Birth, Bodies, and Resistance in John 19:31-37
John 19:31-37 falls within the passion story of John. This narrative passage recounts the moment when Jesus’ side is pierced after his death, as well as the resulting water and blood that flow forth from his body [Jn 19:34]. The excerpt is set on the Day of Preparation for the Jewish Passover Sabbath. Concerned that the men will die on Passover, the Jews request that Pilate order the soldiers to break the legs of the crucified men so that they die faster [31]. Notably, Jesus is already dead by the time the soldiers arrive [33]. Instead of breaking his legs, a soldier pierces his side and a witness (likely the Beloved Disciple), watches as blood and water pour out from the wound. Although Jesus has died a shameful death on the cross, his body here maintains a sense of resistant autonomy. In this manner, John 19 illustrates a strange power in the face of oppression and empirical forces acting on Jesus’ body (the Jews, Pilate, and soldiers). Even so, the narrator portrays Jesus’ death as necessary for bringing forth new life.
Texts can be interpreted in a variety of ways according to one’s cultural and social contexts. In conducting exegetical work, it is important for the writer to identify their social location. Thus, before continuing with exegesis of John 19:31-37, I will identify myself as a white, upper-middle class, American woman in her late 20s writing from a private theological institution. I am a birth and postpartum doula who sees the injustices of the birth industry daily. I am an individual who encountered significant physical trauma as a child. I am an ecofeminist and am uncomfortable with the self-identity marker of “Christian.” although I grew up in the United Methodist Church. I am a mystic and a yoga instructor whose practice plays a significant role in my understanding of faith. Through this identity, I am comfortable challenging the biblical text. It is from this social context that I write about John.
As a birth worker, I compare the violence of Jesus’ experience in Jn 19:31-37 to that of a Black woman giving birth in the United States. In this nation, the maternal mortality rate remains highest among all so-called developed countries, with wide racial disparities. From 2018 to 2019 there were 37.3 deaths for non-Hispanic Black women in comparison with 11.8 deaths for white women. Black women in labor in the United States report significantly less satisfaction with their birth experiences than white women. Like Jesus, Black women are often manipulated by oppressive forces into sacrificing their bodies and autonomy. They are made to believe that their sacrifice is for the health of the newborn baby, reminiscent of the Gospel of John’s suspicious portrayal of the violence of Jesus’ death as a necessary evil in order for others to encounter life. As a birth doula, I will use postcolonial narrative analysis to problematize John’s glorification of Jesus’ violent death as a necessary sacrifice and to acknowledge Jesus’ own powerful resistance, even amid brutality and coercion.
Methodology
Narrative criticism, or literary criticism, is a method in which close attention is given to the literary and rhetorical devices used within a text, with particular emphasis on narration and characterization. According to biblical scholar, Fernando Segovia, this exegetical method views the text as a medium through which a particular message is conveyed from the author to the reader. Narrative criticism assumes that the text contains all it needs to be interpreted, in contrast with a method such as historical criticism, which views the text as a piece of historical evidence from a given time. In a narrative analysis, the text is considered an “artistic, rhetorical, and ideological production in its own right.” The reader views the text as a strategic whole. Biblical scholar, Robert Alter, explains that narrative analysis of the biblical text requires close attention to the complex strategies used by authors. For instance, one must consider why dialogue is used in some places and not others, when repetition, a commonly used biblical strategy, is intentionally avoided, and where more explicit characterization occurs and why. Alter suggests that through omission of detail, the biblical narrative is often working in implicit rather than explicit ways to convey its intended messages. A reader must therefore be astutely aware of use of syntax and analogy and look closely at the function of omission. He calls for a resistance toward oversimplification of the text by acknowledging that through a “sophisticated” use of prose, the biblical text conveys subtle and rich theological messages. Often, narrative analysis places more emphasis on broader theological meanings portrayed by the text. These strategic narratives are so powerful that they have endured throughout time.
While narrative analysis is an important foundation for critically engaging with the text, in a world ruled by colonization and empire, there is an urgent need to read the from a postcolonial perspective that asks the question, “In this text, who is the oppressor and who is oppressed?” A postcolonial reading investigates a narrative closely to determine structures of power. New Testament scholar, Musa Dube posits that an important component of exegetical reading resides in determining “how we resist.” She suggests that all biblical texts are written under the pretense of empire, and that it is important to find ways to read the text which resist oppressive forces. Scholar, Stephen Moore, illustrates how the Gospel of John embodies an image of colonialist power through its political portrayal of Jesus as supreme king, although he ultimately determines John to be a book which resists the Roman empire. In contrast, Dr. Musa Dube believes that John plays a role in “sanctioning Western imperialism” and seeks to decolonize the text. Part of this decolonizing work comes from implementing readings which liberate the texts’ oppressed characters. In Jn 19, we look to the figures suffering the violence of crucifixion.
