Jesus and suffering in John 9 : a narratological reading from within Karanga faith communities

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The thesis is mainly concerned with Jesus' perspective on suffering according to John 9. The dramatic events in John 9 were triggered by a question by Jesus' disciples about the cause of an unnamed blind beggar's blindness. The disciples wanted to know whether theblindness was caused by the beggar's sins or by the sins of his parents (;<= >?@A;BC; – 9:2).Jesus, however, instead of addressing the cause of the man's blindness, surprisingly andironically shifted the focus to its purpose: 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him (HC@ I@CBAJKLM ;N OAP@ ;QRM KBQRM SC @T;UM – 9:3). Ultimately, it is not the man's blindness that is the issue in John 9, but how people understand Jesus as the revelation of God. This radical shift in perspective, and its implications for first and later audiences/readers of John's Gospel, is the main question to be addressed by the thesis. Because of Jesus' response to the disciples' question, the researcher chose John 9 as a key section for understanding Jesus' perspective on suffering. The purpose of the study is to explore the nature and implications of Jesus' response to the blind beggar's condition – particularly in opening up new possibilities of experiencing God's presence in Jesus the Messiah, the giver of light and life. Chapter 1 of the thesis is the introduction of the investigation covering the research problem, hypothesis, motivation for the study, its proposed contribution, preliminary studies undertaken and the methodology to be followed. The research was done through a narratological reading of John 9.Chapter 2 contributes to the research question by explaining different elements of narrative theory such as implied author, implied audience or readers, narrator, characters, point of view, settings and plot development. Since these are major elements of a narrative theory, the same elements will be used in the following chapters of the thesis.Chapter 3 analyses the narrative of John 9:1-41 according to the categories discussed inchapter 2 of the thesis. The main question to be addressed is Jesus' response to his disciples'question regarding the cause of the beggar's blindness. For Jesus it is not the cause of theman's physical blindness that is the issue, but the cause of the spiritual blindness of theJews who do not recognise him as God's Messiah (cf 9:2, 41). The structure of John 9 takes the form of a drama in seven scenes. The purpose of this chapter of the thesis is to explorewho Jesus is – inter alia through the (speech) acts of different characters in the sevenscenes, through different settings, and the plot development in John 9. Chapter 4 elaborates on the research question with respect to John 9 by focusing on Jesus and suffering in the post-synagogal movement. The investigation into the relationship between Jesus and suffering in John 9 is extended to John 10-12 where the narration continues of Jesus giving light and new life to people. The anti-language in John's Gospel reflects a new social group that upheld an alternative reality that ran counter to the social realities of society at large. In the final analysis John had a clear and explicit purpose in mind: 'These miraculous signs are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name (20:31). Chapter 5 of the thesis focuses on the Karanga people's interaction with the implied narratological purpose of John 9. The traditional belief of the Karanga is that any kind of illness, misfortune or death is a consequence of sin committed by a member of the community or family, which seems to be analogous to Jewish beliefs according to the disciples' question in John 9:2. This belief is challenged fundamentally by Jesus' practical yet ironical response. Chapter 5 of the thesis discusses the anticipated response to John 9 of present-day Karanga faith communities. It concludes by suggesting new faith responses to the Karanga people's experience of illness and death, according to Jesus' perspective on suffering in John 9.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University