Season of
Denha
Fourth Sunday: JOHN 4:1-26
JESUS IS THE PROMISED MESSIAH
INTRODUCTION
Because of the negativity of the Pharisees,
Jesus left Judea. On his way to Galilee, he traveled through Samaria and
halted at noon at Shechem. While alone, he had a long discourse with a
sinful Samaritan woman who came at Jacob’s well to fetch water. Starting
with his request for a drink, Jesus assured her he could provide living
water, the Holy Spirit, to resolve her spiritual thirst for ever. The
woman was taken up by the unusual behavior of Jesus and his intuition to
comprehend her sinful secret life. From that interaction, she
acknowledged Jesus as a prophet. Jesus revealed to her the imminent
changes that would happen in worshipping God the Father in Spirit and
truth. When the woman professed her faith in a forthcoming Messiah,
Jesus revealed himself as I AM, the God incarnate.
BIBLE TEXT
(Jn 4:1) Now when
Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and
baptizing more disciples than John (2) (although Jesus himself was not
baptizing, just his disciples), (3) he left Judea and returned to
Galilee.
The Samaritan Woman
(4) He had to pass through Samaria. (5) So
he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that
Jacob had given to his son Joseph. (6) Jacob’s well was there. Jesus,
tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.
(7) A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a
drink.” (8) His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. (9) The
Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan
woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)
(10) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and
who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he
would have given you living water.” (11) [The woman] said to him, “Sir,
you do not even have a bucket and the well is deep; where then can you
get this living water? (12) Are you greater than our father Jacob, who
gave us this well and drank from it himself with his children and his
flocks?” (13) Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this
water will be thirsty again; (14) but whoever drinks the water I shall
give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a
spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (15) The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep
coming here to draw water.” (16) Jesus said to her, “Go call your
husband and come back.” (17) The woman answered and said to him, “I do
not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do
not have a husband.’ (18) For you have had five husbands, and the one
you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” (19) The
woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. (20) Our
ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place
to worship is in Jerusalem.” (21) Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman,
the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem. (22) You people worship what you do not
understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the
Jews. (23) But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers
will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks
such people to worship him. (24) God is Spirit, and those who worship
him must worship in Spirit and truth.” (25) The woman said to him, “I
know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he
comes, he will tell us everything.” (26) Jesus said to her, “I am he,
the one who is speaking with you.”
INTERPRETATION
Background
After baptizing Jesus and introducing him to
his listeners, John the Baptist continued baptizing in Aenon near Salim
(Jn 3:23) until King Herod arrested him. Jesus, through his disciples,
baptized those who came to him in the Judean region of River Jordan.
John gave his last witness to Jesus when John’s disciples complained
Jesus was also baptizing people. John confirmed Jesus as the Messiah and
compared him as the best man of Jesus, the groom (Jn 3:29). John
concluded, saying, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but
whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains
upon him” (Jn 3:36).
(Jn 4:1) Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
The evangelist gives here the reason for
Jesus moving from Judea to Galilee. Even from the beginning of his
ministry, Jesus faced challenges from the Pharisees, who were highly
influential Jews. The popularity boost of Jesus alarmed them because
they disagreed with his teachings and practices.
Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard
The Pharisees did not directly observe what
Jesus did or listen to his “deviant” teachings. They learned them from
others. Probably, they had sent emissaries to study the situation. Jesus
came to know their negativity by his divine intuition. Or someone could
have reported to him that the Pharisees were plotting against him.
Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
The Pharisees were apprehensive about John’s
baptism of repentance. The Sanhedrin was the custodian of the Jewish
ceremonies and rituals. John was baptizing without their approval. Only
Elijah, a prophet, or the Messiah were supposed to do it. So, the
Pharisees questioned John through their representatives, “Why then do
you baptize if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?” (Jn
1:25). Besides John, there came Jesus, who was par excellent than John
in popularity because of his miraculous healings. So, more people came
to Jesus for baptism of repentance based on his message. That also
bothered the Pharisees.
