4:50; John 11:27. Once again, Jesus' Words display His divine power—John 4:48-50; John 11:41-44.
The third miracle Jesus performs is the healing of a paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-16). The third to last miracle Jesus performs is healing a blind man at the pool of Siloam (John 9). Together, both of these miracles fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 35:5-8,
"The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk…”
Both miracles were done in Jerusalem at pools on the Sabbath and received heavy criticism from the Jewish ruling authorities. In both cases, the men had long-standing disabilities and did not know Jesus immediately. Unlike the previous miracles, belief is not the immediate result. The paralyzed man at Bethesda and the blind man at the pool of Siloam both first investigated who Jesus was and came to believe later. We see the paralyzed man who was healed in Bethesda show belief through his obedience in John 5:9 and the blind man healed at Siloam progressively came to believe in John 9:11,17, 33, and 38. What is the significance of their slow belief? The answer will be revealed in the following miracle where we once again see a decline in belief.
Up until this point, the miracles in the Gospel of John have mirrored each other, making a literary framework that brings us closer to the center in John 6:1-15 and John 6:16-20. Here is a visual representation to help you see the arrangement of the miracles:
This framing structure shows how the first matching miracles (A and B) result in belief while the next set of matching miracles (C) show only a partial belief. This trend away from belief culminates in the next matching miracles (D) where Jesus feeds the 5,000 and walks on water. At first glance, these central miracles don’t seem to have anything in common. John records explicitly that Jesus' feeding of the five thousand and His walking on water did not result in belief. This is unusual considering how frequently the word "belief" is used in the Gospel of John. In fact, “belief” is the official theme word of the Gospel of John. In the first and last sections of the gospel of John, the apostle frames the entire purpose for writing the book:
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (1:12)
In 20:31, John restates the purpose:
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. (20:31)
So, if "belief" is the central idea of the Gospel of John, why do the central two miracles in the Gospel of John specifically feature an absence of "belief"? As if this was not confusing enough, John places another structure in John 6:1-14 that points to an even more central point:
Generally, once you find the center of the structure, you find the central meaning. But, after seeing this structure, the obvious question is, "What is the special significance of 'Now, there was much grass in the place'? Did I make a mistake somewhere? Certainly, this cannot be the central point of the gospel of John.”
An important thing to consider when answering this question is the main point of the book of John,
He (Jesus) came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. However, to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (1:11-12)
The central point of the miracles in John 6 is that Jesus came to His own and His own did not receive or believe in Him. The point of the grass is emptiness. Grass in the Bible is suitable for one thing: to wither and to be cut down. This was a metaphor for the spiritual state of those to whom Jesus was speaking. This is the significance of the slow belief, progressing now to complete unbelief. Jesus came to His own, and His own did not receive Him (John 6:1-59), but to those who did receive Him (John 6:60-71) He gave the right to become children of God.
In John 6:14-15, the crowd wanted to make Jesus king by force because they saw what they could get from Jesus (free food)—not because they believed He was the Son of God.
In John 6:22-59 the crowd rejects Jesus because He tells them He is the bread of life and whoever comes to Him shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Him shall never thirst. It is no accident that the first miracle (John 2) has to do with thirst (wine) and the last miracle (John 21) has to do with hunger (fish.) After hearing Jesus call himself, "the bread that came down from Heaven," the people started to grumble (John 6:41). In John 6:53-54, Jesus lays the matter out more clearly for the people when he says,
Unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink His blood, you shall have no life in you.
The result of Jesus' teaching was more grumbling. In 6:60-61, all but twelve disciples left Jesus and no longer followed Him. Jesus asks the twelve, "Do you want to go as well?" and Simon Peter responds, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God." (John 6:67-68.) In this exchange, the truth of John 1:11-12 is revealed. Jesus came to His own, but His own did not receive Him because saving faith is about believing the words of God (Eph. 2:8,9; Rom. 10:17; I Peter 1:23).
Looking for more biblical theology teaching? You can join us as you listen to our podcast on Fastened Like Nails: www.lamplighter.net/fastenedlikenails.
Till next time,
Colin Smith
Recommended Resources on Faith:
Little Threads (Ages 6+)
Helen’s Temper (Ages 6+)
Strordinary Little Maid book/audio (Ages 6+)
City Sparrows (Ages 12+)
Shepherd of Bethlehem (Ages 12+)
Wide, Wide World (Ages 12+)
