Jesus' Encounter with the Woman of Samaria

Jesus' encounter with the Woman of Samaria

In the course reader we are told 'John planned the sequence of events in his gospel very carefully', (pg 25). Indeed, after the prologue, we find a number of stories in the first few chapters that seem to develop a theme of 'out with the old - in with the new' as far as religion, particularly Judaism, was concerned. In chapter two, as the water is turned into wine, we see that the new wine of Jesus is so much better than the old wine. As a result of this miracle, placed so early in the gospel, the disciples believed in Jesus. Next, with the cleansing of the temple, Jesus makes the claim, 'Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up'. Like in much of John, Jesus' words are not immediately understood by the hearers, but John interprets the words as referring to the resurrection of Jesus, the new temple being his own body. In John chapter 3 we encounter the meeting with Nicodemus, told only in John's gospel. Nicodemus is both ' a man of the Pharisees and a ruler of the Jews' and represents all that was important in the old religion of Pharisaic Judaism. Edwards (2003, p 105,106), highlights the extraordinary ways in which the character of Nicodemus has been interpreted by theologians, whether John meant him to be understood positively or negatively, but all would confirm that Nicodemus would be seen as a pillar of respectability and a devout Jew. Here the message from Jesus is that being a child of Abraham was not enough, and that there was to be a second birth, or birth from above.

The story of the meeting with the Samaritan woman in chapter 4 stands in stark contrast to that of Nicodemus. Whilst Nicodemus had been an exceptionally well respected man and member of the Sanhedrin, the Samaritan woman had two counts against her. Brown (1988, p36) reminds us that there was 'great hostility between [the Samaritans] and the Jews'. Wright (2002, p41) goes further explaining that 'sometimes [the hostility] had broken out into actual skirmishes, with bloodshed and murder' although usually it was simply the case that a Jew would not have anything to do with a Samaritan. The fact that this was a woman, alone, made matters even more significant as a devout

Jew would not allow himself to be alone with a woman, and certainly would never initiate a conversation. Wright (2002, p41) also suggests that the timing of the woman's visit to the well would have suggested she was of immoral character. The woman is therefore understandably surprised that Jesus asks her for a drink, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (John 4 v 9, NIV 1973). It is interesting that later, in chapter 8 of John's Gospel we have a group of Jews labelling Jesus as a Samaritan (John 8 v 48, NIV 1973). In neither case is the label intended to be positive and serves to highlight the racial tension between the two groups.

In the conversation that follows we see that the Samaritan Woman speaks on behalf of all Samaritans. She and Jesus begin to use plural forms of address and the Samaritan woman voices national concerns of the Samaritans. Koestler (2003), writes 'The woman's role as the spokesperson for the Samaritan people emerges in the first part of the conversation. Her name is not given; she is simply called "a woman of Samaria" or "the Samaritan woman'. When Jesus asks her for a drink she raises the issue of national differences, [... ], then shifts into the plural [...]". We also see a style of writing which is common in John, where Jesus talks to people who misunderstand what he says - confusing earthly and heavenly meanings.

Here we see the first of the two main themes in this passage, that of living water. In earthly terms, living water referred to running or spring water, as opposed to water stored in cisterns during the rainless months, water that was therefore much more likely to be fresh and clean. This is of course the way the Samaritan women interprets Jesus' statement. This in itself can have additional meaning when you consider that Samaritan women were treated as if they were constantly impure, as living water was to be used when purifying people from a state of defilement. Even at this level it

is suggestive that 'Jesus offered a gift that would remove the taint from the Samaritans and bring them into the worshipping community' (Koester, 2003 p188). It is clear however that Jesus is talking figuratively and the 'living water' he offers is not physical water at all - indeed later in John 7 v 37-39, (NIV, 1973) John explains that Jesus is referring to the Holy Spirit. However, here it remains a mystery and although the woman cannot know exactly what Jesus is talking about (indeed in verse 15 she again misinterprets a meaning of physical water) there is a veiled and obscured recognition of a genuine desire for something more than Jacob's well can provide.

The second theme in this passage is that of worship in spirit and truth. After Jesus has revealed knowledge of her own self, the Samaritan woman recognises Jesus as a prophet and asks a theological issue that has long divided Jews and Samaritans (John 4 v 20 NIV, 1973), 'Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we