Another issue of the Pharisees was the number
of disciples John and Jesus were gaining. However, they tolerated John
because he disclaimed himself being the Messiah; he was not against the
Law; but only asking people for a spiritual renewal. The heightening
reputation of Jesus, his “deviant” teachings against their practices,
the immense number of people gathering around him, the high number of
people becoming his disciples, and their transformation of life through
the baptism Jesus performed through his disciples bothered the
Pharisees. Since John publicly introduced Jesus as the Messiah, his
listeners and disciples were turning to Jesus. This movement
acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah would become a threat to the
Sanhedrin and the Jewish aristocracy. So, they wanted to get rid of him
before the situation would get worse.
(2) (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, just his disciples),
The evangelist specifies, Jesus was baptizing
people through his disciples. Probably, Jesus had baptized the disciples
and then let them take over as a part of their training. He delegated
the apostles to baptize in his name for several reasons: (1) He did not
want to baptize in his name by himself. (2) He wanted to train his
disciples with hands-on experience for their future ministry. (3) He did
not want a division in the church in the future by some people claiming
they received baptism directly from Jesus (1Cor 1:10-16). (4) To teach
us that the reception of baptism is important regardless of who
conferred it.
During his public ministry, Jesus
concentrated on preaching and helping people with their ailments. After
his resurrection only, baptism was conferred with Holy Spirit and fire
(Jn 7:39) as John the Baptist had foretold (Mt 3:11). Before his
ascension, Jesus authorized the apostles to go to all the nations, teach
them all his commandments, make them his disciples, and baptize them in
the Trinitarian formula. (Mt 28:18-20). Though Jesus declared baptism as
a requirement for salvation (Mk 16:16), the priority for him and the
early church was the preaching of the gospel (1Cor 1:17).
(3) he left Judea and returned to Galilee.
Though Jesus came to the world to rescue
humanity from the bondage of Satan and sin through his self-sacrifice in
Jerusalem, he had several accomplishments to be achieved including the
preaching, revealing himself to the world who he was, to select and
train his apostles to continue his ministry all over the nations until
his second coming, and to institute the sacraments for his followers’
spiritual nourishment. Hence, Jesus avoided an early confrontation with
the Pharisees in Judea. He moved to Galilee, the northern section of
Palestine via the middle territory of Samaria. Galilee was more
receptive to innovative preaching than Judea, because Galilee was amid
the Gentiles and there was a mixed group of Jews and Gentiles living
there. Judea was a conservative Jewish concentration with the presence
of the Temple and Sanhedrin. According to the calculation of the Bible
scholars, Jesus was in Judea for about eight months before he moved to
Galilee.
The Samaritan Woman
(4) He had to pass through Samaria.
Palestine, during the earthly life of Christ,
was divided into three divisions. Galilee in the north, Judea, including
Jerusalem in the south, and Samaria in between. The quick route from
Galilee to Jerusalem was through Samaria, which some people used.
However, most Jews avoided passing through Samaria because of the
centuries-old rivalry between the Jews and the Samaritans. So, they
journeyed double distance by traveling on the eastern side of River
Jordan. If they had moved through Samaria, that could cause
confrontation between the two factions. Considering this sensitivity,
Jesus had instructed his 12 apostles, “Do not go into pagan territory or
enter a Samaritan town” (Mt 10:5). During his last journey to Jerusalem,
Jesus passed through Samaria. On the way, a Samaritan village did not
welcome him because his destination was Jerusalem (Lk 9:52-53).
A sequence of historical events caused the
hostility between the Jews and Samaritans. The Samaritans were the
occupants of the territory formerly assigned to the tribes of Ephraim
and the half-tribe, Manasseh. King Omri bought a mountain from Shemer
and built the city and named it Samaria after the previous owner, Shemer
(1Kings 16:23-24). He made it the capital of Northern Israel. Later that
region also got the name Samaria. When the Assyrians deported and
scattered in captivity, the ten tribes of Northern Israel, “The king of
Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and
Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the
Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.” (2
Kings 17:24). They intermarried the remaining Israelites in the newly
occupied area. The pagans who inhabited Samaria continued worship of
their idols. So, God dispatched lions among them that killed some
people. The Assyrian king sent them an Israelite priest from exile to
teach them the worship of the God of the land. They learned the books of
Moses and worshipped the God of Israel but continued their idolatry as
well. “They were both venerating the LORD and serving their own gods.”
