APRIL 22, 2012 ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON WOMAN OF SAMARIA

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1 APRIL 22, 2012 ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON WOMAN OF SAMARIA MINISTRY INVOCATION O, Holy Father: We come now, in Your Presence, seeking forgiveness for all of our sins. We thank You for looking beyond our faults and providing for all of our needs. Your grace and mercy have kept us continually. Amen. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW AND UNDERSTAND To explore the restorative power of Jesus in giving people living water. To experience the redemptive process of Christ in their lives To witness to others about the re-creating presence of Jesus in their lives THE APPLIED FULL GOSPEL DISTINCTIVE TEXT: Background Scripture: John 4:1-42 Key Verse: John 4:14 Lesson Scripture John 4:7-15, 23-26, John 4:7 15 (NASB95) 7 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give Me a drink. 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. 11 She said to Him, Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. 1

2 15 The woman said to Him, Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw. John 4:23 26 (NASB95) 23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. 25 The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us. 26 Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. John 4:28 30 (NASB95) 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, 29 Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it? 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him. COMMENTARY 4:7 9 A well or spring (like a gate of a city) was in the ancient world a place of encounter. Indeed, springs and wells in the Bible could be places of divine encounter. While Jesus was resting at the well, a Samaritan woman came to draw water. The arrival of the woman set up a crisis for traditional Jewish custom of the day. Not only did the Jews avoid contact with the Samaritans, but Jewish men avoided speaking with women in public even their own wives! Jewish rabbis wanted women to stay in their place. Men certainly did not want to discuss theological issues with them. They also did not think that the ( the people of the land who worked with their hands such as fishermen and carpenters) had any ability to speak about the fine points of religion, particularly about details of God s saving work. This perspective would be even more emphatic when dealing with a woman, particularly the wife of a common laborer who was viewed as very low on the Jewish social scale. We can imagine what the rabbinic view would be of a questionable, half-breed Samaritan woman! Jesus was different. This woman was really being treated like a person. Jesus even wanted a drink from her (John 4:7). What would the disciples have said if they had been around? Fortunately they were conveniently out of the way looking for kosher food in Samaria (4:8)! The woman did not know what to make of such an overture. Jesus did not fit the stereotype of kosher-concerned Jewish men. Her first response, therefore, was to question him about his unexpected freedom in conversation (4:9). The comment that follows the woman s question in v. 9 concerning the Jewish refusal to deal with Samaritans may present a few problems. The 2

3 importance of the statement goes far beyond mere dishes to general rules of ritual impurity, exemplified in a general Jewish avoidance of Samaritans. 4:10 11 Perhaps the woman was probing in her questioning to determine whether Jesus conversation with her was actually unusual. Jewish men indeed spoke to prostitutes, who did not fit the reckoning of true people of God, and therefore, there was no violation of custom in speaking with them. Did she wonder whether Jesus was like most other men she knew? That question remains unanswered. She was in for a surprise because instead of his original request for water, Jesus suggested that she might want to ask him for living water. If she had comprehended who He was, she could ask for living water. If she had listened, she would have heard that He was the gift (dōrean) of God. To the faithful expectant ones, this idea of gift was none other than the hoped-for fulfillment of God s promises. Jesus words concerning living water fit well with this Gospel s love for double-level language that so often demonstrated the people s misunderstanding of Jesus. They repeatedly failed to comprehend that his teaching was rooted in an Old Testament perspective on God s dealing with his people. As Jesus spoke, listeners often thought He was dealing with the physical or mundane level of reality, when in fact His words pointed to the spiritual or eternal level of reality. The double-level meaning concerns two senses of living water. The expression can refer to moving water as from a spring. She missed the point. In Africa and the Middle East water was one of the great religious symbols in the ancient world. A well in a desert is the difference between life and death. It is precisely that kind of difference, which Jesus was telling the woman He could make in her life. In proceeding with this strange conversation, the woman was not only confused by Jesus discussion about water, but her confusion led her to ask a crucial Johannine question the question of source. The woman did not understand from whence He received this living water (4:11). At the heart of human misunderstanding about Jesus is the question of recognizing His origin. 4:12 The Johannine message is that Jesus replaces or is superior to most of the cultic or historic symbols in Israel s faith. The patriarch Jacob was not only an ancestor revered by the Jews but also by the Samaritans. Although there is no Old Testament text that relates Jacob to this well, it was part of the region s tradition. The woman s question, therefore, of whether Jesus was greater than their ancestor Jacob, who provided the historic well, raised the issue of the common ancestry of Jew and Samaritan. The question provided the perfect opening for Jesus to press his evangelistic message to the woman. 4:13 15 In replying to the woman, Jesus did not challenge her tradition about the well by drawing attention to her poor understanding of biblical texts. 3

