A. CAVICCHIA, Conclusione generale.

Le vesti e luomo, la propriet e lidentit contese,

in Le sorti e le vesti. La Scrittura alle radici del messianismo giovanneo tra re-interpretazione e
adempimento: Sal 22(21) a Qumran e in Giovanni (TsG.T. 181) Roma 2010, 389-406.
Translated by F. Patrick Hudson, ofm

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
The disputes about clothes and the man, property and identity

The dispute between the soldiers who were dividing amongst themselves Jesus clothes, in
the fourth Gospel (cf. Jn 19:24), which had remained unresolved, brought to the present
investigation. Important elements are, however, declared about another rather more relevant and
urgent dispute regarding the identity of Jesus of Nazareth, to which the attention of the reader is
directed by the Evangelist. A determining criterion of discernment, according to the perspective
of the Fourth Gospel, is given by the correspondence of the scene to a scripture passage defined in
terms of fulfilment, which constitutes the parallel pictures of Jesus of Nazareth and the psalmist
in Psalm 22 (21).
In order to overcome the impasse of the studies which also dispute among themselves the
precise meaning of the passage, it has been proposed to study the context of Psalm 22 (21), 19,
placed by the evangelist, regarding the cultural and religious development of the terminology
regarding the clothes and the casting of lots, with a specific reference to some significant
manuscripts of Qumran, in order to return to the johannine context later.
The process which went through three different literary bodies is shown to be particularly
rich and complex, coming up against subjects of a particular importance in the area of exegesis and
biblical theology of both the old and new Testaments as well as the study of the Qumran
manuscripts. These conclusions, therefore, require a progressive maturation even beyond this
dissertation because of the complexity of the areas investigated.
1. The relationship between the auxiliary scientific disciplines of exegesis and biblical theology
The image brought up by Hppolytus of Rome, who sees the Patriarchs and the Prophets as
the workers who weave the beautiful cassock-like garment, the perfect tunic of Christ1, is
fascinating. It would seem that Hippolytus considered the Scripture of Israel to be the garment of
Christ. In this case, the entire ancient concept of clothing is already present as the expressive
1 HIPPOLYTUS ROMANUS, Demonstratio de Christo et Antichristo, 4 (GCS 1, 6-7; PG 10, 732, BC); see also
EUSEBIUS CAESARIENSIS, Demonstrationis evangelicae, X,8 (PG 22, 784).

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

means to identify whoever wears them, and in reality it is possible to portray Christ through the
Hebrew and Christian Scriptures and their mutual relationships. But just as regards to the clothes
and tunic of the Nazarene beneath the cross, likewise the identity of the man and the interpretation
of Scriptures regarding him, have become an issue, contended on many levels through time.
It is precisely in the area of the meaning of Scripture and of the clothes-identity of Jesus of
Nazareth that a primary tension is inserted into the process of modern and contemporary
interpretation. This regards primarily the relationship between auxiliary scientific disciplines of
exegesis and biblical theology. We could, perhaps, say the relationship between science and
faith in the area of biblical research. It is a fairly complex theme of difficult solution, probably
even with the more suitable present-day means of analysis. However, the unresolved problem has
resurfaced in the course of the exegesis and carefully distinguishes the literary level from the
historical, as well as from that of theology, and this has been a tension, often present in the
process made and has not always been easy to manage. It is a question regarding an area which
seeks a suitable space and methodological choice capable of reconciling the scientific approach
and the theological approach in which the choice of faith of the reader-interpreter is involved:
non-believing, or else of Jewish or Christian faith.
For example, during the research process, an exegetical impasse was encountered with
Psalm 22(TM), 22bb, ynIt"ynI[] (literally: you have answered me). Beyond the literary and diachronic
questions, and textual criticism , there lies, perhaps, a certain difficulty in accepting the change in
the condition of the psalmist, which, in truth, brings back an exodic or paschal structure
within the Psalm acknowledging the presence of faith be it in the meaning of the text, be it in
the actual way of life of the psalmist, and finally, be it in his interpretative process. Perhaps the
search for solutions which are alternatives to the more simple meaning of the text precisely you
have answered me could be a symptom of such a difficulty in reconciling the historical-critical
and theological approaches. Even the recent contribution of Bester on Psalm 22(21), 22 seems to
show a notable effort to acknowledge the consciousness of fulfilment in the meaning of the text
and in the life of the psalmist2. A similar question could, perhaps, be identified in the phrase in Ps
22(21), 32 which closes the entire composition: TM: hf'[' yKi, LXX: o[ti evpoi,hsen o` ku,rioj, the
Lord has acted. Analogous reflections, with, perhaps, more important repercussions, can certainly
be proposed with regard to Johns and the Christian community, in which the Fourth Gospel was
written and accepted, with its proclamation of the incarnation, of the resurrection and, finally, of the

2 The concept of the consciousness of fulfilment, or experience of faith, could be perform the task of bridge
between the two extremes, irreconcilable at first sight, of the affirmation of faith and the invention, or ideology,
towards which a positivist imposition tends. Cf. D. BESTER, Krperbilder in den Psalmen, 241-244. See note Errore.
Il segnalibro non definito., in Chap. I.

