The Dialectic of Johannine Eschatology: John 11:23-27 as the Synthesis of Tension Between Future Eschatology and Present Eschatology

This paper argues that Martha’s confession of Jesus’s identity in John 11:27 serves as the synthesis of the tension between future eschatology and present eschatology. Before Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus and Martha states different understandings about the time of resurrection. Many scholars have claimed that Martha’s knowledge of future resurrection in 11:24 historically reflects the first-century Jewish tradition about the resurrection. In contrast, this paper alternatively suggests literary evidence to interpret the background of Martha’s remark. With narrative criticism, Martha’s statement can be interpreted as an echo of Jesus’s teaching in John 6 that he would raise the dead on the last day. If Martha’s understanding of the resurrection reflects Jesus’s teaching in John 6, the tension between present and future eschatology in verses 24-26 becomes between Jesus’ different teachings. As a result, this paper employs the dialectic structure to interpret the contradictory statements centering on the time of resurrection in 11:24-26. Two different teachings of Jesus about resurrection form the thesis and antithesis, which are synthesized by Martha’s confession about Jesus’s identity in verse 27. Revealing the dialectic structure with the narrative approach will discover a comprehensive understanding of future eschatology and present eschatology that the readers of the Gospel could reach.