Mapping Interpretations of Jn 19:31-37
The piercing of Jesus’ side has been interpreted in many ways throughout time. While it was once engaged from a medical perspective, in modern contexts, it is more often viewed theologically in accordance with the testimony of the witness who claims this to happen “so that you may believe.” New Testament scholar, Brian Peterson, illustrates how blood and water are used consistently throughout John to “point to Jesus as the source of life.” According to Peterson, with the image of blood and water flowing from Jesus’ dead body comes the reminder that from Jesus’ death flows life. Peterson draws connections to the Eucharist and Baptism, which he argues continue to give life through the life that Jesus gave. He also notes the 18th century Moravian interpretation of Christ’s side wound as an opening to Jesus’ heart or “the opening from which the church is birthed.” According to Peterson, this passage deals with the realities of the body and Jesus’ death, leaving the reader to wonder about the “beauty and…pain of the incarnation,” an intricate bodily process which ultimately reveals love and life as granted by God. Jesus gives up what he holds most dear, his own life, out of love for others. Peterson argues that this is the love referred to earlier in the Gospel as “to the end.”
Theologian Thomas Slater focuses on the setting within this passage, pointing to the days of Preparation and Sabbath and comparing Jesus to the Passover Lamb. Slater names both lambs as lambs of liberation. Like Peterson, Slater discusses the importance of water to sustaining human life, drawing connections to other passages in John in which Jesus is compared to living waters (i.e., 4:14; 7:38). In addition to noting the repetitive symbolism of water, Slater also mentions the significance of the author’s references to fulfilled scriptures, which he believes to point to the “messiahship of Jesus.”
Susan Miller takes on an ecological reading of John’s Gospel. While she also pays particular attention to the significance of the water pouring from Jesus’ side wound; she interprets it to symbolize abundance. She compares the references to water with “Jesus’ prophecy of the gift of living water of the Spirit” which would come with his death (cf. 7:38-39). Miller suggests that the water flowing from Jesus’ pierced side is one element in a larger narrative which portrays Jesus as a source of life or abundance, including his depiction as the bread of life, as aligned with the process of harvest, and as a cyclical experience of life and death which depicts “the cycle of life and death on Earth.” However, Miller also notes that a few verses before Jesus’ side is pierced, he himself admits to being thirsty, receiving one final drink from his loved ones before “giv[ing] up his spirit.”
While straying from narrative analysis of John, a quick look at reception history of John 19, particularly in the Middle Ages, provides further insight into the passage’s focus on Christ’s body. A particular image found on the center of the medieval devotional book of Bonne of Luxemburg portrayed the wound elegantly, as an oval with parted lips. In the Middle Ages, the image of Christ’s side wound was even treasured as a symbol of protection in childbirth. Bonne herself bore nine children before her death at age 34. Medieval images of Christ’s side wound have been utilized by modern scholars to queer the historical Jesus. Catherine of Siena’s biography contains a vision in which Christ even utilizes his side wound to nourish:
“With that, he tenderly placed his right hand on her neck, and drew her towards the wound in his side. ‘Drink, daughter, from my side.’ He said, ‘and by that draught your soul shall become enraptured with such delight that your very body…shall be inundated with its overflowing goodness.”
Jesus & Black Maternal Mortality
The author’s emphasis on setting—particularly the Day of Preparation for the Jewish sabbath, plays into a theme found throughout the text in which Jesus’ death is assumed to override the Jewish festival. As Thomas Slater notes, Jesus becomes the Passover Lamb, meant to bring forth a new kind of liberation—liberation from sins.
However, the author of John illustrates that this liberation must come through devastating acts of violence, violence especially surrounding Jesus’ body. There is language of broken legs [19:31, 33], crucifixion [31, 32], dead bodies [33], and a side pierced with a spear [34]. This story is one of fluids and gore [32, 34], of the body being manipulated in unnatural ways [32]; of bystanders making decisions about the bodies hanging on the cross [31, 32]. Unlike Peterson, the violent language presented in this passage does not leave me to wonder about the beauty of incarnation or a process leading to love. In contrast, this visceral process of bodily harm evokes images of the Black woman in labor. Her legs are forced into stirrups, She lies in blood stains from sheets left unchanged by preoccupied nurses, Her body is forced open without her consent.
Like Musa Dube, I find that the narrative within the Gospel of John endorses imperialism. Even the crucifixion of Jesus is glorified by the author of the text as a necessary sacrifice for all to experience life. In Jn 19:31-37, this is evident through the author’s implicit endorsements of the crucifixion: first, when he states that the witness has testified to what he had seen so that “you” (the reader) may also believe [Jn 18:35]; and secondly, when the author acknowledges the ways in which the harm done to Jesus’ body were “so that the scripture might be fulfilled” [36]. John’s author excuses the violence committed to Jesus’ body by suggesting Jesus’ death to be a necessary fulfillment of scripture.
