IRONY IN JOHN'S GOSPEL

It is best to start by defining the word “irony.” But in trying to do so, we run into a problem. Muecke states, “The principal obstacle in the way of a simple definition of irony is the fact that irony is not a simple phenomenon.” However, Chevalier points out, “The basic feature of every irony is a contrast between a reality and an appearance.” That alone may not be enough to really pin down this literary technique. So Muecke breaks down the phenomenon into two types: verbal irony, in which the speaker knowingly speaks in an ironic manner; and situational irony, in which there is some disconnect between the speaker's knowledge and expectations and reality. To this, Strachan adds one more type: “Dramatic irony is particularly apparent in the account of the behaviors of the various characters involved in the closing events of Christ's life.”

The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery recognizes all three categories and defines them as follows:

    verbal irony = saying the opposite of what one intends

    situational irony = a situation is the opposite of what one expects or what is appropriate

    dramatic irony = a reader or audience knows more than the characters do

Irony appears throughout the Bible, but nowhere so pervasively as in the Gospel of John. One of the first scholars to point this out was David Wead (The Literary Devices in John's Gospel), who parenthetically at one early point in his career was the pastor of my small home church in California and officiated at my brother's wedding. Most other commentators now agree with his assessment:

“The gospel of John is noted for its peculiar stylistic and literary features. We may call attention to the gospel's use of symbolism, irony, misunderstandings, and use of words with double or ambiguous meanings.” (M.M. Thompson)

In his introduction to this Gospel, R.E. Brown states, “The opponents of Jesus are given to making statements about him that are derogatory, sarcastic, incredulous, or at least, inadequate in the sense they intend. However, by way of irony these statements are often true or more meaningful in a sense they do not realize.”

“The fourth evangelist has been characterized repeatedly as a master of irony...the most common device employed by the evangelist...is the unanswered question, often based on a false assumption, in which the character suggests or prophesies the truth without knowing it...The pervasiveness with which irony touches virtually all of the characters...underscores the fact that all are to a greater or lesser degree incapable of perceiving the revelation in Jesus.” (Culpepper)

Below is a sampling of a few of the ironic statements and situations found in the Fourth Gospel:

John 1:44 “When Philip speaks of Jesus as 'the son of Joseph' this must not be taken as a denial of the Virgin Birth...This is a good example of 'the irony of St. John'. Again and again he allows his characters to state, without refutation, ideas which Christian people would know to be false.” (Morris)

John 3:1-21 This passage describes the dialogue between the Pharisee Nicodemus and Jesus, which J. Bishop calls “the largest irony of the Gospels as a whole – those best prepared [for the Messiah] cannot act when the chance comes, precisely because their expectations are too built into character and culture. Men like Nicodemus have identified themselves with definitions they know too exactly.”

John 4:12 The Samaritan woman at the well asks Jesus whether he is greater than Jacob. Borchert points out: “The Greek ironically expects a negative answer. But the question provided the perfect opening for Jesus to press his evangelistic message to the woman.”

John 6:30 The people who have been following Jesus ask him what they should be doing to do the works of God. They then ask that he provide a sign so that they can believe. “The 'signs' which the people expect from the Messiah are mere miracles; yet when they see a miracle they fail to see the 'sign'; for to the evangelist a symeion is not, in essence, a miraculous act, but a significant act, one which, for the seeing eye and the understanding mind, symbolizes eternal realities.” (Dodd)

John 6:42 This verse begins a series of ironic misunderstandings regarding where Jesus came from. First he is called the “son of Joseph” who can't have come from heaven. Then in 7:27 the people of Jerusalem reason that he can't be the Messiah since everyone knows that the Messiah will have no known place of origin. The Pharisees then proclaim that Jesus is from Galilee, from which no prophet ever came (John 7:52). Concerning that point, Ray Summers points out that both Nahum and Jonah came from Galilee. In addition, of course, is the ironic fact that Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem. In 8:40-41, the Jews accuse Jesus of being illegitimately born and he replies that he came from God. And finally in 9:29, they admit that they don't know where Jesus has come from, which is interesting since that was the original ground of their rejection of him, as Culpepper notes.

