Alastair's Adversaria - Jesus the Bridegroom in John

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

The following was first published over on The Anchored Argosy Substack: https://argosy.substack.com/p/18-johannine-allegory-and-baby-goats. I previously published a video of this reflection to advertise a Davenant Hall course I was teaching, but thought I would publish it in this form too. Follow my Substack, the Anchored Argosy at https://argosy.substack.com/. See my latest podcasts at https://adversariapodcast.com/. If you have enjoyed my videos and podcasts, please tell your friends. If you are interested in supporting my videos and podcasts and my research more generally, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or by buying books for my research on Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3…3O?ref_=wl_share). You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035.

The following reflection was first published over on the anchored argosy, the substact that I share with my wife. Go there to see this and many other reflections that I have written on a variety of different topics. This is entitled Jesus the Brighroom in John. Contemporary Protestants not infrequently debate whether the Song of Songs ought to be read allegorically. Yet Christian allegorical readings of the Song of Songs go back to the very beginning, being in evidence in John's Gospel and in the Book of Revelation. John cast Jesus as the bridegroom, in both John and Revelation, repeatedly returning to this as a central theme or motif in his writing.

Marital themes are present in the other gospels. In Matthew chapter 9, verses 14 to 15, Jesus speaks of himself as the bridegroom, whose presence is attended by joy. Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not, fast. And Jesus said to them, can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to a wedding feast in Matthew chapter 22, verses 1 to 14,

in a parable that explores several points of comparison. In the parable of the virgins, in Matthew chapter 25 verses 1 to 13, the paracier of Christ is compared to the midnight advent of a bridegroom for a marriage feast. The breadth of such parabolic material might imply that marital metaphors are root metaphors for Jesus' understanding of his mission in Matthew. James Bejohn also suggests that the Song of Songs can be heard in the background in the use of the expression, Daughters of Jerusalem in Luke chapter 23, verse 28. Yet it is in John's Gospel that such marital themes find their fullest expression. In John's Gospel, Jesus' ministry begins at a wedding feast.

and at climaxes at a wedding feast at the end of Revelation. Jesus' encounters with women in John also often employ nuptial imagery. For instance, Jesus meets a woman at a well in John chapter 4, Isaac, Jacob and Moses all found their wives at wells, and women are associated with wells and springs elsewhere in Scripture. The encounter with Mary Magdalene in the garden in John chapter 20 has a similar flavour to it, recalling Adam and Eve in the first garden. John the Baptist is characterized as the friend of the bridegroom.

At the feast of Cana, Jesus provides the wine as the bridegroom would have done. Warren Gage has explored the arresting parallels between John and Revelation, observing the way that these develop nuptial themes in many places. For instance, he notes the surprising literary associations between the Samaritan woman of John Chapter 4 and the female figure of Revelation 17. Such parallels, he argues, disclose a deeper narrative playing out within both books. The redemption of the unfaithful or outcast woman is also seen in places such as the narrative of the adulterous woman in John Chapter 8, which Warren Gage maintains is paralleled with the deliverance of the woman from her accusers in Revelation Chapter 12.

The woman of Revelation Chapter 17 recalls Rehab, the harlot who was delivered from the city that was destroyed with the the blast of seven trumpets in the book of Joshua. John shares a lot of the imagery of the song. The chief protagonist in both is a good shepherd, Song of Songs chapter 1 verse 7, and John chapter 10 versus 1 to 16. There is wine, vine dressing. For instance, in Song of Songs, chapter 8 versus 11 to 12,

and John chapter 15 versus 1 to 6, etc. The repeated charge not to awaken love before its time in the song in chapter 2 verse 7, 3 verse 5 and 8 verse 4, is not too similar to John's frequent reminder of the hour of Christ that is awaited, but which has not yet come. John speaks a lot about hearing the voice of Jesus, the voice of the brygram, John chapter 3, verse 29, in Revelation chapter 3 verse 20.

