Posts
Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You being a Jew, ask a drink from a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
- John 4:4-15
Yesterday, we read that Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified -- behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him!" John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him."
Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. My study bible tells us that because of the growing opposition of the Pharisees to His work in Judea, Jesus leaves for Galilee. Earlier, we read that the leadership had taken note of the Baptist and his ministry; here they begin to show interest in Jesus, since His ministry has begun to gather momentum. It's interesting that John's Gospel takes us rather early into an understanding of potential conflict with the leadership.
So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. Samaria is the area north of Judea, between Judea and Galilee. The town of Sychar is identified by scholars with Shechem or a village nearby. My study bible tells us that the Old Testament doesn't mention Jacob's well, "but Jacob did own property in the area (Gen. 33:19). Wells and springs are significant in Scripture because of their rarity in desert life. In the Old Testament they often symbolize the life given by God, especially a life of blessedness (Ps. 36:8-9, 46:4; Is. 55:1). This particular well, located at the foot of Mt. Gerizim, is maintained as a shrine and pilgrims can drink from it to this day. Jesus is wearied and thirsty from the labors of His journey, showing His complete humanity which He voluntarily assumed." The sixth hour is noon, so we understand the bright sun, and thirst-bringing conditions in this day of traveling northward.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You being a Jew, ask a drink from a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. A note says, "The Samaritans were a mixed race and traditional enemies of the Jews. Although they worshiped the God of Israel and were awaiting a redeemer, they accepted only the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch) as their Scriptures. They had built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim, which the Jews destroyed in 128 B.C." For a Jewish man to address this woman in public is already a startling act.
Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." My study bible tells us that living water, in the ordinary sense of these words, means fresh, flowing water, as if from a spring rather than a pool or cistern. "In the spiritual sense," it says, "it symbolizes true life from God, who is the fountain of life (Jer. 2:13; Ezek. 47:1-12; Zech. 14:8; Rev. 21:6, 22:1)."
The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" Typically of John's Gospel, this woman initially misunderstands Jesus; she's applying a conventional understanding to what He's telling her. She mentions Jacob, patriarch of the Old Testament. My study bible says that, according to the Church Fathers, Jacob -- who received the revelation of the divine ladder (Gen. 28:12) -- is a prefiguration of Christ. "Jesus is thus greater than Jacob; He is the final revelation of God and giver of life and refreshment to all."
Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." A note here reads: "The living water given by Jesus is the gift of the Holy Spirit which believers receive (7:37-39). And the Holy Spirit becomes a fountain of water which flows with eternal life. That this extraordinary water is springing (or leaping) up denotes the vigor of true life from God."
John's Gospel initiates us here into concepts of icons, images that tell us about spiritual things, but which give us meanings and values that come from our daily lives. "Living water" becomes such an understanding here. As my study bible has pointed out earlier, this is typical of this Gospel, wherein ordinary terms are given extraordinary meaning in order to introduce human beings to the reality Christ is bringing into the world, the things of the Kingdom among us that are being introduced. That Jesus uses a Samaritan woman in order to do so is an extraordinary teaching in itself. If we look so far at the text, John's Gospel has introduced us to very unlikely believers. There was Nathanael, who asked, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" There is Nicodemus, a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee, to whom Jesus introduced the concept of baptism of the Spirit. There, the understanding of "rebirth" was something Jesus introduced to Nicodemus, speaking of the Spirit as akin to the wind (the word for Spirit and wind being the same, pneuma), and water being part of the means of this rebirth. This new wine Jesus is preparing is populated with the unlikely. Just as His words are those that draw us to new concepts, to expand our understanding and to grow in spiritual perception, so His entire ministry is filled with that which asks us to expand, to take in the new, to bear the capacity for spiritual growth by the power of the Holy Spirit. This vigor of the living water, as my study bible noted, is reflected in the term translated as "springing up" into eternal life -- a word that literally means "leaping" in the Greek. A spring flows from one spot, but where the waters go, and where they are connected to greater bodies of water also is a kind of mystery. But in a spring, the water is ever-renewed, ever-flowing, and ever-blessing, and this, too, gives us a sense of the vigor of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives, and in the world, in the Church. The Samaritan woman doesn't really understand at this point, but in the following reading, we will see Jesus take the conversation in a new direction. But let us note the action here: this one private conversation, at noon under the blazing sun, in perhaps a dry, dusty place midway on a day of travel, becomes one that will sprinkle the whole world, giving us "rivers of living water" to think about and to understand as it revives the world anew so that we may think about its meanings. One example of a spring comes through this conversation that continues to vivify us with its refreshment. Ultimately, the living spring is within each of us, for every moment, every seemingly lost cause, every time we thirst and need to refresh our perspective. It will also call on us to expand, to see what we don't see, to go beyond what we already think we have, just like this Samaritan woman at the well. We just don't know how that will happen.
