I see that nobody has thus far commented on the question raised in this
interesting inquiry, although there's been lively and interesting
discussion of secondary revelations in the post. More on that anon, but to
the question:
Given the context of Jn 6:69-71--observation of those hangers-on who leave
Jesus at this point and those who deliberately remain with him, I think
that the suggestions set forth above are eminently reasonable. After all,
Jesus does say to the Twelve, "Don't you want to go your way too?" So I
think that this passage is indeed closely related to the theme broached in
chapter 13 and in the Synoptic tradition of Peter's denial. John's gospel
doesn't really purport to follow a clear chronological sequence in the
manner of the Synoptics, but lets particular themes recur at several points
throughout the gospel as a whole, and I would think that that's the way we
should understand this almost Markan, wistful observation of Jesus about
the as-yet untested and undemonstrated claim of Peter to faith. It is also
true that John uses perfects more deliberately and more often than the
other evangelists. So here I think Peter's PIPISTEUKAMEN KAI EGNWKAMEN ...
are meant to underscore the assertion--not just for himself (because I
think the first-plural is also important) but for the twelve as a
group--that their faith and recognition is rock-solid conviction. Jesus'
response seems to me more wistful than cynical, implying also that he knows
very well that he has chosen, among the Twelve, his own betrayer.
If one wants to make anything of the relatively early placement of this
theme in John's gospel, one might compare Mark 4 (and parallels, of
course), where Jesus' interpretation of the Parable of the Sower is an
explicit commentary on the levels of commitment of Jesus' followers, some
of whom (including all of the Twelve, as it turns out) will desert him when
QLIPSIS comes.
The discussion of use of Greek in sermon preparation reminds me of an
account I read some thirty years ago (I think it was in TIME) about how
George Buttrick (hearing whom at Harvard's Memorial Church was one of the
treasured experiences of my grad school years) went about preparing
sermons; according to the account he had a big piece of poster board
divided into columns and rows into which he would write out the Greek or
Hebrew text from which he was preaching, phrase by phrase, and then work
through several stages of word-study and exegesis before ending up with the
application he intended to present in his sermon. As I recall, the article
was written on the occasion of completion of the last volume of the
original _Interpreter's Bible_.
And where in NC, pray tell us, Paul, _IS_ Thunder Swamp? Sounds like those
hurricane-visited Outer Banks, probably far from the mountain fastnesses of
Yancey County, my summer and retirement stomping grounds. I do wish that
e-addresses and signature files gave us more detail to help us individually
fix our invisible conversation partners on the internet.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/