Wells and Wives

Introduction

Read 4:1-18

Quick Overview Notes

Samaritan woman as contrast to Nicodemus

He was rich, righteous, religious elite

She is common, unclean, outcast Samaritan

Continued theme of misunderstanding

You have no jar! (cf. 3:4; 4:32-33)

Continued theme of Jesus’s divine knowledge (cf. 1:42, 47-48; 2:24-25; 3:3)

But with a catch (4:1)?

I thought Jesus needed no one to bear witness about man? He knows all? But here, depending on your translation, Jesus “learns” something. The word here can mean learn or comprehend. But the way John uses this word is shown to us back in 2:24-25.

Same word as 2:24-25 — Jesus “knew” that the Pharisees had “heard”; not that one of Jesus’s disciples lets him know, but that Jesus is aware of the very moment the Pharisees find out about his popularity.

Belief with different result than 2:23-25 (4:39-42)

Some Considerations

Cana wedding warning — multiple levels, trap of coincidence

This narrative doesn’t come to us in isolation, it’s part of a story — part of John’s story, and part of God’s entire great story of the Bible. John keeps pointing us back to earlier parts of that story so that we can better understand Jesus. Jesus fulfills the story, but not in the way that people expect him to.

A Familiar Start

Man comes to a well, meets a woman.

Narrative Echoes

Genesis 24: Isaac and Rebekah

Genesis 29: Jacob and Rachel

Exodus 2: Moses and Zipporah

With those stories in mind, what do we find in John 4? Well, we find the beginnings of a well-established pattern.

Man comes to well. Man meets woman. One of them offers the other a drink. They discuss marriage. The woman runs home to tell her family, they welcome the man in to celebrate, and a betrothal takes place. All those are found explicitly in John 4, the betrothal. Keep that in mind for a moment, but there’s one more piece of preparation we need to consider.

There’s one more narrative echo, and it has to do with the place.

Genesis 34: Shechem and Dinah

Location (field purchased by Jacob from Hamor at Shechem and given to Joseph). Sychar seems to have been a Samaritan settlement which lay near the old city of Shechem and adjoined the field that had been purchased by Jacob.

John ties it in to this location for us, and Jacob will be brought up again during the course of the conversation.

In Genesis 34, we find a dark story that takes place at this very place. Directly after Jacob buys the field, Shechem, the son of Hamor, forces himself on Dinah the daughter of Jacob while she is out in the field. Then he asks to marry her, and Jacob’s sons agree on the condition that Shechem and all the other men of the city circumcise themselves. But this is simply part of a plot for revenge, and after Shechem and his companions circumcise themselves Simeon and Levi enter the city and kill every male inhabitant. This is the origin story of this place. This is, in fact, the deed that leads Jacob to curse both Simeon and Levi in his blessing of Genesis 49 (that their descendants should be scattered in Israel).

The interesting thing is that over the course of the conversation, the Samaritan woman makes it clear that she knows some history about this place and Jacob’s family. We know the story from Jesus’s perspective, but think about the story from the woman’s perspective. Might the woman be concerned?

It can be hard to put ourselves in the shoes of others, and understand how they might feel, but imagine the fear that a woman today would feel if approached by a strange man, alone without anyone in sight. Now imagine that same fear magnified because of the cultural context 2000 years ago, with the way women were treated then.

So when she says verse 11, she might well be wanting to make sure that they are in fact talking about actual physical water here. She may want to be sure that they’re talking about the same thing, not using any double entendres or euphemisms. Because think about it— we already know who Jesus is, and we already know what he’s talking about! She doesn’t know who he is! He’s just a stranger and she is alone. She doesn’t know who Jesus is, but she knows the story of this well—and she probably knows what happened after Jacob bought it.

So, the text says, Jews don’t deal with Samaritans. As we’ve already pointed out at least twice in John’s Gospel so far, there’s a bit of a question who is speaking here. Is it John, breaking in with a narrative interjection to explain what is happening? Or is it the woman, continuing her challenge? The verb tense matches the initial words of the woman, rather than the previous narrator interjection in verse 8.

