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THREAD: Social distances in John 4.1–44 (Part II).
For Part I, click below. Otherwise, please scroll down. https://twitter.com/JamesBejon/status/1250945560330276865
For Part I, click below. Otherwise, please scroll down. https://twitter.com/JamesBejon/status/1250945560330276865
Jesus’ offer of living water has clearly aroused the Samaritan woman’s curiosity.
What she initially made of Jesus’ interaction with her is not stated.
She may well have suspected him of impure motives. We’re not told.
What she initially made of Jesus’ interaction with her is not stated.
She may well have suspected him of impure motives. We’re not told.
Either way, it now seems to her as if Jesus has something to offer.
And rightly so.
Consequently, Jesus’ initial request to the woman (δός μοι...) reappears on the lips of the woman (δός μοι τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ) (cp. 4.7 w. 15).
And rightly so.
Consequently, Jesus’ initial request to the woman (δός μοι...) reappears on the lips of the woman (δός μοι τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ) (cp. 4.7 w. 15).
Jesus’ response, however, is unexpected.
‘Go and call your husband’, he says.
Why has Jesus changed the subject?
Why has he simply ignored the Samaritan woman’s request?
‘Go and call your husband’, he says.
Why has Jesus changed the subject?
Why has he simply ignored the Samaritan woman’s request?
In essence, he hasn’t.
If the Samaritan woman wants to receive the water Jesus has to offer, certain issues of morality first need to be dealt with.
If the Samaritan woman wants to receive the water Jesus has to offer, certain issues of morality first need to be dealt with.
The woman’s response—‘I don’t have a hushand’—is true as far as the letter of the law is concerned (‘Thou shalt not lie’),
but not as far as the *spirit* of the law is concerned (cp. 4.24’s statement about the need for ‘spirit *and* truth’).
but not as far as the *spirit* of the law is concerned (cp. 4.24’s statement about the need for ‘spirit *and* truth’).
Indeed, the woman’s statement is ultimately intended to *mask* the truth of her situation.
And, to her surprise (again), Jesus is aware of both the sense in which her statement is true and the sense in which it isn’t.
And, to her surprise (again), Jesus is aware of both the sense in which her statement is true and the sense in which it isn’t.
‘You have already had five husbands’, Jesus says, ‘and the man you are now with is *not* your husband’.
The numbers involved in 4.18 seem significant.
In Rev. 17, we read about a woman drunk on wine who is engaged in sexual immorality with seven ‘kings of the earth’ (17.2).
Five of them have been and gone, one is present, and the other has yet to come (17.10).
Five of them have been and gone, one is present, and the other has yet to come (17.10).
And, soon after he does, the woman’s hour of judgment comes (17.12ff.).
The parallels between these details and the text of John 4 seem too specific to be a coincidence.
The parallels between these details and the text of John 4 seem too specific to be a coincidence.
Like the woman of Rev. 17, the Samaritan woman is caught up in sexual immorality (and provokes ‘marvel’ in the eyes of those who see her: cp. Rev. 17.6 w. John 4.27).
She has five men in her past (cp. the five people-groups with whom Samaria is populated in 2 Kgs. 17.24?),
She has five men in her past (cp. the five people-groups with whom Samaria is populated in 2 Kgs. 17.24?),
and one in her present.
And, in the person of Jesus, a seventh has now arrived.
Needless to say, however, Jesus is a different kind of king of the earth,
and he has come to offer the Samaritan woman a different kind of future.
And, in the person of Jesus, a seventh has now arrived.
Needless to say, however, Jesus is a different kind of king of the earth,
and he has come to offer the Samaritan woman a different kind of future.
Jesus is a king of truth (cp. 18.37), who has come to offer the Samaritan woman the water of salvation (in place of the wine of immorality),
and to speak to her about an ‘hour’ when she will be able to worship in spirit and in truth.
and to speak to her about an ‘hour’ when she will be able to worship in spirit and in truth.
And, happily, the woman accepts Jesus’ offer.
As such, she dissociates herself from the woman of Rev. 17 and aligns herself with a different woman in the book of Revelation, namely the bride of Christ (Rev. 19).
As such, she dissociates herself from the woman of Rev. 17 and aligns herself with a different woman in the book of Revelation, namely the bride of Christ (Rev. 19).
Perhaps, then, just like Jacob’s, John 4 *is* a story where a man meets a bride-to-be at a well after all.
Other sevens also feature in our text.
We have a 7th water-jar (given the six water-jars in chapter 2),
though in the end the woman leaves her water-jar behind (4.28a), since she herself becomes a vessel in which water is taken back to her city (4.28b).
We have a 7th water-jar (given the six water-jars in chapter 2),
though in the end the woman leaves her water-jar behind (4.28a), since she herself becomes a vessel in which water is taken back to her city (4.28b).
We have an ‘hour to come’, which signifies a 7th hour (since it is the 6th hour when Jesus arrives: cp. 4.6, 21).
And we have the 7th occurrences of a number of significant words in John’s Gospel:
And we have the 7th occurrences of a number of significant words in John’s Gospel:
Jesus’ reference to eternal ‘life’ is the 7th occurrence of the word ‘life’ (4.14).
and Jesus’ reference to ‘the Father’ is also a 7th occurrence (4.21),
as is the woman’s (pivotal) reference to ‘the Christ’ (4.29).
and Jesus’ reference to ‘the Father’ is also a 7th occurrence (4.21),
as is the woman’s (pivotal) reference to ‘the Christ’ (4.29).
What the reader may, therefore, have been tempted to view as an incidental detail in Jesus’ ministry (en route to a more important location) is portrayed by John as a calculated and climactic moment, which foreshadows Jesus’ mission to bring light to the Gentiles.
Next time round, the importance (or perhaps the non-importance) of geography.
THE END.
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THE END.
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