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

very messianic nature of Jesus of Nazareth, of the Christian faith, of the fulfilment of Scripture (Jn
19, 24: plhrwqh/|, divine passive).
It is not a question and let such suspicion be avoided of returning to a pre-critical3,
fundamentalist4, pre- or anti-scientific5 condition. Rather the concrete obstacle could lie in
managing, on the exegetical level, the pertinence of divine intervention in the historical
reconstruction of an event. It is clear, that recognising divine activity in history, that is,
acknowledging God as the cause of an event, or that faith as the motivation of an event, is
an essential part of any theological investigation, but it constitutes a problematic passage in the
application of

the historical-critical or scientific method. The risk of giving way to

presuppositions of a positivist kind is taken, thus reproducing methodological processes comparable

to reductionism6, which inevitably conditions the result of the research.
These unresolved questions of contemporary exegesis resurfaced at different points of the
investigation7, influencing the explanation of the text, beyond, perhaps, correctness in applying any
methodology. This highlights interpretative questions of an epistomological nature, of philosophical
and theological hermeneutics, presupposed in the application of one or the other interpretative
techniques. Though this is not the place to tackle such many questions, the urgency for an
orientation of biblical research in such a direction can, however, be stressed by proposing
conceptual and methodological instruments capable of reconciling and, further, fruitfully assessing
the scientific journey and the investigation of the faith.
Recalling, finally, the figure of Hippolytus of Rome and alluding to the etymology of the
text, as textus (= woven), historical event and faith, seem to constitute the weft and warp
which the sacred authors have woven into the unique sacred textus, Scripture, or the beautiful and
perfect tunic of Christ8. Thus it would be fit for us, that in contemporary exegesis, the utterance of
the soldiers which would also be the voice of the people: mh. sci,swmen auvto,n, let us not tear it (Jn
19, 24), would be renewed. What is brought into play is the integrity of the meaning of the text, but,
especially, the search for the meaning of human existence, the real content of that principle of
hope, called messianism9. It is a delicate and precious matter, from which biblical research
cannot excuse itself.

3
4
5

Cf. G. MURA, Ermeneutica, DISF, 520.

Cf. R. FABRIS, From Dalla Dei Verbum, 248.
Cf. PONTIFICAL BIBLICAL COMMISSION, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, 26; R. FABRIS, Dalla Dei
Verbum, 240.
6 See below, chap. I, n. Errore. Il segnalibro non definito..
7 Cf. 1.5 and 3.2. in chap. I; 1.3.4. in chap. II; 2.3.4. in chap. IV.
8 HIPPOLYTUS ROMANUS, Demonstratio de Christo et Antichristo, 4 (GCS 1, 6-7; PG 10, 732, BC).
9 Cf. M. CIMOSA, Messianismo, NDTB, 938; 952.

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

2. A first step in the research: from the Fourth Gospel to Psalm 22(21)
Bringing back attention to the johannine passage (cf. Jn 19, 23-24) at the end of the present
research, it seems possible to hold that the scene of the dividing out the clothes of Jesus of Nazareth
during the execution of his sentence to death was not casually enriched with innocent details (cf.
Jn 19, 23-24) which flow harmlessly on the margins of the narration. The dispute about the clothes
and identity of Jesus of Nazareth does not leave the evangelist among indifferent testimonies, but
decidedly disposes him to be on the side of the believer, which sends the reader continuous
signals to follow the same course of faith.
Johns irony, drawn out along the track of a double level of reading, induces one to carefully
assess the clothes of Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews being divided into four shares and the
seamless tunic, woven in one piece from the top assigned by casting lots (Jn 19, 23) among the
contestants. The evangelist then places the scene in the scriptural context of Psalm 22(21), 19, but
also leaves it open to a connection with the picture which follows.
The deepening of the scriptural and cultural-religious context in which the phraseology of
the Fourth Gospel radicates itself, is the path taken by the present research in order to understand
the meaning of Johns description and the competence of the reader of the time.
The Scripture of Israel and of Christians, as well as part of the Qumran manuscripts, are
shown to be the daring, painful and tormented journey of the Jewish people in carrying out a
discernment of the divine mystery in the unfolding of history. Real life with its contradictions, in
the tension between the two poles of suffering and death on the one hand, and of hope and life on
the other, both permeated by the question of faith and the moral question of human responsibility, is
the area in which the adventure of the ancient authors biblical and extra-biblical were
investigating the meaning of their existence. This human gaze searches the historical events further
outlined between protology and eschatology where the concept of a Messiah is presented as the
principle-hope for the realisation of the original divine design.
This journey is not presented as an abstract conceptual investigation, but rather as the
expression of the cry to make life concrete in the different contexts encountered: whether that be the
closeness of the psalmist to death, or the division which the community of Qumran lived with
regards to the temple of Jerusalem and the crisis of faith which is derived from it, or else, the death
of Jesus of Nazareth, which re-echoes in the faith and conflictive condition of Johns community.
These areas, historical, literary and theological, clearly recall the importance of faith and cult.
The theme of origins, the present conditioned by the suffering and the final destiny of
man, are put under the complex processes of discernment which gives value to belonging to the
God of the Covenant, the genealogical origin, the very concrete condition, and personal activity and

