John 4:5-42, An Exegetical Paraphrase by Thomas R. Gaulke
Beyond Belonging: the Wellspring, the Bread, and the Banquet for All
I. Passing Through Town
[Passing through from Judea to Galilee, Jesus] came to the Samaritan city that was named, “Drunken.” The city was near that spot of land that had been given by Joseph to his son Jacob. Jacob’s well was there.
It was about noon and, while Jesus’ disciples had gone to the city to buy food, Jesus sat looking exhausted out in the sun near the well. And, indeed, he didn't just look it.
II. Passing Through Social, Ethnic, Religious, and Gender Divides (by Asking for Help)
Right about that time, a woman who was a Samaritan arrived to draw water. Quenched almost already at the sight of her, Jesus quickly risked a request: “Give me a drink?” he said.
Receiving his question, the woman of Samaria replied with a question of her own. “I am a woman belonging to a Samaritan lineage," she said, "and you are a man who belongs to a Jewish one. But here you are–in Samaria–asking me for a drink. Forgive my suspicion, but: what are you actually doing around these parts? (You see, it is said that at the time that this book was written, people of Jewish lineage did not associate with or share things in common with folks from Samaria. It was taboo–and shameful. And here was Jesus out in the open underneath the noontime sun.)
[Jesus fully understood her suspicion. And her concern regarding where and to whom each of them belonged. The division that had emerged between their ethnic groups was real and not unfamiliar with acts of hostility. Each person born into one group belonged to that group. From it, one received one's first values and one's family name. This was lovely, of course. And one key to survival in a harsh world beneath harsh suns. However, it did present problems. For example, a person born into one group seemed destined to detest the other. Jesus picked up on this language of belonging that the woman used and ran with it:
“I hear you say that you belong among Samaritans. And I believe you when you say your place is here. At the same time] I wonder: what if you also belong to something more, something much bigger? What if you belong also to the Gift of God? And if so, what if that means that you are even related to [me], the one requesting, ‘Give me a drink?’ And if that were the case, I wonder what would happen if you turned his question right around and directed it toward him. It's possible that if you did, he would give you water that's alive.”
III. Passing Through Division Into Commonality
The woman addressed Jesus differently. “Sir, Lord, Master, [κύριος]," she said, "you and I–both of us–are descended from Jacob. We both belong to his lineage. We share his blood. And Jacob's the person who gave us this well. With his sons and his flocks, he drank from it, just like us. Because of him, our shared ancestor, we both get a chance to take a drink today.
"However, you clearly don't have a bucket. And today this well seems to have no bottom. ‘Alive’ or 'regular,' where do you think you’re going to get water from? Are you implying that somehow you have in you a gift greater than Jacob's?
IV. Passing from a Common Ancestor into a Common Wellspring of Life
“Everyone who drinks from this well’s water will suffer thirst again,” Jesus said. "This everybody knows. And this is why we have buckets. And why we return. But those who partake in the water that I will gift them, won’t suffer from thirst ever again. Because, deep inside of them, this water will become a spring. A well-spring. A geyser. That is to say: they’re not going to need a bucket. For this water will be gushing upward–upward toward a life that is abundant and eternal.
The woman said to him, “Sir, Lord, Master, you give me a drink! Give me this water! May I never be thirsty! May I never have to come back here to draw water, again!”
Then there was an unexpected turn in the conversation.
V. Blurring Belonging Beyond
“Go, call your man. And come back,” Jesus said.
“I have no man,” she replied.
“‘I have no man.’ This is Beautifully said,” said Jesus, “for, although you’ve held onto five, with none of them–including the man you’ve got now–have you felt at home.”
“Lord,” she said. I behold that you are a prophet.”
She proceeded as one does when one is speaking to a prophet. “Our ancestors bowed down in awe of God on this mountain,” she said. “But your people say that if you’re going to show God proper honor, then it should really be in Jerusalem.”
Sensing her either/or approach, Jesus blurred her boundaries. “Trust me, sister. The hour is coming when you will bow down (προσκυνέω) to our First Parent neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
Although it is held by some that your people bow to one in whom you are not yet at home, and mine bow down to the one in whom we are at home (believing that salvation and deliverance belong particularly to my people), the times are changing. In fact, they have already changed.
VI. Blurring Belonging Within
The Day has arrived when those who bow down in awe to the Source of all of us, will do so from the heart. And they will do so [neither from a temple nor from a mountain] but from within the Spirit and within the Truth. These, after all, are those whom our Begetter is thirsty for.
“I know that a Messiah called Christ is coming,” she said. “When he arrives, he will declare to us all that we need to know,” she said.
“That’s me (!),” Jesus said to her, “the one who is speaking with you right now!”
VII. Interrupting Insinuations
With their customary awkward and interrupting timing, just then his disciples showed up. They were flabbergasted: Jesus was speaking with a woman–alone! But they kept their judgment to themselves. None of them said with disgust or accusation, “What are you thirsty for, talking to this woman, Jesus?” or, “Lordy, what are you talking to her for?”
The woman was leaving anyway. She left her bucket behind. And she went back to the city. She said to her people there, “You’ve got to see this. There is this guy who relayed to me all kinds of things that I’ve done. Which is amazing. But: clearly, he’s not the Christ (with a big ‘C,’ right?”
They responded only with their legs. They left the city and were on the way. They’d see him for themselves.
VIII. Fed with Bread Beyond
In the meantime, his disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, why don’t you grab something to eat. We picked up a bunch of snacks in town.”
“I have food to eat that doesn’t belong to you,” he said. The disciples said to one another, “Clearly, nobody brought him a snack, right?”
“What really feeds me the most is doing the will of the One who sent me,” Jesus said, “and completing his work.”
IX. Harvester, Reaper, Jew, Samaritan: All Will Feast at the Harvest Ball!
Doesn’t everybody say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? Well, I tell you, look around, get up off your knees for a minute, and turn your eyes toward the hills! Look at these fields! They are ripe and ready to harvest. The harvested are already on the payroll and are gathering fruit for a life without end. And so the sowers and harvesters are going to be able to celebrate and feast together. There's an old saying: ‘One sews and another reaps.’ In this case, the saying makes a lot of sense. I sent you to harvest crops that other people worked hard to plant. And you’ve joined into the work they’ve already begun.”
X. A Trusted Word, A Savior Known
A lot of folks from that Samaritan city put their trust in him. “He told me everything I’ve ever done,” she testified. And they believed her. When they arrived at the well, they asked him to stay for a while in Samaria. So he did. He stayed with them for two days. And in that time spent, a bunch of other folks put their trust in him, as well–because of his word (λόγος).
“It is not just because of what you said that we believe you, for we have heard for ourselves,” they said to the woman, “and we now belong to this truth: that this is truly the Savior of the cosmos (κόσμος).”
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