John 7:3-4 Dodd says that when Jesus' brothers challenge him sarcastically to show himself, they are in fact unconsciously asking him to declare himself to not only Israel but to the whole world as the Messiah.

John 7:20 When Jesus tells the Jews that they are trying to kill him, they answer unbelievably “Who is trying to kill you?” Of course, the reader has been informed twice by now that the Jewish leaders are indeed set on killing him (John 5:18; 7:1).

John 7:34-36 Jesus tells the people that they will seek him but not be able to find him. They wonder if perhaps he is going to the Gentiles. “The irony of the Gospel, however, is that Jesus' departure would actually mean the carrying of the gospel to the Greeks and the world...The conscious Johannine reader will not miss the fact that the words on the cross are not merely written in Hebrew/Aramaic but also in Greek and Latin (19:20; a note that does not occur in the other Gospels).” (Borchert)

John 8:22 For the second time, Jesus tells the people that he is going where they cannot follow. This time the Jews speculate that perhaps Jesus is going to kill himself. Brown replies that “of course, he will voluntarily lay down his life (x 17-18).”

John 8:50 “There is possibly some of John's irony here. The Jews were continually 'seeking' Jesus in their mistaken zeal for God's glory, and their seeking was aimed at, and would ultimately issue in, Jesus death..But in a deeper sense the real seeking was done by God. And He sought, not the treatment of Jesus which the Jews sought, but His glory.” (Morris)

John 8:53 The Jews ask Jesus sarcastically whether he is greater than Abraham, in the same manner that the Samaritan woman asked whether he was greater than Jacob. Culpepper says that in both cases, “the readers are sure that they know the right answer while the characters are implying the wrong one.”

John 9:8-9 “The [blind] man's neighbors are dubious and puzzled (9:8-9), ironically failing to recognize the healed man himself and of course failing to recognize the healer, Jesus!” (Thompson)

John 11:48 The Sanhedrin decides that Jesus must be stopped or the Romans will destroy the temple and the nation. “The Jews did not leave Jesus alone, but crucified him; and the consequences were precisely that which they desired to avoid. When this gospel was written, throughout the world men were coming to Jesus by faith (2:32) and the Romans had destroyed the temple and subjugated the Jews.” (Barrett)

John 13:29 During the Last Supper, Judas leaves the others in order to betray Jesus. The other apostles speculate that he is probably going out to distribute some money to the poor. But Culpepper says, “From another vantage point one can see that he gave more to the poor than they realized.” That is a rather subtle, but powerful, concept.

John 13:37 Peter says, 'I will lay down my life for thy sake,' a promise that, as tradition asserts, proved true in the end. However, it was only after he had denied Christ three times.

John 18:19 This verse marks the beginning of Jesus' trials. However, as Juel perceptively points out, “On one level, Jesus is on trial throughout the Fourth Gospel. The characters in the story, notably the leaders of the Jewish people, must judge him. For the reader, however, the trial has a deeper meaning...How people judge Jesus determines how they themselves will be judged. In this sense; it is not really Jesus who is on trial, but those who presume to be his judges, those to whom he has been sent.”

Culpepper concurs with this assessment: “With subtle but deft irony the accused judges his accusers.”

John 18:24 Caiaphas had said that it was expedient that one person die for the people. “The narrator points out the irony in these words, for Jesus did indeed die 'for the people,' not as Caiaphas meant, as a political sacrifice to appease the Romans and avert possible military intervention, but rather as a means whereby all those who would truly be 'children of God' might be gathered together as one people.” (Thompson)

John 18:38 Pilate cynically asks the rhetorical question: “What is truth?” But Jesus, the way, and the truth, and the life, is standing right before him at the time (John 14:6)

John 19:12 The Jews demand that Pilate crucify Jesus or he is no friend of Caesar. “The Jews are maintaining that there is an antagonism between Jesus and Caesar. Again we have John's irony, for there is a sense in which this is true, though not in the sense in which the Jews meant it...the claims of Christ are such that Caesar cannot have the principal place.” (Morris)

John 19:28 “The ironical reference in xviii, 28, to the fear of ceremonial defilement on the part of Jesus' captors, and their consequential refusal to enter the Praetorium, is obvious. It is equally ironical that Pilate, representing the highest imperial authority, should be compelled to yield to their scruples.” (Strachan)