Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (4:1-42) Part 1

Posted on August 1st 2010 in St. John's Gospel

The meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is the second of Jesus’ encounters after the Cleansing of the Temple (2:13-22). Both meetings, that with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman, involve water which becomes a symbol for the Holy Spirit. The Samaritans were schismatic Jews who only accepted the Pentateuch, and between them and the Jews lay a long simmering hostility.

Jesus is now returning to Jerusalem from the northern Jordan and rests on reaching the ancient town of Sychar and Jacob’s Well. At the approach of a Samaritan woman Jesus asks for water. This contrived conversation between the two of them opens the way for Jesus to speak on the deepest level, about ‘the gift of God’ and about His identity: ‘the one who is talking to you’. These two themes will be explained in the following sections, vv. 10-15 and vv. 16-30.

The request by Jesus, ‘Give me a drink’, may be read on multiple levels. First, the obvious thirst of Jesus; secondly, the openness of Jesus to those beyond the confines of official Judaism, and thirdly, His desire for our prayer. This final mystical interpretation will resonate with the words that Jesus says on the Cross, ‘I thirst’. Both statements occur at the sixth hour.  The woman speaks at cross-purposes to Jesus and can only think in terms of water from the well, and the relationship between Jews and Samaritans. However, Jesus builds positively on her surprise to correct her misunderstanding as to His true identity. This acceptance would reverse the direction of the request, and she would be the one asking from God more than just water in the physical sense, but the living water of life itself, the Holy Spirit and the sacramental life of the Church. The double sided quality of the gift of living water and the gift of the Holy Spirit will become obvious on the Cross when Jesus yields up His Spirit and blood and water flow from His pierced side.

The theme of the ‘gifts of God’ occurs throughout the Gospel: The gift of the Law through Moses and grace and truth through Jesus Christ (1:17) and Jesus’ statement to Nicodemus ‘God gave His only Son’ (3:16). These gifts ultimately point to the true identity of Jesus Christ as well as to his future sending of the Holy Spirit.

A miracle is not in conflict with the laws of nature.

Posted on August 1st 2010 in Weekly messages

Last week a rare meeting of doctors was arranged at Lourdes to examine the claims of an Italian woman that she had been cured of her wasting disease. The credibility of the case has now effectively passed its first test. However, there must still be many further investigations before a miracle is declared. The woman concerned had originally come to Lourdes not to seek healing for herself but for an ill baby in the family, and for her husband so that he might receive the graces necessary to cope with her medical condition. Such a meeting of doctors would be unthinkable elsewhere, but in Lourdes this seemed the most natural course of action. However, among Catholic Doctors faith and rigorous science are not seen as mutually exclusive.

The uncritical acceptance of the separation of faith and reason leads to an erroneous understanding of the nature of a miracle. They are seen by the secular minded as an interruption of the laws of nature, and so are basically irrational and their pursuit by anyone a matter of superstition. The mechanistic application of the laws of nature requires a shrunken understanding of both time and space. These are accepted as absolutes: time is only considered one moment after another; and space, one place after another. These are perfectly serviceable meanings, as the rapid advance of technology makes obvious.

However, the exclusion of the spiritual dimension to space and time does justice neither to its deepest reality nor to the common human experience of both. This mysterious dimension may be grasped in our own experiences of time, which is certainly one of time passing, but always in conscious relation to one’s own perception. An individual may experience a fixed finite period of time as timeless, too long, or too short according to his own feelings. The relationship therefore, between our spiritual selves to space and time find its foundation in the widest relationship of all that between God and His creation within space and time to God.

This way of grasping space and time as all related to God might help us grasp that a miracle is not really in conflict with the laws of nature. If they were the case then God’s special action of facilitating a miracle would be in conflict with His creative power that establishes the laws of nature, including that of space and time. Such a situation would be incomprehensible in itself let alone to someone trying to understand the healing power of God in all its extra-ordinary forms. Yet this unfortunately is the unconscious position of the many believers who find all talk about miracles as being superstitious and medieval.

The issue of the nature of space and time might well be considered an abstruse point of philosophy, but in fact is fundamental for a reflective concept of faith. If time and space are absolutes then God, should He exist, would have to break into this secular world to achieve anything, rather than remaining present to His creation at every moment and in every place. In such a situation, the act of faith would not lead to an internal spiritual transformation but become a simple veneer of religious respectability over a secular body. The pursuit of a moral life loses its transforming power, and life is not seen as a possible whole, of reflective experience fostering spiritual growth. Instead of a potential deepening of understanding, a cult of instantaneous satisfaction takes over. The march of time to such a culture has to be halted or delayed, and is so revealed in binge drinking, drug taking, plastic surgery, endless travel and blind pursuit of wealth. The examination of this miracle, and the reflections on the implications to faith of God’s healing action, show that the believer lives within a richer sense of reality than someone who places the laws of nature over and against the actions of God.

Jesus and John the Baptist (Chapter 3:22-36)

Posted on July 4th 2010 in St. John's Gospel

Both John the Baptist, lasted mentioned in the first Chapter, and Jesus are baptising simultaneously in different neighbourhoods. The baptism of John is situated within the world of Judaism, and the purification rites of the Jews. The historic site of his baptism site, Aenon, has been located in modern day Jordan, north of Jerusalem and Amman. John understands himself only in relation to Jesus, as the bridegroom’s friend thus taking a subordinate but related role to Jesus. The marriage imagery has a long antecedence since the Prophets described the relationship between God and His chosen people, as that between the groom and bride. Jesus is the incarnate groom, and the Church will become the new bride, with John assisting in this consummation. The history of Israel has not been rejected but brought to a provisional conclusion. The mission of the Baptist is now completed and the evangelist’s note about the arrest of John alludes to his subsequent martyrdom, though the details are not related as such in this Gospel.

The second part of John the Baptist’s speech (3:31-36) picks up the theme of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, and the necessity of being born from above with the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ was born from above, the Word became flesh (1:14). Jesus has come to speak on the life-giving connection between the Father and the Son. The acceptance of this word spoken by Jesus is faith, and the acceptance of the truthfulness of God, who does speak through His Son. Two examples of perfect faith have already been given in the Gospel, the Virgin Mary at Cana and John the Baptist.

The meeting with Jesus entails a decision which leads either to life or to judgement, both now and in the future. The Gospel of John emphasises a ‘realised eschatology’, in other words the in-breaking of the kingdom here on earth. If the kingdom can appear and so can it’s opposite. This is personal to whoever encounters Christ, and is not something that can be thrust on another, though of course one can share the fruits of either.