That word (‘have dealings with’) is interesting, too, as many commentators have noted. It has a broad range of meaning, both straightforward and euphemistic. It can mean deal, use, associate, make use of… and in that sense, it is sometimes used as a type of double entendre. And so in the Greek text of Genesis 19:7, when the men of Sodom are beating on Lot’s door, demanding that he give to them his male guests, it’s a form of this same word that he uses when he says: “I have two daughters who have not known a man. I will bring them out to you, and you may use them how it pleases you.”

Even more relevant for our discussion, though, is the fact that this Greek root is also found in Genesis 34:31, in the words of Simeon and Levi as they describe their outrage at their sister’s assault.

The Samaritan woman says, “Jews don’t ‘synchrontai’ with Samaritans.” The sons of Jacob say, “shall they ‘chresontai’ our sister like a prostitute?”

Interesting, isn’t it, that the same word, though it has a spectrum of perfectly innocuous meanings, happens to be used in its euphemistic sense in the story that takes place at the very same location as our interaction in John 4, as John is careful to mark for us.

The location and context of the story might suggest to us that the Samaritan woman isn’t just surprised that Jesus would be willing to engage her in conversation. She may well be afraid that his intentions go beyond that.

And so, she uses guarded language. Jews don’t associate with Samaritans. Jews don’t take advantage of Samaritans. Jews don’t use Samaritans.

That was true. Because of their history of intermarriage with Gentiles, because of their mixed blood, the Jews considered them perpetually impure. Rabbinical tradition spoke of Samaritan women as though they were never free from their menstrual impurity.

So, perhaps like Tamar says to her brother Amnon in an attempt to stop assault, ‘such a thing is not done in Israel’, the Samaritan woman looks at this stranger and subtly seeks to remind him: you are a Jew and I am a Samaritan. You don’t want to associate with me.

Or if we think back to the way that water is used as sexual imagery in Proverbs 5:15-18:

Proverbs 5:15–18 LSB

Drink water from your own cistern And fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? Let them be for you alone, And not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, And be glad in the wife of your youth.

The question for Jesus is really this, whether we’re talking about a literal drink or the language is euphemistic: why are you at our well? Get water from your own well; this well isn’t yours. You don’t use our wells.

Don’t think this is a strange situation? Watch the reaction of the disciples when they come back in verse 27! Imagine their surprise and discomfort when they come back to find him engaged in close conversation with a Samaritan woman. ‘So, uh… whatcha been up to, Jesus?’ They recognize the awkwardness!

So, there are two directions of subtext here. One is the context of traditional betrothal scenes; the other is a kind of twisted betrothal scene, one that begins with violence and abuse. A Jewish reader seeing this scene unfolding might ask, right along with the Samaritan woman, what kind of story is this going to be?

Expectations Undone

What’s the point? Connections and narrative allusions are cool, but what’s their purpose? The subtext that begins this awkward interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is interesting to think about, but how does it contribute to our understanding of the chapter?

Well, there’s a power to this story that we might miss if we only zone in on what Jesus means by the “living water” that he offers, or what he means by “spirit and truth” in verse 24. In fact, there might actually be a risk that if we don’t get the big picture of the chapter, we might misunderstand what Jesus means by “living water” or “spirit and truth.” We’re going to spend next week talking about those two specific exchanges. But those things are part of the fuller picture that John uses this chapter to present to us. Remember that John is showing us episodes that demonstrate who Jesus is and what he has come to do.

The connections to these betrothal scenes shouldn’t really surprise us at this point in John. That kind of symbolism has already shown up multiple times! In Jesus’s first sign, at the wedding of Cana, Jesus stood in the place of the bridegroom as the one to supply wine for the guests. Just a few verses before this story, John the Baptist compares Jesus to a bridegroom! That’s part of who Jesus is, part of what he has come to do! He is the Messiah, the bridegroom who has come to win his bride and remove her shame.