(2 Kings 17:33). Because of these blended races and mixed worship, the
Jews considered Samaritans as “half-breeds” and hated them.
The animosity between the Jews and Samaritans
intensified because of several reasons: (1) When the Jews returned from
Babylonian exile and started rebuilding the Temple and the walls of
Jerusalem, the Samaritans opposed it and halted it for some time
(Nehemiah 6:1-14). (2) The Samaritans perpetuated their idolatrous
worship by building a temple for them on Mount Gerizim. (3) The
Samaritans offered refuge for the outlaws of Judea (Joshua 20:6-7;
21:21). (4) While accepting the Torah, the Samaritans disregarded other
Jewish scriptures and traditions. Hence, the Jews hated Samaritans and
blocked contact with them (John 4:9. 8:48).
Then why did Jesus travel through Samaria? He
might have used the shortcut to Galilee to reach there fast while
fleeing from Judea. Jesus wanted to teach his disciples that animosity
with the Samaritans would not help both factions. He wanted to approach
the Samaritans with love and compassion because the salvation is not
just for Jews, but for all, including Samaritans. Jesus might have the
divine vision of making use of the Samaritan woman as an entry into the
hearts of Samaritans. Hence, Jesus went through Samaria as a necessity
to proclaim the gospel even to the enemies of Jews.
(5) So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
The original name of Sychar was Shechem,
between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, eight miles southeast of the city
of Samaria and 30 miles (48 km.) north of Jerusalem. It was en route the
northern and southern Israel. The Jews, out of their contempt of
Samaritans, later nicknamed it Sychar, which means drunkards (Isaiah
28:1) or liars.
The town is historically important and
associated with Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph.
1. When Abram came from Haran to Canaan, the
LORD appeared to him at “the sacred place at Shechem” and said, “To your
descendants I will give this land. So Abram built an altar there to the
LORD” (Gen 12:6-7).
2. Patriarch Jacob encamped here on his way
from Paddanaram, and bought it “from descendants of Hamor, the father of
Shechem” (Gen 33:19).
3. Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite,
defiled Jacob’s daughter Dinah. Her brothers retaliated against the men
of the city here (Gen 34:1-31).
4. Jacob buried here all the foreign gods and
earrings his people were holding (Gen 35:1-4) and committed himself to
the God of his forefathers.
5. Joseph came in search of his brothers here
when they were pastoring flock. They sold him to Ishmaelites, who took
him into slavery in Egypt (Gen 37:12-28).
6. The Israelites brought the bones of Joseph
from Egypt and buried in Shechem (Joshua 24:32).
7. After the conquest of Canaan, Joshua
brought Israelites here and arranged half of the tribes facing Mount
Gerizim and the others Mount Ebal. Then he “read aloud all the words of
the law, the blessings and the curses, exactly as written in the book of
the law” (Joshua 8: 33-34).
8. The tribe of Ephraim settled in Shechem
(Joshua 21:21).
9. At the end of Joshua’s life, he gathered
together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem (Joshua 24:1) and renewed
their covenant with God promising, “We will serve the LORD, our God, and
will listen to his voice.” Joshua also made statutes and ordinances for
Israel there (Joshua 24:25).
10. Gideon’s son “Abimelech fought against
the city. He captured it, killed the people who were in it, and
demolished the city itself, sowing it with salt” (Judges 9:45).
11. The division of Israel as north (Israel)
and south (Judah) took place at Shechem. Jeroboam reigned over the
northern section (1Kings 12:1-20), started idolatrous worship at Bethel
and Dan (1Kings 12:29), and fortified Shechem (1Kings 12:25).
12. Later, Samaritans made Shechem their
central city and built their temple on Mt. Gerizim.
