How was Jesus misunderstood?

Answer 1

In Mark's Gospel, the disciples are portrayed as obtuse individuals who never seem to understand Jesus.

In John's Gospel there is a pattern for Jesus to state something, which invariably was misunderstood, after which he must clarify his remark. This results from John's excellent use of irony to control who received information and who was left outside. Because the author knows more than the characters in a narrative, he can let the readers join in his special knowledge but withhold information from 'ignorant' narrative characters who do not deserve to be allowed to have access to inside information. John let the reader know what Jesus really meant, while controlling whether those to whom he spoke understood or not. Insiders in the narrative would understand the hidden meaning, while his outsiders misunderstood and were left confused and lacking in knowledge, to the amusement of John's readers. Because the reader always knew what Jesus was saying, the reader appreciated that he was a privileged insider, drawing him into the circle of believers.