discourse, as were images of light and darkness (1:1–9). The Greco-Roman connotations of the imagery are appropriated and transformed within John’s text.6 Certain issues addressed in the Gospel come from the Christian community’s encounter with the Roman world. One of these is the question of authority. The way Jesus flees from those who wanted to make him king after he fed them with bread implicitly contrasts him with those who sought to gain authority by winning public approval with free distributions