Jesus might have purposefully selected this
historically prominent city to start evangelizing the Samaritans.
(6) Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.
Jacob’s well was there.
On his way from Padanaram, Jacob and his
family encamped at Shechem and bought that land “for a hundred pieces of
money from the descendants of Hamor, the father of Shechem” (Gen
33:18-19). He might have dug a well there and the availability of water
might have been a reason for that purchase. Since Jacob was a great
patriarch of Israel who owned the property and dug the well, it was
known in his name. Hence, the Samaritan woman asked Jesus, “Are you
greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it
himself with his children and his flocks?” (Jn 4:12).
This well was at the foot of Mount Gerizim
dug in solid rock of limestone with about 9 feet in diameter and 100
feet deep. It contained several feet of water fed by abundant springs
(Deu 8:7). That well is now dry, may be because of natural reasons like
deviation of the springs because of earthquake.
During the Biblical times, well was an
informal gathering place for people because many came there to fetch
water. According to the Bible, some historical turning points happened
at the well. Abraham’s senior servant met Rebekah at a well and chose
her as wife for Isaac because she provided water for him and his camels
(Gen 24:10-51). Rachel met Jacob, her future husband, when she went to
water her father’s flock (Gen 29:1-14). Joseph’s brothers, who planned
to kill him, changed their mind, threw him into a dried well and later
sold to Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt (Gen 37:19-28). Moses met his
future wife at a well in Midian (Ex 2:15-21). According to the
Protoevangelium of St. James, Mary was at a well with her pitcher when
Angel Gabriel appeared to her. Because water is a life sustainer and
well is a source for it, the well is a symbol of new life events.
Jesus, tired from his journey
Jesus, though God incarnate, was also a human
like us. Thus, he shared our weaknesses, except sin, is clear from this
exhaustion of Jesus. He was always walking on foot even for a long
distance journey, except his triumphant entry into the Temple for his
last Passover observance.
sat down there at the well
Jesus was so weak after waking from Judea
that the disciples let him rest while they went to purchase food. There
must have been seating facilities for passengers at the well, may be
under the shade of trees for rest, so they can also get water to drink
from the well.
It was about noon.
The evangelist specifies the noon time to let
the readers know that Jesus had a half day walk that day. The heat was
high by noon. So, he must be exhausted, hungry, and thirsty by that
time. Since it was the time for meal, the disciples had gone to buy food
for them and Jesus.
Why did the Samaritan woman come alone from a
long distance to fetch water at noon? The women in Samaria would not
allow her to get water from their wells because of her terrible
reputation (Jn 4:18). Though the usual time to approach the well was in
the morning or evening, she could reach there only by noon because of
the long distance she had to walk. Another view is that she was not from
the city of Samaria but a Samaritan living in the locality. Since other
women refused her coming with them to the well in the morning or
evening, she might have selected noon time to be alone to fetch water
without the nuisance from others.
Jesus asking for a drink to the Samaritan
woman opened up a window for significant discussion and revelation of
his mission. That also led to the entry of Jesus to Samaria, where the
Jews detested and dreaded to enter.
If Jesus was thirsty, he could perform a
miracle for himself. He had turned water into wine and had multiplied
loaves of bread and fish. However, he did not misuse his power for
himself and depended on others expressing his need for help as a fellow
human. He who said, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word
that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4), quenched his thirst
not by drinking water from the woman but by sharing the Word of God to
her. Another documented occasion when Jesus expressed his thirst was at
his crucifixion. From the cross he cried aloud, “I thirst” (Jn 19:28).
This clarifies why Jesus was alone, and why
he asked for a drink from the Samaritan woman. Jesus, who multiplied
food for his listeners, avoided doing so even for his disciples. That
was also a lesson for the disciples that they must not misuse their
power for themselves.
Three concerns are implied in this question.
“You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan. Since Jews hate the Samaritans,
how come you are so nice to talk to me, a Samaritan?” The woman could
recognize Jesus from his dress and his dialect
Another implied meaning is, “How come you a
man, talk to a strange woman?” The Rabbis avoided talking to women in
public because that could affect their reputation.