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

responsibility. Even the adversaries, primordial power and real enemies come into play in order to
resolve the question; all seemed to seek to understand the real quality and fidelity of the relationship
of man to God: If the Lord is his friend, let him save him! (Ps 22[21], 8). In this process of
discernment, the casting of lots progressively assumes the very role of divine consultation.
Within this general background, Psalm 22(21), in its complexity, represents a synthesis and
an opening of extraordinary expressive power and singular intensity. Its reuse in the biblical, extrabiblical and, especially, the Christian area does not, therefore, surprise. In its final form, it sets out
the painful historical event of the descendents of Israel, beyond recognised personal responsibilities,
between the memory of the divine election, which has a practical historical implication in the events
of the survival of the fathers (cf. Ps 22[21], 4-6) and the trust that the present and the future open
up to in new interventions by Yhwh (cf. Ps 22[21], 12.20-22. 28-32). The sharing out of the
garments and the casting of lots in this passage indicate the lowest point of the mortal condition of
the psalmist, already close to total divestment, perhaps without an heir.
Psalm 22(21), 19, therefore, recalls the identity and suffering condition of the psalmist,
defined in turn through a discerning and overturning process. As pointed out, in the Psalm the
identity and the condition of the psalmist move towards an extraordinary opening among their
founding relationships: with God, with the fathers, with the mother, with adversaries and brothers,
spreading, at the same time, universally to the nations with a tension beyond death, especially for
future generations. These categories, well beyond an individualistic concept of suffering, offered
the necessary elements for determining the position of the psalmist in the cosmos at the crucial
moment of a mortal crisis which is transformed in life. Even if he is not presented as a messianic
figure, the psalmist is shown to be a real member of the descendants of Israel, whether as passing
from a mortal condition to life, or in that he manifests the divine name, the power and fidelity to
the covenant of the God of Israel, allowing the continuation of the cult of Yhwh in the descendants
of Israel and among the nations through a propensity to overcome death.
Besides considerations of a diachronic nature, Psalm 22(21) in its integrity would seem to
piece together a structure which we will call exodic, or paschal, and includes precisely the
death avoided from primordial enemies (cf. vv. 4-6), the passage or reversal from a condition of
abandonment and death to one of life of both the psalmist and the descendants of Israel and
the universal cult of Yhwh.
3. The re-interpretation of Psalm 22(21), casting lots and clothes (cf. v. 19)
A further retrieval of data in the documents of Qumran, which saw the presence of Ps 22
in the Hodayot, show a radicalisation in the history of the elements of salvation, or of judgement.
Indeed, it has been noted that the dualistic tendency to make the divine election absolute in

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

protology, present times and eschatology, in which both the word lr"AG, lots and the symbolism
of clothes assumed a significant role.
The deepening of the concept of lr"AG, lots in the manuscripts of Qumran studied,
presented an intensification of meaning on the theological level in so far as the term carries a
determining and dualist concept of history and of the cosmos: it is God who casts the lots on every
living being determining whether it belongs to the light or the darkness (cf. 1QS IV, 26).
A significant coincidence with what emerged from the study of Ps 22(21) is contained in the
expression of P. Sacchi, who defined lr"AG, casting lots, as an act by which God determines the
position of humanity in history10. In this environment the blurred image of the role of personal
responsibility probably expresses the total effort of a profound look which truly gives justice to
pain, suffering and, finally, to humanity itself: in the texts analysed, the conflict between light and
darkness is born from the one divine outpouring, mingling and struggling in history as an impetuous
torrent waiting for an estuary in which to find a clear outcome at the end of the journey. Man is
thrown into history through all the difficulty to understand, himself, his belonging (lr"AG) to light or
darkness, to God or Belial, to life or death, the reason for being in one or the other place, and also to
understand if it all depends on personal responsibility or on some imponderable and irreversible
divine fact (once again: lr"AG).
It is surprising how this concept joins up the terminology concerning generation and
heredity (tAdleAT, descent, rAD, generation, !Be, son, *nHl, to take possession [hereditary]
*yr, to inherit; cf. 1QS

III,13.15.19; IV,7.13.24.26; XI,7-8).

It is as if it was necessary for the

authors of these texts to give an explanation of evil and of history which would complete its
meaning by probing into the divine will, given the fact that they already had a sense of insufficiency
of genealogical belongingness.

lr"AG, the casting of lots, would seem to absolve rather than

marginalise from the task of creating tension between Urzeit, Endzeit, and the conflict in the present
aeon: origin and eschatological fulfilment are decided in present conduct and discernment, bound
by the same term: precisely lr"AG, casting of lots.
In this context, the symbolic use of the clothes reflects this same conflict and leaves to the
members of the lr"AG of light and of God a measure or a garment of splendour in the light (cf. 1QS
IV,8)

to whom is due all the glory of Adam (cf. CD

III,20;

1QS IV,23), while Malky-Rea`, the

King of evil is of a terrible aspect and all his clothes were coloured and darkened by the darkness
(cf. 4Q544 I,13). There is even the suspicion that the very manufacture of the garments corresponds
to the self-concept of the so-called Qumran community, at least in one phase of its development, of
10

Cf. P. SACCHI, Regola della Comunit, 95.

