Receiving the Gifts of Christ: Ways of Reading the Fourth Gospel Narratives During Lent

            The Gospel readings for the third and fourth Sundays of Lent offer two familiar texts from John’s Gospel that invite the reader to dispense with familiar categories of certitude when it comes to Jesus.  It can be said in fact, that one of the most important leitmotif’s of the Fourth Gospel involves the reader – as it does the characters in the narrative – with a challenge to let go of what one thinks one knows about Jesus in order to be made open to receiving the gifts of God, the origin of which are “from above” (John 3:3).  Keeping one’s reading eye attuned for such a motif is not an easy task by any means given the fact that for most of us, our familiarity with these texts – for many, a familiarity hammered into shape over an entire life-time – often dulls our receptivity to anything new about them.  Thus, what is offered here is a suggested way – in outline form and with a few comments – to read a particular text (John 4:4-42) that may indeed disclose to the reader gifts that were heretofore hidden by familiarity, if not a comfortable certitude with whom one thinks Jesus is.  The reader will want to have a translation of John’s Gospel open when reviewing the outline below.

            But first, it is helpful to offer a list (not exhaustive) of leitmotifs common throughout the entire narrative of John’s Gospel.  These themes describe a kind of dualism within the narrative’s thought world, the recognition of which can give the reader a narrative “heads-up” to something happening that is of particular importance.

                        Above                          Below
                        Spirit                            Flesh
                        Light (day)                    Darkness (night)
                        To Know                     To Not Know
                        Sight                             Blindness
                        Life                              Death

The dualisms listed above, along with others throughout the Gospel, form what can be said to be the interpretive crux for John’s Gospel, for in this Gospel what one knows or does not know is of vital importance if one is going to able to receive the gifts of God from above.

Third Sunday of Lent: John 4:4-42

Prologue: John 4:4-6
Samaritans practiced their own form of Israelite religion sacrificing at Mount Gerizim rather than the Temple in Jerusalem.  Samaritans and Israelites did not normally get along with one another because of this and other differences that go back to the fall of the Northern Kingdom in the 8th Century BC.

Jesus stops at Jacobs well, a place that both Samaritans and Jews would have venerated.

It was “about noon,” when the light (day!) of the sun was at its brightest.  Contrast this with Nicodemus’ encounter with Jesus at night(darkness!; 3:1-11).

While many homilists typically draw attention to the woman’s (sinful) marital status, even focusing on it as the driving point of the story, the narrative itself (and Jesus) clearly does not.

John 4:7-15; the gift of “living water”
Jesus asks for water and the woman responds by pointing out what she already knows, that is, Jews and Samaritans do not speak (4:7-9).

Jesus tells the woman that if she knewthe gift of God (eternal life) and who is speaking with her (Jesus, the One sent from God), then she would ask for “living water” (4:10).

“Living water” in the original Greek of the story can mean either “life-giving water” (in a spiritual sort of way), or simply “running/moving water,” like a river or a spring.  The woman hears “running water” (4:11-12) when Jesus means “life-giving water” that wells up to eternal life (4:14) – hence we have two levels of understanding/knowing going on here; the woman’s, which is earthly – from below, and Jesus’ which is from above.

John 4:16-19; Jesus Reveals Himself – the Woman Testifies
Jesus seems to change the topic to the woman’s marital status.  But rather, Jesus is inviting the woman to “come back” (4:16) to a place that she, only a verse earlier (4:15), said she did not want to ever come back to – not realizing the “living water” that Jesus offers.

The woman, still ensconced in earthly knowledge, responds not to the invitation but to the matter of her husband.  Recognizing this, Jesus utilizes the situation to reveal something about himself to the woman, namely, that he is able to know more about her than he should (4:17-18), much like he did earlier with Nathanael (John 1:48-49). 

