That We Might Die with Him: Jesus’s Death and Resurrection as a Paradigm for Discipleship in Jn 11.1–12.11

Abstract

Despite growing recognition that the Fourth Gospel’s ecclesiological vision is modeled on aspects of the Gospel’s Christology, the possibility that this extends to Jesus’s death and resurrection has received little attention. Offering a close rereading of John’s notoriously enigmatic story of Lazarus, this study seeks to demonstrate that the notion of Jesus’s death and resurrection as a paradigm for discipleship is embedded in, and sheds interpretative light on, the complexities of this lengthy Johannine story. Through a fresh, multidimensional analysis of Jn 11.1–12.11 and other contextual factors, it is concluded that undergirding this narrative is the disciple’s necessary participation in Jesus’s death and resurrection; that the semiotic import of death within this paradigm encompasses affliction; and that this functional dynamic enabled the Johannine community to locate its affliction within a broader, hope-laden, purposive framework.