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

being a temple (cf. 1QS

VIII,5-9),

perhaps in a tradition which does not seem to be exclusive

in relationship with a Adams temple (cf. 4Q174 III,6).

It is not to be forgotten, therefore, that both the casting of lots and the clothes can be in
regard to a meaning of cult, because the lots are also cast in a celebrative context through the work
of the priests, as the extract on blessings and curses in 1QS II,1b-2a.5 (see also CD
V,3; VI,16.18).

XIII,4.12;

1QS

In this context, the messianic expectation is an expression of faith in Yhwh which

will lead to fulfilment as pre-established by him (cf. CD XII,23XIII,1; 1QS IX,7.11). It must not be
overlooked that two passages of the Qumran manuscripts, in which the messianic sense can be
recognised (certain in 4Q161 fr. 8-10, 25 and probable in 4Q381 fr. 15,7-10), bring up a certain
connection to the clothes, even though these manuscripts are badly damaged11.
4. The Fourth Gospel in the background of Ps 22(21) and the mss. of Qumran
The religious-cultural background to the clothes and casting of lots, taken from Johns
description, therefore, permits the posing of theological questions of primary importance, in so far
as they place the context of the Fourth Gospel between two alternative concepts regarding the
definition of man in the cosmos, between the choosing of the tribe of Israel and dualistic
determinism. In this context it is also significant that Flavius Josephus considers the distinction of
the main Jewish sects Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes on the basis of their concept of
ei`marme,nh, fate, a term which, according to the proposal of Schmidt, would translate lr"AG12. The
two concepts the election of the lineage/stock and dualistic determinism could be particularly
relevant to the understanding of Johns messianic idea by identifying the position of Jesus of
Nazareth and of Johns community in history and the cosmos.
To understand Johns messianic concept within this horizon, the investigation of the
terminological recurrence of Ps 22(21) in the Fourth Gospel and, on the thematic level, the
founding relations of the identity of the psalmist which appear in the Psalm were particularly
illuminating: God, the fathers of the traditions of Israel, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, the
adversaries, the brothers, all who would seem to be involved in the definition of Jesus of
Nazareth, placed between divine choice, carnal descent and personal responsibility.
The proposal to recognise Ps 22(21) structurally present in the Fourth Gospel also offers a
precious contribution. It would also be worthwhile, in this conclusive context to take up again the
terminology of the Psalm which the evangelist could have used in the prologue, in the farewell
discourse and in the narration of the resurrection, three contexts which would seem to refer to each
11 The meaning of 4Q381 is more unclear, as there are two possible translations: I, your anointed ($xyXm) have
understood, or: I have understood from your discourse (!m +*SyH, + suff. 2nd person singular). Cf. E. SCHULLER,
381. 4QNon-Canonical Psalm B, DJD 11, 102; 104.
12 Cf. JOSEPHUS, A.J., XIII,171-173; XVIII,13-18; ID., B.J., II,162-165 (ed. B. NIESE, IV,142-143; III,182; VI, 185186).

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

other from the narrative point of view. Highlighting the revelation of the divine name on the part of
the psalmist, defined in his uniqueness as son of Israel (Ps 21[LXX],21: agg. monogenh,j; v. 23:
dihge,omai), Jesus of Nazareth would be understood, in the Fourth Gospel, as the Only-begotten in
the lineage of Israel and Son of God (cf. Jn 1, 14.18: monogenh,j; v. 18: evxhge,omai). He
reveals/announces in full the name of God as Father and institutes a universal cult. On a par with
the Psalm, the verbs of perception are also developed in Johns prologue (cf. Ps 22[21], 8.18; Jn 1,
14.18), as are the conflictive aspect (cf. Ps 22[21], 13.19; Jn 1, 5.10-11) and the memory of the
fathers, probably referring to the experience of the Exodus (cf. Ps 22[21], 4-6; Jn 1, 17-18).
In respect to this revelation of the divine mystery in the Fourth Gospel, the acceptance of
faith and the process of rebirth identify the personal dispositions necessary for salvation (cf. Jn 1,
12-13; 3, 3.16-18). In significant extracts (cf. Jn 3, 3.16-18; 8, 31-59), Johns language, which
interweaves genealogical categories and dualistic concepts, would seem to intersect the two
concepts of history which identify the position of man in the cosmos placed between the election of
Abrahams descent and the predetermined selection of a section of humanity.
The evangelist, therefore, would seem to put his own concept of salvation into dialogue with
the two representations of contemporary history: the election of descent alone and dualistic
determinism are both considered insufficient with respect to the course and choice of personal faith.
It is the conformity of desire, of the will and works to the will of the Father therefore a free
personal disposition which really makes them children and, therefore, descendents of God (cf.
Jn 8, 39.41.44). It is faith in the only begotten Son which makes them participants in eternal life and
this is a free act which requires a journey and re-birth through the work of the Spirit (cf. 3, 1-18).
The long dialogues considered, finally, do not really support a deterministic and dualistic concept of
history, precisely because there is space in them for encounter, confrontation and persuasion, up to
the personal decision to remain in different positions and in conflict. It is a matter, therefore, of a
process which is prolonged and gives hope for a passage to faith in Jesus, not a pre-determined
and unchangeable dualistic concept. On this basis, the accusation against the Fourth Gospel of
carrying dualistic deterministic and anti-Jewish concepts falls.
On considering the terms present in the extracts from John analysed according to the
sequence of Ps 22(21), a surprising structural and semantic development is found:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

yliae, yh;l{a/, qeo,j mou, my God (cf. Ps 22[21], 2.3.11.(20) in Jn 20, 17);
ytid"yxiy,> monogenh,j, only / only-begotten (cf. Ps 22[21], 21 in Jn 1, 14.18);