Jesus’ revelation of his knowledge about the Samaritan woman is a crucial moment for her, as it is in fact an invitation to let go of the apparent topic (her marital status), and to recognize the actual topic, Jesus’ extraordinary knowledge.  The woman does this very thing and offers her first testimony about Jesus; “I can see that you are a prophet” (4:19). After 4:19, nothing is said or implied about the woman’s marital status.

John 4:20-26; Jesus’ Invitation to True Worship
The Samaritan Woman initiates discussion with Jesus about worship (she is not afraid to talk theology with this guy), revealing that she is still thinking, that is, still knowing in the earthly terms of the differences between Samaritans and Jews (4:20).

Jesus reveals to the woman the character of true worship – not anchored by a particular place (or an earthly way of knowing) – that will commence when “the hour” (i.e. Jesus exaltation on the Cross) arrives (4:24).

The woman says what she thinks she knows about the Messiah (who stands in front of her), and how the Messiah will “tell us everything” (just like Jesus just did about the woman; 4:17-18; cf. 4:29, 39).  Jesus reveals plainly who he is (4:26) – but then, the narrative takes an abrupt turn…the disciples return.

John 4:27-38; The Disciples’ Miscue – The Samaritan Woman’s Testimony
While the disciples are wondering about earthly matters – why Jesus speaks with a woman (4:9), and later, who could have brought Jesus food (4:27, 31-33), the Samaritan woman is bearing witness to Jesus in the town – “Come see a man who told me everything I have done,” and wondering if Jesus is Messiah (4:29); this is the woman’s second testimony about Jesus (cf. 4:19).  Her testimony is so convincing that the people of the town “went out to meet” Jesus (4:30), that is, the entire town is now responding to Jesus’ earlier invitation to the woman to “come back” to the well (cf. 4:16).

While the people are on their way, Jesus points out the disciples’ lack of knowledge – “I have food to eat of which you do not know” (4:32ff.).  Moreover, Jesus articulates in parabolic fashion that while the disciples are concerned about his talking with a Samaritan woman and getting some food, the Samaritan woman is simultaneously doing the work the disciples should be doing – namely, testifying about Jesus Messiah, that is, reaping the harvest which is the will of the one who sent Jesus (4:34-39).

John 4:39-42; Final Testimony About Jesus
The narrative is explicit about why “many of the Samaritans” came to believe in Jesus that day.  Not because a woman steeped in a sinful marital situation had something extraordinary to say about Jesus, or something of the kind.  But the town believes simply because of her testimony that “he told me everything I have done” (4:39), the hyperbole of the testimony itself pointing to Jesus’ extraordinary knowledge as key, rather than to the woman’s sinfulness.

The final testimony about Jesus comes from the entire town and is directed at the woman: “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves (from Jesus who has been with them for two days), and we know that this is truly the savior of the world” (4:42).

The Samaritan woman’s encounter with Jesus in chapter four, is set in contrast to that of Nicodemus’ in chapter three.  One encounter has a Samaritan woman coming into the presence of the light (Jesus) during the high point of the day, while the other has a Jewish man – a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews! – coming into the presence of the light (Jesus) under the cover of the darkness, night.  One encounter portrays a woman who at first is grounded firmly and comfortably in what she thinks she knows, and is able to resist what she thinks she knows in order to bear witness to Messiah.  The other portrays a man firmly grounded in what he thinks he knows and is ultimately unable to let go of that. One encounter results in the reception of the gift of faith – living water – by an entire town, while the other encounter results in a community leader walking away, unable to receive the gift. 

Lent is a particularly good season to consider Christ anew, and to open one’s self to something unfamiliar and extraordinary about God in Christ.

[One may find it rewarding to read carefully through the ninth chapter of John’s gospel – the reading for the fourth Sunday of Lent – with an eye toward spotting the same sort of themes found in John 4: earthly knowledge vs. knowledge from above; darkness vs. light; sight vs. blindness.]

Resources Consulted

Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel and the Epistles of John: A Concise Commentary (Liturgical Press, 1988).

Gail R. O’Day, The Word Disclosed (Chalice Press, 2002).