4 He did not even mention Jacob again. Such an approach would be an evangelistic tangent that might appeal to those of us who love to argue. Instead, Jesus returned to the core question of water and thirst on two levels. Although the woman may have been thinking about well water (4:13), Jesus was interested in internal or spiritual water. Such water would become in a person not stale cistern water but a free-flowing fountain or spring of water leaping or bubbling into life eternal (4:14). The symbolism of Jesus water completely escaped the woman s understanding. So she asked for a pipeline to Jesus water to avoid the drudgery of the physical work that brought her to draw water from the well either at high noon or at six in the evening (4:15). 4:21 24 The issue was clear. If Jesus had entered the age-old argument of which was the right temple (like our arguments about the right church), the woman would not have had to face herself and her sin. Christians who seek to be ambassadors for Christ must always be wary of falling into the trap of arguing about the right place of worship or the right denomination. Jesus did not argue with the woman. The point is not winning arguments but introducing people to the dimension of God in their lives. The model of Jesus is thus very instructive. He turned the conversation away from place of worship to nature of worship. In so doing, he modeled a correct evangelistic perspective. Jesus did not leave the woman with a vague witness about God. He pushed her to think about the personal God who acts in history. First, He called her to an eschatological reality (the coming hour) that would affect all worship (4:21). Because God has acted primarily through people in the world, He is not basically building-oriented. The mention of hour is a Johannine theme that encapsulates the decisive moment in history of the crucifixion and resurrection that transformed and continues to transform human reality. Second, Jesus reminded her that salvation is directly related to God s working in history (4:22). The issue was not a matter of national or tribal pride. That was the woman s perspective on God and religion. It is also a familiar theme among many Americans. The issue, however, was understanding how God had chosen to reveal the divine purpose in history. Worship devoid of understanding God s activity in history operates within a vacuum. To make this point clear, the evangelist employed his theme of knowledge. Jesus said that Samaritan worship lacked knowledge, the critical relational aspect of genuine worship. Third, Jesus defined acceptable worship as participating in two revealed aspects of divine reality: spirit and truth (4:23). These aspects of worship reflect important themes in this Gospel, and both are repeated in v. 24 so that the point cannot be missed. God is Spirit and not flesh. The worshipers envisaged here are born of the Spirit. Thus, their worship 4