*sPr, * h`ge,omai, to tell / to announce (cf. Ps 22[21], 23 in Jn 1,18);

^m.vi, to. o;noma, sou, your name (cf. Ps 22[21], 23 in Jn 16, 25; 17, 6.26);
yx'a,l,. avdelfo,i mou, my brothers (cf. Ps 22[21], 23 in Jn 20, 17);
*sPr, *nGD, * avgge,llw, to announce (cf. Ps 22[21], [23].31b.32 in Jn 20,18; 16,25).

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

The phraseology common to Ps 22(21) and the Fourth Gospel, structurally relevant in both
texts, would then seem so significant as to be able to contain in a nutshell the entire kerigma of
John, clearly focused on the mystery of the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. If this
is intentional, the highlighting of these terms on the part of the evangelist would seem to point out a
surprising kind of relationship which could be defined a New Testament structurally present in a
text of the Old Testament, and that in order to highlight further the mutual indwelling and not an
indomitable conflict. As pointed out, in this text of the Hebrew Scripture it would be possible to
highlight the semantic capability of carrying a message of Christian faith. Certainly the definition of
Jesus of Nazareth as the Only-begotten of the Father, the divine Logos (Word-Wisdom) which is
awaited (cf. Jn 1, 14) in the flesh of the generations of Israel and which makes the divine mystery
greatly explicit, is the greatest critical element in the relationship with the First Covenant. It
would seem to be, however, the clear intention of the evangelist to place Jesus himself in continuity
with the written experience and tradition of Israel as the fullness of divine manifestation.
Johns high messianic conception, which sees in Jesus the fullness of the divine glory
which pitched its tent in Jacobs descent, would also seem to carry the definition of Jesus body
as a temple (cf. Cf. Sir 24, 4.8; Jn 1, 14.51; Jn 2, 21). Such representation was considered to be
the structuring element of the Gospel of John13, present throughout, whether directly, indirectly
or through an allusive or symbolic way, in each chapter of Johns Gospel14, and which interweaves
the narrative story line of the Fourth Gospel15 (Cf. Jn 1, 14.51; 2, 21; 4, 21-26; 7, 37-39; 10, 36; 14,
2-3). Such a messianic definition of the mystery of the incarnation should not separate the profound
consideration of the people of Israel from the event of Jesus of Nazareth, to avoid, once again, the
suspicion of ethnic dualism: it is the same tribe of Israel that acts, through Jesus, as the axis mundi,
according to the divine design.
5. Jn 19, 23-24: the dispute about clothes and identity
Turning to Jn 19, 23-24, in the context of the meaning of Johns description of the clothes, it
is precisely the cultic concept of the body of Jesus which the evangelist could call up. It is seen, in
fact, that, in the LXX, the expression te,ssara me,rh is used prevalently in an environment of cult,
with different recurrences in reference to the four sides of the temple, or parts of its fittings16.
Whereas the term a;rafoj is hapax in Scripture, the adverb a;nwqen frequently bears an eminently
divine sense, as a spatial description of the revelation of God, which imprints a special character

13
14
15
16

M. NOBILE, Il Tempio come motivo conduttore, 10.

M.-L. RIGATO, Giovanni, 9.
Cf. M. COLOE, God dwells with us, 3.
See infra, chap. V, 4.1.1. especially n. Errore. Il segnalibro non definito..

