John 21:15–19 as a Prophetic Succession: A Reading in Light of 2 Kings 2:1–18

Abstract

Abstract This article explores meanings floating in the space between John 21:15–19 and 2 Kgs 2:1–18. Against the background of Kings, the threefold conversation between Jesus and Peter in John 21 functions as a loyalty test in a prophetic succession—Jesus passes on his prophetic role to Peter after the pattern of Elijah and Elisha. Against the background of the gospel, the threefold conversation between Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kgs 2 functions as a restoration, which suggests that Elisha may be the unnamed prophet in 1 Kgs 19:3. These experimental intertextual readings provoke a reassessment of prophecy in the gospel, provide interpretive insights into the Farewell Discourse (John 13–17), and open up a metaleptic possibility: reading the gospel might be like coming upon the cloak of Elijah along the riverbank, freshly fallen from heaven, and hearing the invitation to pick it up and strike the water.