John 4:1-42

January 30, 2022

John 4:1-42

Initial Thoughts

• Wilda Gafney chooses this text for Pentecost in A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church Year W (p.197)

• (Texts for Preaching: Year A, p. 206-7) “The preacher who chooses to preach this Sunday from the Gospel reading is faced with a finely crafted story, rich in details and nuanced conversation, and raising several important themes that permeate the larger Johannine narrative. So many sermons with different foci could be (and have been) preached from the chapter that in moving from text to sermon one is forced to make critical decisions about limits.” 

  • In other words - this could take awhile.

• According to Charles Cousar, there are Five Scenes:

  • 1-6 Establishes the setting

  • 7-26 Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman

  • 27-30 Return of disciples and departure of the woman

  • 31-38 Jesus and the disciples

  • 39-42 The Samaritans and the woman

Bible Study

• Contrast to last week’s text on Nicodemus

  • Man vs Woman

  • Night vs Day

  • Private vs Public

  • Pharisee vs Samaritan

• Samaria (see v.4)

  • Not “on the way” from Judea (where Jerusalem is) back to Galilee. Yes Samaria is in between Judea and Galilee, but Jews would have typically returned via the east bank of the Jordan river in order to avoid the Samaritans.

  • Karoline Lewis, John - Jesus has to go to Samaria, not geographically, but theologically, because God so loved the world and Samaritans are a part of that world that God loves.

  • “Samaritans were the inhabitants of the northern monarchy of Israel who ultimately fell to Assyria and were largely deported. The land was repopulated with other conquered peoples and their descendants became known as Samaritans.” Gafney, p. 197

    • “The dispute about the Mountain…is rooted in one of the many differences between the Samaritan and Judean Torahs: whether the mountain n Deuteronomy 27:4 on which Joshua later built an altar (Joshua 8:30) is Ebal (Judeans) or Gerazim (Samaritans)...Palestinian Samaritan Jews continue to worship on this mountain.” ibid.

  • Major tensions between Jews and Samaritans

    • Samaritans opposed rebuilding the temple after exile and in 128 BCE Jewish troops destroyed the shrine at Mount Gerizim. 

• Jacobs Well

  • Sets the scene at a place of common reverence between Jews and Samaritans (and between early Christians and Jews- Lewis)

  • A typical setting for an ancient “meet-cute”/betrothal scene

    • Jacob and Rachel

    • Moses and Zipporah

    • Isaac and Rebekah

    • The well is a place of intimacy. Karoline Lewis suggests John present God in numerous intimate settings: Father with children, friend, and as lover.

• Encounter with Jesus

  • Mutuality -Jesus needs water and she needs living water, he needs her witness and she needs his invitation into a new life

  • Scandalous

    • man and woman

    • rabbi and woman

    • Jew and Samaritan

    • Jewish Rabbi and Samaritan woman!

    • ALONE!!

  • Impossible encounter - yet possible with God. God’s love and grace supercedes religious and cultural boundaries

• Nicodemus

  • Stark contrast between Samaritan woman and Nicodemus

    • Named/unnamed

    • Jew/Samaritan

    • Man/woman

    • Night/day

    • Religious leader/woman who has been married 5 times

  • She, like Nicodemus, point out the impossibility in what Jesus is offering - you can’t crawl back into the womb to be born again and you can’t get water without a bucket

  • Unlike Nicodemus - she is not coming to Jesus, Jesus is the outsider who has come to her

• Married five times

  • Not a moral statement - Not a “five time loser” or a “tramp” - these shame-filled depictions have no basis in this text

    • This is not about sexual promiscuity or sin - note there is no forgiveness, not condemnation - only compassion

  • This emphasized the horrifically marginalized position this woman finds herself in

  • “Likely widowed or divorced, the fact alone of having five husbands would have indicated some sort of curse against her or her family…could also mean the woman has been divorced, often for trivial matters, but more likely because she was barren. If she was barren…she would not have a family to turn to in the case of being widowed, which would further exacerbate her dependent status.” Lewis, p. 60

  • “Significantly, the reasons for the woman’s marital history intrigue commentators but do not seem to concern Jesus.” Gail O’Day, Women’s Bible Commentary 8th ed. P. 521

• I AM

  • The first of the “I am” statements in the Gospel of John

  • Direct connection to who Jesus is and who God is

  • I am - Jesus is God, the Word enfleshed, the incarnation

  • A truly mic-drop moment

• John is multi-layered

  • Water

    • Drink and never be thirsty

  • Food 

    • “I have food to eat that you don’t know about… I am fed by doing the will of the one who sent me”

  • Harvest

    • The fields are ready and ripe for the harvest.

    • Those who work receive the pay of eternal life.

    • “I have sent you to harvest what you didn’t work hard for” (not about social services, but boy is it tempting).

• Charles Cousar: two themes are radical newness and radical inclusiveness

  • Radical Newness - Jesus presents something that is so radical that it is difficult to even comprehend.

    • Conversation about water quickly turns into something more.

    • She wants him to settle an old dispute - pick a side, but he offers a different way.

      • Jesus says “But the time is coming - and is here - when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth.”

    • The term forever is easily read in our culture as starting after we die. Here though, forever does not start with death, “This is a continuing theme in John's Gospel:  life in Christ begins now and continues even through death.” (Rob Myallis, LectionaryGreek.com)

  • Radical Inclusiveness - The way in which it is presented is radical not only in nature, but in who is included in the presentation.

    • Samaria

      • Apparent prohibitions on Samaritans and Jews sharing a dipper (sound familiar, Jim Crow?).

    • Woman

      • There at noon, probably not a part of the regular community.

      • Married five times, not married now.

        • Begs many questions, but culture has put too much shame on this woman. Unpack the things that tradition claims to “know” about her.

      • She does not withdraw from conversation, but actually digs deeper.

      • Reveals a level of understanding and ability to comprehend.

      • Even disciples are “shocked that he was talking with a woman.” (John 4:27)

      • Becomes an apostle to the rest of the Samaritans, and “many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s word.” (4:39)

    • Samaritans

      • This is more than a one-on-one, it opens up the ministry to an entire people.

      • Led at first by her testimony, but then by Jesus’ own words.

      • She tells them about Jesus, they are intrigued, but it is Jesus who truly convinces them that he is the Savior of the world.

Thoughts and Questions

• “Repeatedly in the narrative we find details that remind us that the new age fulfilled in the presence of Jesus breaks down barriers. ...The sweeping, inclusive character of Jesus’ mission is a note that needs sounding again and again today.” (Cousar, Texts for Preaching, 1995. p. 208

• To never be thirsty would be quite something. 

  • Compassion and Service: Thirst is such a universal experience, and bringing someone something to drink is such a fundamental act of service. Think of who brings you something to drink - host at a party, server at a restaurant, a parent to a child in bed. Thirst is a fundamental need, and to satisfy someone’s most fundamental need is a remarkable act of service and love. 

  • Justice and Mission: Think of how hard people once (still do) had to work to get a drink of water. It is an ordeal to walk to a well, carry the water, and bring it back. For many girls in particular, the need to get water every day keeps them from school, training, and independence. In many places, the lack of clean water is the most pressing need for an entire community.

Opening music: Misirlou, One Man 90 Instruments by Joe Penna/MysteryGuitarMan at MIM

Closing Song by Bryan Odeen