The third implication is, “You are asking for
a drink from a Samaritan woman? Don’t you know that the Jews won’t
receive any food items from the Samaritans?” The Jews considered
Samaritan women as impure and so they did not drink from any vessel they
handled.
Though it was natural that travelers ask for
drinking water at the well, the woman was excited at the humble request
of a Jewish Rabbi. She did not deny the help to the stranger but was
thrilled that an unusual request came from this foreigner. So, while
giving water to the Rabbi, the Samaritan woman was bold enough to
clarify her curiosity. Her openness led to the salvation of herself and
of the Samaritans in her locality.
This is an explanatory note from the
evangelist to the readers who do not know the rivalry between the Jews
and Samaritans. The reason for the disparity was the difference in
faith, especially for erecting the pagan temple at Mount Gerizim as a
rival to the Temple of Jerusalem. God had instructed the Israelites not
to mingle with idolatrous worshippers to protect their loyalty to God.
Even Jesus spoke of Samaritan as a foreigner (Lk 17:16-18). However,
Jesus appreciated their compassion for others and presented them with
high esteem as in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37).
Though vague for the Samaritan woman and even
to the readers of the gospel, the gift of God can be Jesus himself or
the Holy Spirit, because both are gifts of God to humanity. In his
conversation with Nicodemus Jesus said, “God so loved the world that he
gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). St. Paul presents Jesus as an
incredible gift of God (2Cor 9:15, Rom 5:15-17).
Jesus Christ promised another gift of God,
the Holy Spirit. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
Advocate to be with you always” (Jn 14:16). “The Advocate, the holy
Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything
and remind you of all that told you” (Jn 14:26). The Acts of the
Apostles presents Holy Spirit as the gift of God (Acts 2:38; 8:20;
10:45; 11:17). In the present context, Jesus could mean the Holy Spirit
as the gift of God as he expressed in the following statements.
Jesus reversed the role of the giver and
receiver. What Jesus wanted was water for temporal thirst. Jesus has the
spiritual drink that is essential for eternal life. While Jesus was
thirsting for drinking water as a human, the Samaritan woman had the
spiritual thirst that could be rectified by the living water that only
Jesus could offer.
What did Jesus mean by the living water? On
the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus proclaimed in the
Temple, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will
flow from within him.’ He said this in reference to the Spirit that
those who came to believe in him were to receive” (Jn 7:37-39). So, when
Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman of the living water that he would
give, he meant the Holy Spirit. However, the woman could not understand
the figurative sense Jesus used. She understood that in an earthly
sense. She might have thought of flowing water from a stream that was
better than the stagnant water in the well. Such misunderstanding for
further dialogue was a style Jesus used in his discussion with Nicodemus
also (Jn 3:1-21).
By addressing Jesus “sir” instead of “you,”
the Samaritan woman started showing him respect. She was thinking of
Jesus giving flowing water to her from a deep spring there. So, she
raised a practical question of how he could do it without a bucket when
the pit where the water dropped was deep. Her curious interrogation led
to further clarification on his living water.
The Samaritans were a mixed race of Jews and
migrants from Chaldea (2Kings 17:24) after the Assyrian conquest. So,
they worshipped Yahweh and the idols. Since Patriarch Jacob had
purchased the land they occupied “for a hundred pieces of money from the
descendants of Hamor, the father of Shechem” (Gen 33:19) and gave it to
Joseph and his descendants, they honored Jacob as their father with high
esteem.
This disdainful question implies a negative
answer: ‘You cannot be greater than our father Jacob. Jacob bought this
land, dug this well, used it for years, and handed over to Joseph (Gen
48:22). His son Ephraim and his descendants inherited this. We are now
occupying it. Can you find a location and well like this? Are you wiser
than him?’ The well was valuable as an excellent source of water and
because of its historical prominence. Patriarch Jacob and his
descendants had drunk from it, along with their domestic animals.
