In Quest of the Historical Pharisees

CHAPTER 5. John's Pharisees

CHAPTER 5 JOHN’S PHARISEES Raimo Hakola and Adele Reinhartz 131 The title of this volume asks two questions. The first—What do we really know about the Pharisees?—implies that while it is possible to know something about the historical Pharisees, our knowledge may be more meager than some might think. The second—How do we know it?—raises the tricky methodological issue of how to read history from texts and artifacts that do not have our historical interests in view. This methodological problem looms large in virtually all historical study that must perforce rely on ancient sources. In addressing the problem of the historical Pharisees, however, it emerges acutely with regard to the Gospel of John, in which the Pharisees are given a prominent, and largely negative, narrative role. We begin by considering the literary representation of the Pharisees, the passages in which they appear and the parts they play in the story. We then situate these literary Pharisees in the context of historical studies of the gospel and, finally, offer some comments on their role in the process by which the Johannine community developed and solidified its own group identity. THE JOHANNINE PHARISEES AS CHARACTERS IN THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE The Pharisees are mentioned explicitly approximately twenty times in the Fourth Gospel.1 These references are distributed among ten scenes; these scenes, in turn, present a fairly consistent picture of this group, including its association with other groups. The first reference occurs in John 1:24.2 In this passage, priests and Levites sent by the Pharisees subject John the Baptist to cross- 132 RAIMO HAKOLA AND ADELE REINHARTZ examination about his baptizing activities, and his identity—is he the Messiah, Elijah, or “the prophet”? John assures his interlocutors that he is none of the above, merely the precursor to the “one whom you do not know,” namely, Jesus. The passage establishes the Pharisees from the outset as a group that is extremely anxious about claimants to messiahship, and that has a cohort of priests and Levites ready to do its bidding. Next we encounter an individual, Nicodemus, described as a Pharisee and leader of the Jews (3:1). Nicodemus comes by night— that is, secretly—to speak with Jesus and to inquire about his message. This Pharisaic leader is sympathetic to Jesus, though apparently he does not truly grasp Jesus’ message as he takes his words far too literally . But Nicodemus is not typical of the Johannine Pharisees, who in the rest of their appearances in this gospel return to the aggressive, even hostile behavior attributed to them and their agents in John 1. In John 4:1, the narrator informs us that Jesus decided to leave Judea because he heard that the Pharisees were aware that he or, rather, his disciples (4:2) were exceeding John in baptizing activity. This decision implies fear or, at least, anxiety on Jesus’ part and a desire to escape the Pharisees’ purview. Jesus’ anxiety is justified, at least according to John 7:32-49. In this pericope, Jesus’ activities in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles arouse the Pharisees’ concern. They, along with the chief priests, send Temple police to arrest Jesus, but the priests do not do so, explaining, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” To this the Pharisees respond: “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed” (47-49). At this point Nicodemus steps in to defend Jesus without, however, confessing to his earlier nocturnal visit or expressing his personal interest in Jesus (cf. 7:50). As the story proceeds, the Pharisees’ antagonism toward Jesus grows. In John 8:13, they dismiss his claims to be the “light of the world” and to offer his followers respite from the darkness (8:12): “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” The issue of false testimony is also at stake in 9:13-40. In this passage the Pharisees interrogate the man born blind, whose sight Jesus has newly restored. JOHN’S PHARISEES 133 Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for...