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

also on the elements which constitute and furnish the holy places: these are from on high17.
Finally, the scant recurrences of u`fanto,j only refer to the manufacture of the furnishings of the
temple (cf. Es 26[LXX],31; 35,35) and of priestly garments (cf. Es 28[LXX], 6; 36, 10.12.15.29.34;
37, 21).
These elements, which do not seem to find complete justification in either the historical
interests of the evangelist or the correspondence between Psalm and event, require an interpretation
aimed at a cultic meaning. And it is the very image of the body-temple of Jesus which, in the
economy of the Fourth Gospel, tends greatly to offer a plausible explanation of these precise
characteristics, since the priestly interpretation of the complex identity of Jesus of Nazareth remains
uncertain or very blurred: as Simoens affirmed solemnly, Le vtement, cest le corps18.
If what emerged is not arbitrary, the explicit quotation of Ps 22(21), 19 in Jn 19, 23-24 could
call back the entire composition according to the same assumption of the evangelist, evoking, in the
full context of abandonment, suffering and closeness to death, the very mission of the Onlybegotten, or, the full manifestation of the name, of the divine mystery (cf. Ps 22[21], 21.23.31-32;
Jn 1, 14.18; 17, 6.26; 20, 17-18). According to the concept of the Gospel, in fact, it is the love of
Jesus, expressed in the giving of his life which manifests the glory of the Father (cf. Jn 17, 24-26).
The suffering of Jesus, in this case, anything but neglected, becomes once again the place which
questions the condition of man before God and, in an evangelical response, offers, like an
explosion, the greatest expression of divine glory. Consequently, the entire Psalm, in its exodic
and paschal movement and reversal, from the abandonment-death to salvation-life, evoked and
lived again by the psalmist to establish the universal cult of Yhwh, could be summarised in the
quote of John set in the scene of the dividing of the clothes among the soldiers by casting lots. The
clothes of Jesus, then, indicating the universality and unity of believers, made participants in the
cult established through the body of Israel and the openness to the Nations. Therefore, the
evangelists realized eschatology anticipates, in the scene of the crucifixion, elements belonging
to the full glorification of Christ. Johns Gospel carries out its aim through a proleptic sight and it
requires a free adhesion to the faith.
In this context, the ethical dimension and the process of re-birth through faith, necessary to
partake in eternal life and to the new cult, not forgotten, could be expressions of the evangelist in
the following scene in Jn 19, 25-27, structurally connected to the preceding one (cf. Jn 19, 24).
Jesus word which handed the disciple and the mother to each other, demands an acceptance which
could be read in a Christological key. The mother of Jesus, but also the disciple, are the custodians
17 Some parts of the ark are described by the term (cf. Gen 6,16), of the tent-temple (Cf. Ex 25,21; 38,16.19; 40,19;
Nm 4,6.25; 1 Re 7,40), of the priestly garments (cf. Ex 36,27.38); this indicates the origin of the divine discourse in the
tent (cf. Ex 25,22; Nm 7,89), and of the blessings and curses (cf. Gen 27,39; Jb 3,4; Jer 4,28; Bar 1,61).
18 Y. SIMOENS, Le corps Souffrant, 182.

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

and witnesses to the messianic identity of the Crucified One, who through his death and
resurrection, grants the Spirit to the new creation (cf. Jn 19, 30; 20, 22). Therefore, after the sign of
the establishment of the new cult to the work of the king-Messiah, the believing reader is called to
recognise himself in the scene between Jesus, his mother and the disciple in the process of re-birth
through faith, as a participant in the gift of the Spirit, of eternal life and of the cult established by
Jesus.
In summary, the proposal of the present dissertation of seeing closely united the presence of
Ps 22(21) in Jn 1, 14.18; 17, 6.26; 20, 17-18 and the explanation of Jn 19, 23-24(25-27), concerns
the interdependence between the function of the only-begotten Son of God, who reveals the name
of the Father to the believers, and the concept of the Jewish body of Jesus as a sanctuary. It is a
question, therefore, of a very complex area which can certainly be deepened by future research,
especially in relation to the theological function of Israel among the nations and to the activity of
revelation of the Word.
6. The Fourth Gospel and Qumran
With regards to the extra-biblical research carried out, it remains difficult to express the kind
of identifiable relationship between the concepts found in the Qumran manuscripts analysed and
the Fourth Gospel. However, precisely in relation to the messianic-royal concept of building the
temple in allusion to Zk 6, 12-13 and to the temple of Adam (cf. Jn 19, 2-5.19-22; 4Q161 fr. 810,11.18; 4Q174

III,6;

CD III,20; 1QS IV,7-8.23a), in conjunction with the value of the clothes as a

symbol of the community-temple and with the recurrence in some possibly significant messianic
passages19, it would seem possible to recognise numerous correspondences between the texts
studied. Also 11QMelch II,8, which we have taken as a messianic text, brings up the act of expiation
of the MalKy-ceDeq in favour of his lr"AG. If it is not possible to show a direct dependence between
this series of texts in an unquestionable way, it is necessary to hold that there is a sharing from a
cultural and religious background in which these concepts co-existed. However, what seems
particularly pertinent is the theological elevation of the use of lr"AG, casting of lots and the
symbolism of the clothes in relation to the personal identity, placed also in relation to the concept of
the community as temple. Despite that, the use of Scripture on the part of John would seem to offer
a choice of field in which Scripture itself is chosen through explicit formulas of fulfilment in
respect to other criteria of discernment such as lots themselves. The extra-biblical elements, also
reflected by the dualist language of the evangelist, do not, therefore, seem to be fully eliminated, but

19

In 4Q161 fr. 8-10,17b.18-25, a mss., considered to be messianic, and in 4Q381 fr. 15,7-10, the interpretation of the
graphic $xyXm in r. 7, left the identification of some anointed of a royal character uncertain, but possible, in relation to
the clothes. Cf. infra, chap. III, 5.4.2.

