John

This is the fourth of four summaries of the New Testament Gospels from Peter Leithart's book, The Four.  This fourth one covers the Gospel of John.

Leithart includes this chiasm in his chapter on the Gospel of John:

A   Prologue, 1:1-18

      B   Lamb of God, 1:19-34

            C   Discipleship, 1:35-51

                  D   Marriage feast, 2:1-12

                        E   Death and resurrection, 2:13-25

                              F   Baptism, 3:1-21

                                   G   Meditation, 3:21-36

                                         H   Living water and worship, 4:1-45

                                               I   Healing, 4:46-54

                                               I'  Healing, 5:1-30

                                         H'  Living water and worship, 6-7

                                   G'  Meditation, 7:1-8:59

                              F'  Baptism, 9:1-10:21

                        E'  Death and resurrection, 11:1-57

                   D'  Marriage feast, 12:1-26

             C'  Discipleship, 13:1-17:26

      B'  Lamb of God, 18:1-19:42

A'  Epilogue, 20:1-31

Now Leithart describes this as a rough chiasm.  'A', 'D', and 'G' feel rough in that way.  Even so, that's a good reminder of what all these outlines have been - a survey, a look at these amazingly deep and well-organized books from a mile up.  

The 'A' pattern is linked by the theme of sight.  In the first section, John writes: "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth." (1:14).  In the second section, there is a lot of 'seeing': Peter gets to the empty tomb, where he "saw the linen wrappings lying there.  The other disciple "saw and believed."  Mary looks into the tomb, sees Jesus standing with her without knowing its him, announces to the disciples that she has "seen the Lord."  Thomas wants to see the nail marks in Jesus' hands.  Jesus says "blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed."  In all this, seeing is a key theme for how we engage with the glory of God.

The 'B' pattern is linked by the theme of the lamb.  In the first section, John the Baptist says that Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  In the second section, Jesus is the sacrificial lamb, dying for the sins of the world.

The 'C' pattern is linked by the theme of discipleship.  In the first section, Jesus calls disciples.  In the second section, Jesus teaches about true discipleship.

The 'D' pattern is linked by the theme of feasting.  In both sections, Jesus is at feasts.  In the first section, he attends a marriage feast.  In the second, a feast is hosted for Jesus and acts of love are done that are richly symbolic of the covenant love between Bride and Bridegroom: he is anointed with costly perfume, which seems to echo in a scandalous way the "best wine" of the earlier section.  Also, Jesus is received adoringly as King in his entrance to Jerusalem.

The 'E' pattern is linked by death and resurrection.  In the first section, Jesus talks about the temple being destroyed and raised up again.  In the second section, the dead Lazarus is raised.

The 'F' pattern is linked by baptism.  In the first section, Jesus talks to Nicodemus about being born of water and Spirit.  In the second section, Jesus tells a blind man to wash in the pool of Siloam, upon which he is able to miraculously see.

The 'G' pattern is linked by themes of being "from above" and being "of the earth." (3:31).  In the first section, when John the Baptist is told that everyone is going to Jesus now, John accepts it as receiving "what has been given from heaven."  The author John goes on to say, "the one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things.  The one who comes from heaven is above all.  He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony." (3:31-32).  In the second section, Jesus talks often of what comes from above, and we see people repeatedly not receiving his testimony.

The 'H' pattern is linked by living water and worship.  In the first section, Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman about living water, and about worshiping in spirit and truth.  In the second section, Jesus associates his own words with spirit (6:63), and he speaks about rivers of living water and the Spirit (7:37-39).

The 'I' pattern is linked by two healings.  In the first section, Jesus heals an official's son.  In the second section, Jesus heals the man by the pool.

The Gospel of John is focused on Jesus' "signs" of which there are seven:

1. Water to wine, ch. 2

2. Child raised from deathbed, ch. 4

3. Paralytic healed, ch. 5

4. Feeding of five thousand, ch. 6

5. Crossing the sea, ch. 6

6. Blind man receives sight, ch. 9

7. Lazarus raised from the dead, ch. 11

The structure of John also connects to the tabernacle:

"The entire book can be understood as a stroll through the tabernacle.  The opening chapter, which introduces the "lamb of God" who comes to take away the sins of the world, brings us to the bronze altar for sacrifice.  Chapters 2-4, with their focus on water, are at the laver.  Chapters 4-7 center on the feeding of the five thousand, in which Jesus distributes the bread of the presence from the golden table.  In chapters 8-13, John lingers at the lampstand, musing on Jesus as the light, adn teh Upper Room Discourse, especially chapter 17, displays Jesus as the intercessory priest, raising his hands before the golden altar.  John is at pains to show us that the empty tomb is the new Holy of Holies.  The slab on which Jesus' body no longer lays is flanked by angels, like the ark, and Peter, like a high priest, is the first to enter.  On this scheme, the theme of light in John 9, already associated with creation and the Feast of Tabernacles, is given a fresh dimension, linked with the golden light, the lamp on the lampstand that is the discple." (220)