5 participates in the revelation of divine reality. Likewise, these worshipers participate in the divinely revealed reality of truthfulness or steadfastness/dependability, a category that epitomizes the way God reveals the divine reality to human beings. No one genuinely knows God except through some form of revelatory encounter, but such encounters should be enlightened through written or oral articulations in order that such encounters become defined to humans and not remain subjective experiences. It is in the combination of those two elements that one can sense the point being made here, namely, that acceptable worship involves both spirit and truth (fulness). The Johannine understanding of spirit and truth is not to be identified with the Gnostic usage of such terms. The Gnostic perspective is that of a secret godhead that is hidden from all except those who possess the special key of gnosis (knowledge). The statements of Jesus in vv are, thus, far more than arguments in a conversation with a woman. If the Samaritan woman wanted a theological prophet, she had met one. This prophet did not bite on her bone of ecclesiastical discussion. Instead, He turned her question around so that she was forced again to confront herself. 4:25 26 Her statement that she knew that the Messiah was coming and that He would provide all the answers (4:25) could be interpreted as a genuine quest for the time of the messianic age, or it could be her last effort at changing the subject and putting this strange speaker in his place. Perhaps the woman did not really want to reveal herself until she was sure it was safe to do so before the One Who knew everything anyway. The woman began her final response with the words I know (4:25), an intriguing contrast to Jesus earlier statement that we worship what we know (4:22). The storytelling techniques of John portray Jesus as pushing for deeper understandings of believing from those who met Him. In response to her reply, Jesus immediately seized the opportunity and declared (lit.), I am [egō eimi; 4:26], the one speaking to you. In these texts, Jesus is the startling presence of the divine, and highlights the fact that resistance to him is impossible (18:5). The particular force of the statement here needs to be noted. The conversation is finished! 4:27 30 The return of the disciples constitutes an interruption that in effect sets up a striking contrast between the woman, who is an outsider, and the disciples, who are insiders. The contrast is a study in reversal because the insiders who ought to know Jesus perspective wrestle with unspoken questions that reveal their lack of understanding, whereas the outsider posits an important question that moves her in the direction of being an insider. The words in these verses are therefore exceedingly important. 5

6 The disciples were astonished that Jesus was talking with a woman (4:27). Indeed, the rabbis frowned on discussing any theological issues with women, likening the process of such intellectual discussion to liberating them or opening them to a life of immorality. The disciples were men of their times, probably more concerned that Jesus was talking with a woman than that she was a Samaritan. She really had three strikes against her: (1) she was a woman, (2) she was a Samaritan, and (3) she had a questionable reputation. Yet, Jesus did not seem to be bothered by such customary patterns of restrictive conversation. His message was for everyone, those of every culture and standing in society. He was truly cross-cultural in his perspective and concern for others. The text of 4:27 indicates that although the disciples had many questions about this so-called improper type of conversation, they apparently did not challenge Jesus. Unfortunately, we are not told why the disciples were unwilling to confront Jesus, but it is not difficult to surmise. The disciples probably guessed that they would be censured for their Jewish male biases. She left her water pot and returned to the town/city (4:28). Again we are not told why she left the vessel at the well, and again it is not difficult to surmise the reason. Her attention apparently had been diverted from the pot to her life. The danger of over symbolization or allegorization of John s Gospel is always present. Instead of a water pot she brought a testimony and a question to the men of the town. The NIV, RSV, and NRSV rendering of anthropois by people is certainly possible but probably misses the force of men here. We have a woman who probably knew where to find the men of the town, and her story also may well have been their story! So her comment come, see a man who told me everything I ever did would be an interesting report to them. Remember the double standard of morality that existed in popular Judaism of that day and continues. The woman s statement does not need to imply that Jesus actually had rehearsed her whole life but merely some significant matters. A few such details as suggested in 4:17 18 would have indicated to her that He also knew everything else as well. Her question, Could this be the Christ? introduced by the word mēti implies a negative answer or at least an element of doubt. The evangelist seems to have been suggesting that the woman, despite leaving her water pot, was still debating the issue herself. In periods of questioning, people often seek confirmation. The woman s question thus seems to be one of those stages in the NIV New International Version RSV Revised Standard Version NRSV New Revised Standard Version 6

7 process toward decision-making. Her testimony concerning Jesus incredible knowledge about her life seems to be balanced by her unresolved doubt, but together they provide a stimulus for the others to go out and investigate this potential Messiah (4:30). People do not need to be fully convinced in order to be witnesses. At this point, the woman basically fades out of the story, and the focus moves to the Samaritan village as a whole. RELATED DISCUSSION TOPICS CLOSING PRAYER Dear God: Hear our prayers today. Keep us in Your fond embrace that we may continually cling to You. You have blessed us beyond measure and beyond what we deserve. Amen. 7