Jesus did not give a direct answer to the
Samaritan woman’s question about who was great. He did not claim his
superiority over Jacob. Jesus continued teaching in the figurative sense
on the need for the Holy Spirit for the soul, in contrast to the water
needed for the body. The earthly water can satisfy the body only for a
while. The person who drinks it will thirst again. The spiritual water
that Jesus provides is the Holy Spirit that can quench the spiritual
vacuum forever. It will provide a spring of grace that would lead to
eternal life.
The woman could not understand what Jesus
meant because of his figurative presentation. She misunderstood Jesus
and took his discourse in a physical sense. With that understanding, she
asked for the special water from Jesus. Thus, instead of Jesus asking
for drinking water from the woman, she turned out to be the requester of
living and better water from Jesus.
When the woman asked for the living water
Jesus offered, he did not give a direct answer. Instead, he made an
unexpected demand of bringing her husband. By this, he disclosed, he was
aware of her sinful life. This became an entry point for Jesus to awaken
her conscience and make her aware of the need to be spiritually clean to
receive his living water. Thus, he revealed his divinity to her step by
step so she could understand him as the Messiah.
When Jesus asked the woman to bring her
husband, she was puzzled. Why this Rabbi who met her first time, wanted
to bring her husband? He knew she had no legal husband. Probably he
might know her sinful life. So, she did not want to take the risk of
bringing her illegal partner and get into trouble. Since Jesus was a
foreigner, she believed she could deceive him in a literal sense. She
bantered him by saying she had no husband, which was legally true.
Jesus replied with her ironic style and
agreed that she was literally right. Through his divine knowledge, Jesus
knew the status of her life. So, he unveiled the truth of her living
together with a man who was not her husband. Since Jesus said of her
previous five husbands, they might be legitimate ones. But they might
have died, or she might have divorced them one after another. And then
she might be living with a sixth man whom she had not married.
The woman was shocked at the understanding of
Jesus about her sinful private life. That is why she told the people in
her town, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done.” (Jn
4:29). She realized she could hide nothing from Jesus and acknowledged
him as a prophet. Instead of denying what Jesus told of her scandalous
life, she perceived Jesus as a prophet and professed that openly. She
considered Jesus as Prophet Samuel, who told Saul, “I will tell you
everything on your mind” (1Samuel 9:19).
The Samaritan woman brought up a controversy
between the Samaritans and Jews on the location for worship. The
Samaritans worshipped at a temple they built at Mount Gerizim in opposition to the Temple in
Jerusalem. Mount Gerizim was a place of worship of the ancestors, like
Abraham (Gen 12:6-7), Jacob (Gen 33:18-20) and Joshua (Deu 27:1-8).
According to the Samaritan tradition, Abraham sacrificed Isaac, and met
Melchizedek there, which, according to Jews, was at Jerusalem. So,
Samaritans had justification in worshipping at Shechem by erecting a
temple similar to the Temple in Jerusalem. “The Samaritans believe that,
since more than 3600 years ago, they came to live on Mount Gerizim
because Moses, in his tenth commandment, ordered them to protect it as a
sacred mountain and worship on it by making pilgrimages to it three
times a year. These beliefs and traditions have been kept alive by
Samaritans since then” (https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5706/).
Instead, the Jews considered Jerusalem as the sacred mountain and
worshipped at the Temple there, making three pilgrimages a year.
The Samaritan woman mentions how the Jews
objected to this worship on Mount Gerizim. King David moved the Ark of
the Covenant to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:12) and King Solomon built the
Temple there according to the direction of God (2 Chronicles 3:1). God
had prohibited offering sacrifices to God in multiple places like the
pagans (Deu 12:4-5). Based on God’s commands, the Jews objected to the
temple at Gerizim built in opposition to the Temple in Jerusalem.
Jesus predicts to the Samaritan woman that
the two traditional sites of worship would become history and they would
replace with a third one. John Hyrcanus had destroyed the temple at
Mount Gerizim during the Hellenistic period in 128 BC (https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5706/).