Through the author’s justifications, I am reminded of the “justified” violence the Black woman encounters in modern U.S. hospitals. As Jesus’ side is pierced, I cannot help but imagine the incision made in Her abdomen to retrieve Her baby before She has the opportunity to provide informed consent. I cannot help but imagine the doctor in the background explaining that this is “best for baby” without explaining how this major surgery will limit Her own life (include footnote about seriousness of caesarean-section). When I read of the justification of Jesus’ crucified body in this passage, I read the problematic justification of medically unnecessary caesarean-sections.
As Susan Miller notes, water flows from Jesus’ side, a symbol of abundant life, ironically moments after Jesus mutters “I am thirsty” [19:28]. He whose life fades is ordained to grant it for others. While there are no clear studies regarding the causality of the high rates of Black women dying in labor in comparison with white women, story after story recounts the Mother asking for what She needs only to be denied care by Her doctor. She cries, “I am thirsty” moments before Her death [cf. v 28]. Water bursts forth from Her body as Her child is born [cf. v 34]. If we read Jesus’ crucifixion as an unnecessary act of violent imperialism and challenge the author of John’s justification of such violence as a precursor for life, so we challenge the implicit medical model of care which is violating the lives of Black women at the expense of the new life which emerges from their laboring bodies.
While the Johannine author’s justification of this visceral assault on Jesus’ body is problematic, this passage also displays Jesus’ power in spite of (rather than because of), the brutality that his body encounters. There is a subtle irony present in v. 33 when the soldier approaches Jesus to expediate his death by breaking his legs, only to find that Jesus is already dead. Although his body is physically restrained from a sense of autonomy, Jesus dies on his own terms. This small resistance presents hope for a power greater than oppressive forces.
The power of Jesus is illustrated once again through his supposed connection to those who came before him. The author states not only that Jesus’ body here fulfills a prophecy, but also that others will look upon his body and see how it relates to stories past [37]. The cruelty performed on Jesus’ body is not powerful enough to prevent Jesus from transcending generations with the story of his body. As for a woman in labor, these visceral hours connect people to the past through the birth of new generations and the hope that it brings.
The images of blood and water found in Jn 19:31-37 tie the passage to the themes of abundance found in the wider text, as Susan Miller describes. Blood in the passion narrative recalls Jesus’ discussion of blood in Jn 6, in which Jesus asks his disciples to pass around the cup of wine, symbolizing his blood, so that they may have life [Jn 6:53-56]. Likewise, Jesus is connected to water as a source of life throughout the text. John opens with images of baptism [1:31, 33], Jesus discusses his connection to “living water” with the woman at the well [7:4-15], he explains that those who believe in him will have living water flow from their hearts in Jn 7:38, and he washes the feet of hist disciples before sharing his final meal with them [13:5]. The moment when blood and water pour from Jesus’ side is the last mention of both elements in the Gospel of John. This image is a culmination of the symbolism of life in Jesus as it has been portrayed throughout John. Here, the life comes from the physiological systems of Jesus’ body. Amid brutality, Jesus’ body proceeds autonomically. The ambitions of his cells, the water and blood which flow out of his being, cannot be oppressed. Amid violence, Jesus’ body becomes a symbol of resistance-- a powerful defiance to the physical violence encountered in modern contexts.
Conclusion
The Johannine Jesus is one who experiences the world through his body. He touches water [i.e., 13:5], heals others with his hands [i.e., 9:6], and experiences intense pain [i.e., 19:17]. While the Gospel’s narrator presents a colonial justification for the violence committed against Jesus’ body, implying that this violence is a step toward more life, a postcolonial reading can challenge this implication. Jesus is the oppressed character of this scene, by the Jews, Pilate, the soldiers, and through quiet compliance with the violence, the narrator of John. However, as postcolonial readers, we can name the assault of Jesus’ body with honesty, resisting John’s persuasive endorsements of this act for its offering of life. Even so, we can acknowledge the life that Jesus did offer, through his subtle acts of autonomy, connection, and his body’s own resistance. We may resist the violence, even while looking toward the powerful life which emerges from Jesus’ side—water, blood, a church, a community.
As a birth worker, I read the story of Jesus’ pierced side as an opportunity to resist the narrative that the production of life, including through childbirth, necessitates violence. However, I also read this passage as an opportunity to acknowledge those who do bear life in spite of violence and harm. It is an opportunity to recognize those who give birth even when they are not treated with kindness or cultural awareness by their medical providers. It is an opportunity to see those from whose bodies come blood and water and babies.
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