Discovery BoxJohn 1:29 
Context1:29 On the next day John 1 saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God 2 who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:48
Context1:48 Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus replied, 3 “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, 4 I saw you.”
John 1:50
Context1:50 Jesus said to him, 5 “Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 6
John 2:23
Context2:23 Now while Jesus 7 was in Jerusalem 8 at the feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. 9
John 11:33
Context11:33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people 10 who had come with her weeping, he was intensely moved 11 in spirit and greatly distressed. 12
John 19:26
Context19:26 So when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, 13 look, here is your son!”
John 19:35
Context19:35 And the person who saw it 14 has testified (and his testimony is true, and he 15 knows that he is telling the truth), 16 so that you also may believe.
John 20:6
Context20:6 Then Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went right into the tomb. He saw 17 the strips of linen cloth lying there,
John 20:12
Context20:12 And she saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’ body had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet.
John 20:14
Context20:14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, 18 but she did not know that it was Jesus.
John 20:20
Context20:20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 19
John 21:9
Context21:9 When they got out on the beach, 20 they saw a charcoal fire ready 21 with a fish placed on it, and bread.
1 tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
2 sn Gen 22:8 is an important passage in the background of the title Lamb of God as applied to Jesus. In Jewish thought this was held to be a supremely important sacrifice. G. Vermès stated: “For the Palestinian Jew, all lamb sacrifice, and especially the Passover lamb and the Tamid offering, was a memorial of the Akedah with its effects of deliverance, forgiveness of sin and messianic salvation” (Scripture and Tradition in Judaism [StPB], 225).
3 tn Grk “answered and said to him.” This is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation to “replied.”
4 sn Many have speculated about what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree. Meditating on the Messiah who was to come? A good possibility, since the fig tree was used as shade for teaching or studying by the later rabbis (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 5:11). Also, the fig tree was symbolic for messianic peace and plenty (Mic 4:4, Zech 3:10.)
5 tn Grk “answered and said to him.” This has been simplified in the translation to “said to him.”
6 sn What are the greater things Jesus had in mind? In the narrative this forms an excellent foreshadowing of the miraculous signs which began at Cana of Galilee.
7 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
9 sn Because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. The issue here is not whether their faith was genuine or not, but what its object was. These individuals, after seeing the miracles, believed Jesus to be the Messiah. They most likely saw in him a political-eschatological figure of some sort. That does not, however, mean that their concept of “Messiah” was the same as Jesus’ own, or the author’s.
10 tn Or “the Judeans”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the friends, acquaintances, and relatives of Lazarus or his sisters who had come to mourn, since the Jewish religious authorities are specifically mentioned as a separate group in John 11:46-47. See also the notes on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 8, “the Jewish people of the region” in v. 19, and the word “people” in v. 31.
11 tn Or (perhaps) “he was deeply indignant.” The verb ἐνεβριμήσατο (enebrimhsato), which is repeated in John 11:38, indicates a strong display of emotion, somewhat difficult to translate – “shuddered, moved with the deepest emotions.” In the LXX, the verb and its cognates are used to describe a display of indignation (Dan 11:30, for example – see also Mark 14:5). Jesus displayed this reaction to the afflicted in Mark 1:43, Matt 9:30. Was he angry at the afflicted? No, but he was angry because he found himself face-to-face with the manifestations of Satan’s kingdom of evil. Here, the realm of Satan was represented by death.
12 tn Or “greatly troubled.” The verb ταράσσω (tarassw) also occurs in similar contexts to those of ἐνεβριμήσατο (enebrimhsato). John uses it in 14:1 and 27 to describe the reaction of the disciples to the imminent death of Jesus, and in 13:21 the verb describes how Jesus reacted to the thought of being betrayed by Judas, into whose heart Satan had entered.
13 sn The term Woman is Jesus’ normal, polite way of addressing women (Matt 15:28, Luke 13:12; John 4:21; 8:10; 19:26; 20:15; see BDAG 208-9 s.v. γυνή 1). But it is unusual for a son to address his mother with this term. The custom in both Hebrew (or Aramaic) and Greek would be for a son to use a qualifying adjective or title. Is there significance in Jesus’ use here? Jesus probably used the term here to help establish Mary and the beloved disciple in a new “mother-son” relationship. Someone would soon need to provide for Mary since Jesus, her oldest son, would no longer be alive. By using this term Jesus distanced himself from Mary so the beloved disciple could take his place as her earthly son (cf. John 2:4). See D. A. Carson, John, 617-18, for discussion about symbolic interpretations of this relationship between Mary and the beloved disciple.
14 tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
15 tn Grk “and that one.”
16 sn A parenthetical note by the author.
17 tn Grk “And he saw.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.
18 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
19 sn When the disciples recognized Jesus (now referred to as the Lord, cf. Mary’s words in v. 18) they were suddenly overcome with joy. This was a fulfillment of Jesus’ words to the disciples in the Farewell Discourse (16:20-22) that they would have sorrow while the world rejoiced, but that their sorrow would be turned to lasting joy when they saw him again.
20 tn The words “on the beach” are not in the Greek text but are implied.
21 tn Grk “placed,” “laid.”
