John 4

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Gospel of John

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Analysis

This chapter relates Jesus’ interactions with two people. The first is a Samaritan woman, and the second is a Royal Official.

4:1-42 The Woman at the Well

Mounting opposition to Jesus’ increasing success causes him to leave Judea and return to Galilee via Samaria. Jesus is tired, and rests at the Well of Jacob and, not having a bucket to draw water, he waits until a woman arrives and asks her for a drink. This was an extraordinary thing to do for many reasons; first of all Jews hated Samaritans, they considered them idolatrous and unclean, and refused to have anything to do with them (note the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:30-35). Secondly, Jewish men were not supposed to talk to women whom they did not know. The woman’s reaction to Jesus shows her surprise that e Jewish man would speak to a Samaritan woman (John 4:9).

Jesus uses her question to speak of living water. The woman is confused by this (John 4:11), but he reveals that he is not speaking of physical water, but something different. This passage does not make it clear exactly what Jesus is referring it, but his speech at the Water Ceremony at the Festival of Temples (John 7:37-39) makes it clear that he is referring to the Holy Spirit.

The woman asks for the living water, and Jesus’ reply is the first step to him giving it to her. His question about her husband forces her to reveal the sinful state of her life. Jesus shows his intimate knowledge of her personal life, and his miraculous knowledge convinces the woman that he is a prophet. Because she has begun to believe that Jesus is sent from God, the woman asks him the key question that divides Jews and Samaritans – which mountain should God be worshipped on? (The Jews worshipped on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem while the Samaritans worshipped on Mt. Gerizim[1]) Jesus’ response shows that there is no future need for a single place of worship. Instead of having a single Temple to dwell in, God is going to make his people a temple in which he will dwell through his Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 3:16-17; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:21).

The woman shows great knowledge of the scriptures, because she instantly connects the out-pouring of the Spirit with the coming of the Messiah (John 4:24-25). Jesus’ response is uncharacteristically straight-forward. This is the first passage in which he directly states that he is the Messiah (John 4:26), and he only says it as clearly one more time, near the end of his ministry (John 10:24-25). It is interesting that this first declaration is to a Samaritan woman, and it raises the issue of Women in the Gospel of John.

The location – the Well of Jacob – and events of this passage echo the two patriarchal stories where Isaac and Jacob gained their wives through meetings at wells (Genesis 24:10-26; 29:1-12). However, where the Patriarchs found faithful wives by the well, a dominant theme of Jesus’ conversation with the woman is her unfaithfulness to marriage. The woman also asks an important question – “are you greater than our father Jacob?” (John 4:12). Unintentionally, she highlights another important theme raised in the Prologue of John – that Jesus fulfils the Old Testament).

The woman leaves to tell her whole village about her amazing encounter with a prophet, who might be the Messiah and the whole village comes out to see him (John 4:28-30). They urge Jesus to stay for two days, and through that time, many of them became believers (John 4:39-42).

4:31-38 – The Harvest

Between the time that the woman left and the villagers arrived, Jesus engaged in a short conversation with his disciples. Just like the conversation with the woman about water, a concerned question from the disciples about food is redirected to a deeper meaning (John 4:34). Jesus tells his disciples that his main priority is to do the work of the Father who sent him. In the following verses he explains the nature of this work (John 4:35-38). The harvest is the people who God has called into his Kingdom. Over centuries, he has sent prophets and teachers to prepare the way for Jesus – they are the ones who have “sown the crops”. Now, with Jesus’ arrival, his work (and the disciples’) is to reap the harvest – bring in the people who have been prepared beforehand for the Kingdom. To emphasise this point, the Samaritan villagers arrive straight after he says this, and the work of “harvesting” begins immediately as many come to faith in him.[2]

4:43-54 – The Royal Official

Jesus then performs the second miracle that is called a “sign” (John 4:54, see Signs in the Gospel of John). Jesus’ interrupted journey has been completed, and he arrives to a warm welcome in Galilee (John 4:43-45). Although John 4:44 holds an ominous hint at future rejection. Jesus returns to the site of his first “sign” (cf. John 2:1-11) and is met by a Royal Official who had heard of Jesus previous miracles, and travelled from Capernaum (about 14 hours’ travel[3]) to ask him to heal his Son. The Official appears to show no interest in the usual questions of Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, but is only interested in his healing abilities. This causes Jesus to comment on the need of the people to see miracles before they believe (John 4:48). This, coupled with the previous negative statement about his home town (John 4:44) suggests that the people of Galilee had faith in Jesus’ miracles, rather than in his identity as the Messiah. [4] Jesus heals the child with a word, and sends the man home. When he hears of the miracle, the man and his whole household believed.

It is possible that this man was a Gentile member of the court of Herod Antipas.[5] If so, this miracle shows a progression over the past two chapters: Jesus first talks to a Jewish religious official, then to a Samaritan woman, then to a Gentile. This progression matches the paradigmic statement of Acts 1:8, and the expansion of God’s grace from being a Jewish privilege to an offer to the whole world.

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Notes

  1. ↑ Kostenberger, 152
  2. ↑ Kostenberger, 161 ff.
  3. ↑ Kostenberger, 170
  4. ↑ Kostenberger, 170
  5. ↑ Kostenberger, 169
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