In John, Jesus' voice also gives life to the dead, chapter 5 verse 25. It's the voice to which the sheep respond in chapter 10, verses 3 to 5. the voice of the beloved is also emphasized in the song in chapter 2 verse 8 and verse 14. John's allusions to the song, however, go beyond sharing broad motifs of marriage and the wedding and a similar general cluster of images, though. He deploys more specific imagery from the song in his narrative. For instance, in Mary's anointing of Jesus in Bethany,

John recalls the words of the song, portraying Jesus as the bridegroom king. While the king was on his couch, my gnaud gave forth its fragrance, Song Songs, chapter 1 verse 12. And then in John chapter 12 verse 3, Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure gnaud and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. We see something similar in the burial of Jesus. At the end of John chapter 19, Jesus is laid in a bed in a new garden tomb,

filled with an enormous quantity of spices, recalling Song of Songs, chapter 6, verse 2, My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to graze in the gardens, and to gather lilies. Mary goes looking for her master, desperate and thinking him lost. I opened to my beloved,

but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not. I called him, but he gave no answer. Song of Songs, Chapter 5. verse 6. She finally finds him in the garden. Chapter 6 verses 1 to 2, Where has your beloved gone, oh most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned that we may seek him with you? My beloved has gone down to his garden. When she finds him, she does not want to

let him go. Song of Songs chapter 3 verse 4. Scarcely had her passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him and would not let him go. John chapter 20, verse 17. Jesus said to her, do not cling to me. We should observe the ways in which John fuses imagery of the temple with the imagery that he draws from the song. The garden is the sight of Jesus' tomb. It's the sanctuary. The place where Jesus was laid with the angels at the head and foot

recalled the ark. It's the lover's tristing place, but it's also the woman herself. The woman is a locked garden, a well of living water in Song of Songs chapter 4 verse 15. Jesus the Brighgrim is going to come to his garden and open it or her up, releasing its living waters and its spiced air. This, of course, is prominent imagery in John's Gospel and in Revelation. Jesus promises living water coming forth from within in John chapter 4, verses 10 to 14,

and John chapter 7 verses 37 to 39. This also alludes to the eschatological waters of Ezekiel's temple in Ezekiel chapter 47, which lies behind John chapter 21. We are told that this is in reference to the spirit. It is about the spirit, about the water coming from the temple, but it is also the imagery of the song. The opened garden is the opened woman. Jesus connects his body to the temple in John chapter 2.

The temple is also the bridal church from which the Pentecostal spirit flows. Song motifs also appear in Revelation. Jesus is depicted in Wosifs, describing his various body parts and succession like the Brighgram, in Song of Songs chapter 5 versus 10 to 16, for instance. This might be seen even in weird details, such as the description of Jesus as a male with breasts in Revelation chapter 1, verse 13.

Jesse Rainbow suggests that this could allude to the strange reference to the bridegroom's breasts in the Septuagint of Song of Songs chapter 1 verse 2. The Brigham knocks at the door and counsels his bride, to clothe herself in Revelation chapter 3 verses 18 to 20. This recalls Song of Songs chapter 5 1 to 3. Jesus' invitation to dine with his bride if she will answer the door should be understood eucharistically. We should also recognize the body as food is a powerful recurring image in the song. Christ's gift of his body in the Eucharist is, among other things, nuptial communion. It's a true wedding feast. By the end of Revelation,

The bride is not just the open garden, but the open garden city, its living waters flowing forth. The song itself is filled with imagery that evokes the tabernacle or temple, for instance in chapter 3, verses 6 to 10. None of this should surprise us when we encounter it in the New Testament. The Book of Revelation ends in a similar place as the song. The fruits of a garden representing the bride are described, fruits brought forth by the love of David's son, as we see in Song of Songs chapter 8 verse 11 and both books conclude with a loving bride calling for her bridegroom to hurry to her in the very end of the song make haste my beloved and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices and of course at the end of revelation come lord jesus

if we can read these things allegorically and symbolically appreciating the ways meanings move between levels of the text without collapsing into each other, the power and delight of such an approach to hearing the song and its vision for piety should be very evident. The fact that neither the Song of Songs nor the books of John and Revelation terminate upon some consummation so much as they conclude with renewed and redouble longing is also noteworthy. The sort of hearing of scripture produced by the allegorical approach that John exemplifies doesn't merely lead to flat, this is like that comparisons.

collapsing a higher reality into images offered by a lower. Rather, the allegory of the song and its playful metaphors maintain, we might call, apathetic distances that are charged with and productive of longing. Like the song, John and Revelation present the bribrum as alluding grasp, control and comprehension. However, not least through subtle literary artistry, John educates the desire of the heroes of his writings

to long for, recall, and to... seek him. If you would like to read this and other reflections like it, you can do so on the anchored argosy, argosy.orgacy.substack.com. I'll share the link for that in the show notes below. If you'd like to support my work, you can do so on Patreon or PayPal. The links for those are also below. God bless and thank you for listening.