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

are recognised as part of the substrata of cult and religion of the evangelist being put as the
background of his journey.
7. The Fourth Gospel and Scripture
With regard to the more proper hermeneutical questions of the relationship between the
Fourth Gospel and Scripture, on the basis of the terminological familiarity between Ps 22(21) and
the Fourth Gospel and of the development of themes inherent to the Psalm itself, it would seem
plausible that the evangelist had known and used the entire text. At least in this case, therefore, it
would seem that the evangelist had not made use of, or was not limited to, a hypothetical
composition of testimonies, or had received a quote from one of his sources, but had been able to
have access in an integral way to this text of Scripture, and, perhaps, also to its Hebrew Vorlage.
Besides the direct quote in Jn 19, 23-24, in fact, the evangelist could have recalled the Psalm in an
evocative way in other significant passages. If the structural correspondence highlighted is not
arbitrary, the evangelist, as would be expected of an attentive reader of the time, knew how to grasp
the movement of the whole Psalm anyway, selecting parts which were so significant structurally
and theologically that he was able to mediate the heart of Johns message.
The hermeneutic approach to Ps 22(21) on the part of the evangelist and his messianic
interpretation do not seem to evoke a violent use, and much less, a destructive use of the text.
The evangelist, rather, does appear to make explicit in great measure the expressive potentialities of
the entire composition, which are very rich in themselves: if the reversal of the lots of the
anonymous psalmist of the people of Israel is the subject of the revelation of the divine name and of
the institution of a universal cult, how much more could this be attributed to the excellent member
of the people identified in the messianic figure of Jesus of Nazareth.
Concerning the hermeneutical relationship between the Fourth Gospel and Scripture, a limit
of this research, which also opens up a possibility for further research, concerns the use of the
techniques of assimilation of Scripture itself. The study of Moo highlighted the relationship
between the technique and hermeneutical axioms of assumption well: an area which merits a
suitable space in the parallel proposals of Ps 22(21) and the Fourth Gospel is the verification of the
known techniques of Rabbinic interpretation and, among others, the gezerah shawah in particular.
In addition to this, we are confident that this investigation has shown the fertility of the
methodological choice of tackling the roots of Johns messianic message in the light of the
relationships between Scripture and the Fourth Gospel. On the other hand, the series of biblical and
extra-biblical passages, in reality, considerably broad and complex, have only been partially
submitted to an investigation of their messianic nature in earlier periods and in times contemporary

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

to early Christianity. As for what has emerged from this research, this area can certainly be
deepened through further works.
8. The relationship between the two Testaments and the two covenants
The present study offers a significant contribution if the question of the relationship between
the two covenants is put alongside the relationship between the two Testaments 20. It is a matter of
highlighting aspects known to scholars such as the extent and the implications of the Hebrew nature
of Jesus, and Hebrew-Christian dialogue, which still remain poorly developed in research areas,
perhaps because of the process of mutual alienation of the two communities of faith during
centuries, and which only recently has found a certain change in tendency.
From the point of view of Johns theology, it would seem to be possible to propose the
existence of a single covenant in so far as Jesus of Nazareth is within the descendants of Israel,
which is the main (or real) contractor of the covenant. Jesus is the Only Begotten, Incarnate Word
among the descendants of Israel, the Son of God, through whose raised up body, glorified, dead
and risen, all nations enter into the covenant. The universal tendencies of the faith of Israel, also
expressed in Ps 22(21), are fulfilled in Jesus through the revelation of the divine name and the
institution of a universal cult. Jesus is the joy of Abraham in so far as he brings to fulfilment the
universal promise of the covenant through his lineage (cf. Jn 8, 52).
Considering the interpretation proposed of the assumption of Ps 22(21) into the Fourth
Gospel, the true interpretative knot is placed in the central mystery of the Fourth Gospel and of
Christianity, that is, the incarnation. The divine intervention in the generation of the descendants of
Israel (cf. Ps 22[21], 10-11) in the Fourth Gospel assumes unexpected side effects which, as
Reinhartz holds, could involve Hebrew mono-theism or, at least, the way through which this had
been and had been understood by the community of the Hebrew and Christian faiths.
From the Christian point of view, the measure in which, Jesus belonging to the stock of
Israel is re-assumed a fact probably never discussed in the socio-cultural or scientific area, or
perhaps, given little importance , it is precisely the descent of the People of the covenant that
assumes a role of absolute centrality in history, through Jesus himself: in the exodic and
paschal reversal, between abandonment and salvation, it is the tribe of Israel which manifests the
divine name among the Peoples by establishing a universal cult. Every anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic
process is absolutely unsustainable alongside a total faith in Jesus, Son of God, especially in a
Christian environment. It should be the complete opposite. An appreciation of Jesus belonging to
the Jewish stock should open up an area of research on the side of communion through the
20 For M. Grilli, To say a relationship between the OT and the NT means saying a relationship between two
alliances (our translation); cf. M. GRILLI, Quale rapporto tra i due Testamenti?, 9.

