A Midrash of the Gospel of John

[Nolan Hofstadter]

Verily, verily I say unto those who have ears to hear,
"Hear me now and believe me later!"

"New information has come to light."  Fifteen fucking years later! No wonder a sequel is not in the making. For included in all of TBL's religious symbolism, the Brothers Coen embedded a retelling of a 1st Century Jewish Story -- The Gospel of John (euphemistically, the 'Gospel of Light').

Let's travel back in time to a place far from the East ("far from it," says The Stranger) to Ancient Palestine after the Exodus, to the Land of Milk & Honey (milk all over the toilet [Honey Bucket]), to a Bowling Alley near the Ben Hur Auto Repair.
   
The Coens delivered us unto a cinematic koan (oy!). You have to relax the mind enough to experience it's hidden nature. Only then do you realize that this film noir is 'GEB-like' beckoning, "I AM A PUZZLE, SOLVE ME IF YOU CAN." To represent SCRIPTural elements, they used everything-and-the-kitchen-sink of analogies (see YouTube: Surfaces and Essences): strangely familiar plot points; name meanings; visual icons; written, verbal, and lyrical allusions, and other languages.

Check out these etymologies:

JESUS:  Donny (Greek for "God's Gift") Theodore (Celtic for "world rule") Kerabotsus ('care abouts us'? [listen closely to Goodman's pronunciation]).
   
JOHN:  Jeffrey (German for "God's peace") Lebowski (leb is Hebrew for "heart" or "soul" [of man]; owski Polish for "place of").

PETER: Walter (from Old High German Walthari containing the elements wald "rule" and hari "army, warrior") Sobchak (?).
   
MAGDALENE:  Maude ("woman from Magdala," "mighty in battle").

THE "MISANTHROPIC" JESUS:  The Jesus as preached by the likes of Phelps, Falwell, Robertson, and {place the name of your favorite religious nutcase here}.

JOHN THE BAPTIST:  The Stranger (Sam Elliott).

Benito's Taco Shop (Late Roman for "Benedictus").

Ford Torino (Torino another name for Turin).  Found in Van Nuys, CA.  Donald James Lynn of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Van Nuys studied the Shroud of Turin.

JUST IN! (Added 20140320): Pismo:  n (Cyrillic) "epistle"

JUST IN (Added 20140320): Fuck: "to strike."  To bowl a strike is to 'hit the mark' (a sign of perfection).  This, opposed to "missing the mark" (a sign of imperfection or hamartia, the Greek word usually translated as "sin").  Just sayin', Dudes.

Further Decodings

Scene 8   Jesus

Donny says (three times):  "I Am The Walrus."

From the Beetles' I Am The Walrus (1967):  "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together."

John 17:23 (KJV):  I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; . . .

Notice that The Dude and Walter are occupying bowling lanes (lines/verses) 23/24 and Donny bowling lane (line/verse) 25.  Notice also Donnie peering through the triangle formed by The Dude's left arm.  Just maybe we can 'triangulate' in order to decode this scene:  1) I Am The Walrus, 2) John 17:20-25, and 3) The Dude's exclamation, "Jesus!"  Donny is Jesus.  That is why only Donny can say elsewhere, "I'm throwin' stones tonight!" 

Scene 13   A Visit from the Stranger

The Stranger:  "Well, a wiser fellow than myself once said,  "Sometimes you eat the bar, and  . . . much obliged . . . sometimes the bar, well, he eats you.""

Bar in Aramaic means "son":  "Well, a wiser fellow than myself once said, "Sometimes you eat the Son, and  . . . much obliged . . . sometimes the Son, well, he eats you.""

John 6:56:  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

Scene 14  The Dudes Checkup

In Maude's abode we find some 'utensils' used for the Crucifixion: nails by way of Autobahn's album Nagelbett ("bed of nails," pictured), the Cross (The Dude states, "Hey, man, why don't you listen occasionally.  You might learn something."  And when we listen we hear playing in the background, We Venerate Thy Cross as performed by the Rustavi Choir [See YouTube]), and the Crown of Thorns (albeit stylized, but there it is).

JUST IN! (ADDED 20140313) Knox Harrington (Knox etymology: "round hill" [read Wikipedia on Calvary about Golgotha meaning referring to hill the shape of a skull cap].

JUST IN! (ADDED 20140324) The one utensil Maude picks up is a serrated cutter. Arrest is an anagram of serrate.

Also in this scene, we see various female mannequins with which 're-wombing' is being studied.  John 3:3-4 Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again."  "How can someone be born when they are old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born!"   

Scene 19  Day of Rest

This scene is strangely familiar to Jesus' arrest in Gethsemane, preceded by Donny's sign of doom (the standing pin followed by Walter's droning on about the pending war and something about "fig eaters" [although the dead fig tree does not appear in the Gospel of John]).  Common elements include:  Roman Soldiers (check out the head gear on those guys), a ransom, man drops to the ground, sword, right ear severed.  Walter kneeling over a dying Donny states, "We got help chopperin' in.?  See YouTube: Angels of Vietnam.

JUST IN1 (Added 20140320): Dude states, "I got 4 bucks, almost 5." Donny states, "I, I got $18."  1 John 4:18: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." REMEMBER, at the spreading of the ashes Walter states, "And as a surfer, he explored the beaches of Southern California, from La Joya to Leo Carrillo . . .  and up to Pismo." ("and up to Pismo" is dubbed into the film).  1 John is an epistle (see Pismo above).       

Scene 21 The Dude Abides

JUST IN! (Added 20140312): Prior to this scene, the Dude was threatened with the loss his Johnson, the means by which he would have his son.  In this scene The Stranger looks forward to a Little Lebowski.  A son is on the way.  His John's-son came through.  The Dude is John, the Disciple whom Jesus loved (even his ashes).

John 21:20-23 (Darby Translation) Peter, turning round, sees the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also leaned at supper on his breast, and said, "Lord, who is it that delivers thee up"  Peter, seeing him, says to Jesus,  "Lord, and what [of] this [Dude]"  Jesus says to him, "If I will that he abide until I come, what [is that] to thee?  Follow thou me."

***

Whew!
John 21:25 (KJV) And there are also many other things which the Bros. Coen did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

VISIT: The Big Lebowski, the Large Hadron Collider of the Dharma http://dudeism.com/smf/under-the-influences/the-big-lebowski-as-the-large-hadron-collider-of-god-particles/

[Assunta]

Many scholars find in John fascinating glimpses into the beliefs of some very-late first-century Christians: how Christology or anti-Judaism developed, for instance. But there is near-unanimity that John is the least historically-reliable gospel (and, interestingly enough, something like this view was voiced by Clement of Alexandria even in the 2nd century).

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[Uday Stewart]

Thank you so much for sharing. Quite interesting information. Lately, I have been thinking about faith, religion, and belief in God quite often. On the page https://samploon.com/free-essays/this-i-believe/ I recently read quite constructive and unusual in their arguments articles about faith and its role in human life.

[BikerDude]

That's fucking interesting.
Where does "Logjamming" appear in the Gospels?