However, the Samaritans continued to consider it as a holy place of
worship. Jesus foresaw the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem (Mk
13:1-3) that happened in 70 AD. For Jesus, the dispute on the place of
worship would be irrelevant because it would not be confined to one or
another location. Jesus revealed a great mystery of his mission to this
sinful woman. He did not justify Jerusalem to the woman,
though as a Jew, he selected Jerusalem for his worship and
self-sacrifice.
Jesus used the expression, “the hour is coming” on other occasions, also in the sense of the imminence of a change. “The hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (Jn 5:25). “The hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voices” (Jn 5:28). “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (Jn 12:23). “The hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God” (Jn 16:2). “The hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone” (Jn 16:32).
Jesus used the term Father for God. The Jews and the Samaritans were not accustomed to call God the Father, though God had considered Israel as His son (Exodus 4:22). Jesus could use it because he was the Son of God. He taught his disciples the Lord’s prayer, addressing, “Our Father who art in heaven.” So, he gave the privilege to address God as the Father, as he himself did. According to Jesus, the dispute on the place of worship would end soon and God, as the Father, will continue as the object of worship.
The Samaritans followed only the Pentateuch,
whereas the Jews follow the other books of the Old Testament, including
the Prophets that have additional revelations from God. So, the
Samaritans were ignorant of the later divine interventions and the
prophetic teachings. They negate the salvation God promised through the
Jews just as they negate Jerusalem as the genuine place of worship.
The king of Assyria settled Gentiles from
five foreign regions to the cities of Samaria. Since they did not
venerate the LORD, God sent lions among them and killed some people. “So
one of the priests who had been deported from Samaria returned and
settled in Bethel, and began to teach them how to venerate the LORD.
Thus each of these nations continued to make its own gods, setting them
up in the shrines of the high places the Samarians had made: each nation
in the cities in which they dwelt” (2 Kings 17:28-29). Being a fusion of
Jews and Gentiles, “They were both venerating the LORD and serving their
own gods. They followed the custom of the nations from among whom they
had been deported” (2 Kings 17:33). They disobeyed God by worshipping
the idols.
Here, the importance Jesus gave was for the
object of worship. The Samaritans had mixed the worship of the LORD with
pagan worship. They did not know their mistake. Jesus called it as their
ignorance of the true God and genuine worship.
By using “we,” Jesus identified with the
Jews. Though born as a Jew, his salvation is for all as God had promised
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Jews understood the mind of God
through the revelations they had received from God through the prophets.
They worshipped the true God in Jerusalem that God revealed as the
place for the Temple. So, they knew what God wanted from the divine
revelations that Samaritans rejected.
Jesus affirmed that salvation of humanity
would come through the Jews as God revealed through the patriarchs and
prophets throughout the centuries. The Samaritans also would receive the
message of salvation soon from the Jewish Christians.
Jesus spoke about a time of transition from
the past to the new. That started on the same day when the Samaritans,
hearing from the woman, invited Jesus to their village. After their
experience with Jesus for two days, they said to the woman, “We no
longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly the savior of the world” (Jn 4:42).
The worship on Gerizim and Jerusalem would not last long. An
alternative form of worship would replace them, resulting in the
disappearance of rivalry between the Jews and Samaritans.
The true worship was lacking at Mount Gerizim
and Jerusalem. Both required purifications. The Samaritans had a worship
of true God and of the idols. They needed more understanding of the true
worship. The Jewish religious leaders had become ritualistic and
corrupt. They had sacrifice, but without mercy to the fellow humans. So,
correction was necessary for both groups.
Worship in spirit and truth involves two
important aspects of genuine worship. The worship in spirit means
devotion according to the spirit behind the religious observances. God
said through Hosea, “For it is loyalty that I desire, not sacrifice, and
knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). Jesus
replaced animal sacrifice with his life. He wants his followers to offer
their lives to God with the true spirit that evolves from their heart.
The Holy Spirit will guide us in this. “The Spirit too comes to the aid
of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the
Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings” (Romans 8:26).
God wants a worship in truth, that is, a sincere sacrifice of oneself,
just as Jesus who said, “I am the Truth” (Jn 14:6) did in his earthly
life. These would be a modification of the corrupted worship of the
time. Thus, a superior form of worship would replace the worship at the
mountain and at the Temple of Jerusalem.