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

glorified, but also fully human flesh of Jesus. In other words, it can be asked what it means to be
con-sanguineous and co-corporal with Christ21, if the blood and flesh, evidently human, of Christ
are the flesh and blood of Jewish stock. And besides, if the Christian participates in the divine life,
is he not also in communion with the descendants of Israel, of which Christ himself is an excellent
member?22
At this point of the discussion, the proposal of Daly-Denton regarding the presence of Ps
22(21), 27 in Jn 6, 12, could not be groundless and may even be very significant23. What meaning
can come out of the discourse on the bread of life in Jn 6, so closely interwoven with foodwisdom and food-flesh of Jesus, in relation to the proposal offered by this research of
interpretation of Jn 1, 14.18 in conjunction with Sir 24, 8 and Ps 22(21), 21.23? The inheritance of
eternal life, participation in divine life through Jesus Christ, the essential nucleus of Christian faith,
would, however, seem to pass along the line of Hebrew genealogy, though no longer in an absolute
and considered way, but strictly in conjunction with the sapiential discourse and faith, a process
which is precisely free and of personal responsibility. The believer in Christ, who adheres to
communion through his body and blood, is open to mature also the awareness of a mystical
belonging to the tribe of Israel as a result of this communion.
A line of investigation is also opened up in a Marian key along the same lines in that it is
seen that the Mother of Jesus it is no harm to remember that she too was a Jew plays an
important role in the process of re-generation of the disciple. It is desirable that any possible return
to a contrary position between an ancient Israel, which had resisted faith in Jesus, and a true
or new Israel, which adhered to it, should be avoided. Although faith in Jesus is primarily
proclaimed in respect to his carnal descent, it is also true that salvation comes from the Jews
through Jesus (Jn 4, 22).
All of this, that is, the relationships between the two Testaments and the two covenants (or
the one?) and between Israel and other nations certainly merits further investigation in the areas of
exegesis, theology and ecclesiology in the context of the Hebrew-Christian dialogue.
On the basis of what emerged, it seems that the so-called conflictive model24 would be
inappropriate for defining the relationship between the Scripture of Israel and that of Christianity.
The typological model would also appear to be insufficient, in the measure that this introduces
21 su,sswmoj kai. su,naimoj Cristou/: CYRILLUS IEROSOLYMITANUS, Catechesis mystagogica, 4,1 (SC 126bis, 136); in
reference to the participation in the divine life in the same context, Cyrillus quotes 2 Pt 1,4.
22 In a famous discourse, not officially published, Pius XI had affirmed (our translation): The promise [to Abraham]
is realised in Christ and by Christ in us who are members of his mystical body. Through Christ and in Christ we are the
spiritual descendents of Abraham [] We are, spiritually Semites; [s.a.], A propos de lantismitisme. Plerinage de
la Radio catholique belge, La Documentation Catholique 38 (1938) 1460.
23 Cf. M. DALY-DENTON, David in the Fourth Gospel, 215-216.
24 The positions of Theobald and Klauck are seen in chap. I, 1.4. Cf. M. GRILLI, Quale rapporto tra i due
Testamenti?, 27.

A. CAVICCHIA, General Conclusions. The Disputes bout clothes and the man, property and identity

new meanings25. Instead, perhaps, it seems that it would be pertinent to speak of internal
development in the environment of a promise-fulfilment model and salvation history26: it is a
matter of a development because the Hebrew Scripture itself, still not definitively closed in a
canonical form at the time of drawing up the Fourth Gospel, is, in itself, open to accomplishment,
represented in a way typical of messianic expectation, that is, in its lack of definition. It is a matter
of internal development in that the johannine course of events does not extend to an exegesis of
entire books, along the model of the continuous pesharim, but to internal parts of the text and,
indeed, bound to contents and words of different books of Scripture. The exegesis proposed in
regard to the presence of Sir 24, 8and Ps 22(21), 21.23 in Jn 1, 14.18 goes precisely in this
direction, it is a hot theme in the theological and inter-religious area, because it regards the
incarnation of the Word-Wisdom in Jesus of Nazareth, the only-begotten God and Son of God,
inside the carnal descent of Israel.
If we had to propose a metaphor to express the relationship between the two Testaments (on
the textual and scriptural levels) and the two covenants (on the theological level), we would
willingly speak, from the johannine point of view, of an embryo model, in which the kernel
contained in the Scripture of Israel finds its fulfilment in the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth and in
Christian Scripture, guarding the sense of continuity and progress until the achievement of fullness.
However, as each step in the age of human life implies a loss, in this relationship of growth there is
no lack of phases of breakdown and detachments. It is continuity which prevails in this process, in
that the mature man can speak, at the same time and in truth, of the paradox of being and nolonger-being the child he was27.
In the same transforming dynamic after the long discourse of science, the word should
be ceded to the believer in the expectation of the complete realisation of the salvation offered
by the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth, the only-begotten in the stock of Israel and only-begotten Son
of God, we can proclaim all that echoes in the community of John: What we are to be in the
future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him
because we shall see him as he really is: (1Jn 3, 2).

25
26
27

Cf. M. GRILLI, Quale rapporto tra i due Testamenti?, 40.

Cf. M. GRILLI, Quale rapporto tra i due Testamenti?, 53-54; 61-62.
The concept of internal development and the example of human growth emerged spontaneously in the course of
the research. However, I noted that Vincenzo di Lerin uses the same concepts to describe the process of the deepening
and formulation of Revelation in a Catholic environment. It seems, on the theological level, that it is possible to speak
of a profound coherence between Revelation in Hebrew and Christian Scripture and Tradition. Cf. VINCENTIUS
LIRINENSIS, Commonitorium primum, 23 (PL 50, 667-668).