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.