So, if we’re thinking about those Old Testament stories allegorically, this kind of story might fit right in. Like Isaac and Jacob, Jesus has come to find his bride. Like Isaac and Jacob, he comes to a well. Like Isaac and Jacob, he meets a woman.

This is the point where the expectations begin to come undone. Because if we’re thinking about those stories in Genesis, we’d remember why Abraham sent Eliezar to Laban’s house to find a wife for Isaac. We’d remember why Isaac and Rebekah sent Jacob back to that same place to find his own wife. They went there because they wanted their children to have wives from their own kin, wives who would be faithful, wives who would be servants of the God of heaven. They wanted their sons to avoid intermarrying with the people of Canaan.

And here’s the first difference. What woman does Jesus come to? A Samaritan. An impure, unfaithful Samaritan. Someone who represented Israel’s unfaithfulness and intermingled association with the pagan nations.

Rebekah and Rachel? Young and beautiful.

Woman in John 4? Samaritan, and on her 6th man. Whether because of tragedy or sin, and I think the implication is more likely to be sin, this woman’s state is wretched and difficult. And this is the woman Jesus comes to.

Point isn’t that Jesus is wooing this particular woman. But he does bring her to himself, and she believes, and in so doing she becomes part of his bride. This is a story that typifies for us what Jesus came to do. And it is a wonderful thing.

This is the point: just as important as what Jesus comes to offer, the living water of verses 10 & 14, just as important is who he comes to offer it to. It is not only for Israel, but for whoever will take him (cf. 4:14); for the world (cf. 4:42). It is not only for the faithful, but for the unfaithful. It is for the downtrodden, the outcast, the sinful, the wretched.

A Greater Story

What kind of story is this going to be? Well, a greater one. Because Jesus is greater, certainly greater than Shechem, greater than Isaac and Jacob and Moses. He has not come to take, but to give. He hasn’t come only to offer physical water, but living water. He hasn’t come to join himself only to this woman, but to her entire people, and to the world. Consider this, too:

Whole point of the water in those earliest stories was to judge the quality or the worthiness of the bride. In this story, though, the quality of the bride isn’t the issue. In the story of Rebekah, Eliezar asked for water as a means of distinguishing a good match; Jesus seeks out one who is the opposite of a good match. Jacob was sent to his family to ensure a faithful bride; Jesus goes to those he knows are unfaithful. Jacob saw a shepherdess; Jesus saw a lost sheep. Jacob saw a desirable virgin and wanted to make her his bride so desperately that he labored seven years; Jesus saw a wretched, sinful woman with a bad reputation and wanted to make her his bride so desperately that he went to the cross.

So, the question: are you greater than our father Jacob? Yes! This is the greatest manifestation of God’s loving faithfulness.

Jesus is the fullness of the Love that led God to say to Hosea:

Hosea 3:1 ESV

And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”

And in Hosea 6:3:

Hosea 6:3 ESV

Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”

Take it a step back and think about it this way: if God, like Abraham and like Isaac after him, wanted to find a wife for his beloved son, which is part of the scenarios that this well scene reminds us of, this is not where he should send him. This is not where he should go. This doesn’t fit the paradigm. Samaria? This woman? Jesus shouldn’t have come here. Jesus shouldn’t have come to us.

And this is part of the power of Ephesians 5:25-27.

Ephesians 5:25–27 ESV

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Why did she need to be washed? Because she was filthy! Why did she need to be purified and made without blemish? Because she was ugly! Jesus loved the church not because it was beautiful, like Rachel, or pure, like Mary, or eager to serve, like Rebekah. Jesus loved us, Jesus sought us, Jesus labored for us, when we were ugly and defiled and unfaithful.

John 4 is a betrothal story, of sorts. Intentionally so. But it’s a betrothal story that brings us face to face with the real picture of the marriage between Christ the bridegroom and the Church his bride.

Are you greater than Jacob, she asks Jesus? Yes, for an infinite number of reasons, but including this one: that Jacob wanted Rachel, the beautiful wife, but Jesus wanted Leah.