God the Father was seeking people with true
spirit and truth to worship Him. They are the true worshippers who adore
him from their heart than lip service and meaningless rituals. He was
revealing a new form of worship that Jesus exemplified through his
earthly ministry.
Since the nature of God is Spirit and not
limited to space and time, he can be worshipped anywhere in Spirit and
truth. The early church realized this, is clear from the discourse of
Stephen in his address to the Sanhedrin during his trial, “the Most High
does not dwell in houses made by human hands” (Acts 7:48). The Sanhedrin
took it as a speech against the Temple. St. Paul addressed almost the
same to the Athenians, “The God who made the world and all that is in
it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by
human hands, nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything.
Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything”
(Acts 17:24-25).
The Samaritan woman could not comprehend the
Theological discourse of Jesus like the Father, Spirit, and Truth.
However, she was aware of the messianic expectations. The Messiah would
be the anointed one of God, and he would reveal every truth. Besides the
Jews, the Samaritans and Gentiles also were expecting a Messiah from the
Jews. When the Magi arrived in Jerusalem, their question to King Herod
was, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews?” (Mt 2:2).
Though the Samaritans accepted only the
Pentateuch in the Bible, it also gives references to the coming of the
Messiah. God promised a redeemer through Adam (Gen 3:15), Abraham (Gen
12:3), Jacob (Gen 49:10), Balaam (Num 24:17) and Moses, (Dt 18:15) in
the first five books of the Bible. The Samaritans must have heard of the
Messianic predictions by the prophets of Israel. Their expectation of
the Messiah was not a king from the lineage of David but a prophet like
Moses (Dt 18:15). According to the woman, the Anointed one will correct
their misunderstandings and defective religious practices. She was
willing to wait for that to happen, as Jesus informed her.
Jesus gradually unveiled his identity as I
AM, means God, to the Samaritan woman. “I AM” is the name of God that
God revealed to Moses when he asked for God’s name at Mount Sinai
(Exodus 3:13-14). When Jesus used “I am” for himself, he was identifying
himself as the God incarnate. He started with a human need of water for
his thirst and ended in revealing his identity directly to a sinful
Samaritan woman even before he did that to the Jews. She got the
privilege to hear from Jesus his identity as the Messiah. Her belief in
this is clear from her revelation of the same to her people (Jn 4:29)
and thus she became a herald of Jesus to the Samaritans.
MESSAGE
1. Though John the Baptist and Jesus were
converting people, gaining disciples, and baptizing them, there was no
competition between them. John’s motto was, “He must increase; I must
decrease” (Jn 3:30). John prepared the way for Jesus, introduced him as
the Messiah to the public, forwarded his disciples to Jesus, and receded
from the scene by becoming a martyr for his moral teaching. Like John
and Jesus, let us work as a team for evangelization with no jealousy or
competition.
2. Though Jews avoided direct road between
Judea and Galilee, Jesus used it to meet the Samaritans without
prejudice and intending to save their souls. Keeping up hatred or
hostility to anyone is against Christian morals. Do we behave with
disgust or prejudice towards anyone?
3. “Whoever gives only a cup of cold water to
one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple - amen, I say
to you, he will surely not lose his reward” (Mt 10:42). Like the
Samaritan woman, let us also gain the grace of God by offering any help
we can provide to those in need.
4. Jesus used a poor, unpopular Samaritan
woman as an instrument for reaching out the Samaritans for salvation.
Jesus selected apostles also from the illiterate and low-status people
to become pillars of his church. Even if we are simple and limited in
resources, God can empower us to continue his ministry in the present
times.
5. Jesus questioned illegal marriage or
living together of the Samaritan woman with a man. Are we fostering such
relationships?
6. Jesus offered Holy Spirit to his disciples
and the privilege to call God our Father. We have gained these through
baptism. Let us we conscious that we are the temple of God and keep up
our personal prayer besides our church-centered practices.