John 4: 46-54, Two Royal Sons

Jesus has stayed in a village in Galilee for several days, speaking to the people (Samaritans) in that small town.  He had been headed north from Jerusalem.

John 4: 46-50a, Two royal sons
Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 
47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”

Jesus will eventually settle in Capernaum.  Here a person, identified as prestigious, a "certain royal official", begs for Jesus to heal his son. It is not clear if this person in a local Jew or a Roman official. But the man has heard of Jesus and believes Jesus can heal.

How do we fit this into the timeline of the other gospels?  The gospel writer, John, puts this early in the ministry of Jesus, but late enough for the official to know of Jesus and seek help.

Jesus reacts to the request with a comment that seems to be a scolding about seeking (just) signs and wonders. This also implies (to me) that other miracles have been observed and sought by the populace.  Jesus makes similar statements in the other gospels, see Mark 8: 11-12.

The desperate official responds by simply repeating his plea and Jesus answers.

John 4: 50b-54, Healing and belief

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 

51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 
52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”

53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

The Royal Son heals a royal son.  Although Jesus has mentioned the "prophet without honor" concept, he is well received by this royal official.

The official is met by servants with good news. Surely this has been a difficult journey for the father, as he returns home afraid he may be told of his son's death.  But the news is quite difference.

The official has traveled far enough that it takes another day for him to get home.  The servants give him the hour of the healing and it coincides with the moment of Jesus' statement that the son will live.  John records that the man and his entire household believe.

The author identifies this as the second miracle in Galilee.  This implies that the events up to this point in John's Gospel occur before the opening of the Galillean ministry as recorded in the other gospels; presumably these events occur before Mark 1: 14-15, for example.  I have problems with this timeline, as do others.  It is possible that some events recorded by John are out of chronological order.

In the next chapter, Jesus will return to Jerusalem.

John 4: 39-45, Samaritan Believers

Jesus has been talking with a woman in the small town of Sychar, in the (non-Jewish) region of Samaria.  Convinced that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the woman invites the townspeople to meet him.

John 4: 39-42, Samaritan Believers
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 
40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 
41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

The residents of Sychar are first attracted to Jesus because of the claims of the woman who invites them. Trusting her claims, that this Messiah has miraculous knowledge of her, they invite Jesus to stay for a time.  During this time, the villagers deepen their belief in this Messiah because of his teachings, not because of her initial claims.

The gospel writer has a lot to say about belief.  Belief has many levels and the villagers have transitioned from one fairly shallow level to a deeper one.

The Samaritans were not quite Jews, but a religious and ethnic group who had many Jewish beliefs.  This ministry in Sychar is a prequel to Jesus' ministry, at times, to Gentiles.

John 4: 43-45, Return to Galilee
After the two days he left for Galilee. 
44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 
45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.

After staying in Sychar for two days, Jesus moves on north to Galilee. The gospel writer inserts a famous quote, appearing in the other gospels, about the lack of honor given prophets. (See Mark 6:4-6, Matthew 13:57) Yet, at this time, Jesus is welcomed home in Galilee.  Apparently the Galileans had seen Jesus clear out the temple in Jerusalem and are impressed.

John 4: 31-38, Harvest

The disciples return at the end of Jesus' conversation with the woman of Sychar.  We then see the impact his conversation and response on that community.

John 4: 31-38, Eternal food
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

To the woman at the well, Jesus offered "fresh water"; now Jesus uses eating food as a metaphor for doing God's work. One would suspect these metaphors were suggested first by thirst, then by hunger!

John 4: 34-38, Harvest
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 
35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 
36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 
37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 
38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

While the disciples were getting food, Jesus has been talking to a naive and misinformed village woman. He sees the region (indeed, all the Gentiles) as a large field, ready for harvest.

In this explanation, there are two partners in harvesting a crop for eternal life -- one who sows or plants the seeds and one who harvests the grain.  Apparently now is the time for the disciples to reap the work of others.  It is not clear to me who the sower is -- is it God, through some long ago plan that is coming to fruition at this time?

In some parts of my country, some churches do a bit of boasting about "numbers saved", as if the current evangelist or preacher (seeking financial support) is the one responsible for conversions.  But Jesus mentions a principle in his harvest metaphor, that "reaping" is just one part of a long process. This principle is an important one -- anything important (evangelism, teaching, coaching) that involves developing people will require a long patient process.

John 4: 27-33, Real Food

Jesus had been talking to a woman at the well in the small town of Sychar. He has explained to her that he is the long-awaited Messiah, who offers her eternal fresh water.

John 4: 27-33, Come see this man
Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 
29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 
30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

The disciples are, of course, surprised to see their Jewish rabbi talking to a woman -- those things were not done in that society -- but they keep their questions to themselves.  Meanwhile the woman goes back to the townspeople to talk about this strange man. If she has been viewed as an outcast then this conversation has given her the courage to talk to the rest of the village. Naturally they townspeople are curious about the visitor.

John 4: 31-33, Real food
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

Jesus continues to speak in metaphors.  Having identifying himself as the (eternal) Fresh Water for mankind, he now speaks of his work in terms of food (or meat.)  But the disciples miss the metaphor and wonder if their traveling to get food was in vain.

Jesus will explain his metaphor in the next passage.

John 4: 16-26, Tangents

Jesus has been talking to a woman at a well in a village in Samaria. Jesus tells her that he offers "living water" that never needs to be replenished. The woman responds, "Sir, give me that water..."

John 4: 16-18, Husbands
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 
18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

Jesus appears to invite her husband to join in the conversation, but clearly knows about the woman's past. This past probably explains the reasons she is alone at this well in the heat of the day. The woman's past (and her inclination to hide it) may represent a barrier in her progress towards spiritual health.

The woman is intrigued by this offer of eternal fresh water but Jesus intends a serious spiritual encounter and lays the groundwork for a deeper conversation.

John 4: 19-20, Tangent
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 
20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

Surprised by Jesus' knowledge, the woman admits that he is "a prophet". But her next statement is probably a red herring -- she focuses on the religious differences between the Jews and Samaritans.

John 4: 21-24, Tangents
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Jesus follows this pseudo-religious distraction by telling her that a time has (Now!) come when the place of worship is irrelevant. Jesus does correct the Samaritan (yes, the Jews were right) but downplays the differences. Salvation, coming from the Jews, through the Jewish Messiah, is available to all. Those who wish to worship the true God can do that, "in spirit and in truth". (Is the emphasis on truth a subtle suggestion that honesty is necessary in dealing with God?)

No matter what direction the woman takes the conversation, however, it is going to ultimately end up discussing the Jewish Messiah.

John 4: 25-26, Messiah
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

The woman acknowledges that she is aware the Messiah will come. Jesus responds that it is Done. Indeed, the Messiah is speaking to her now.

John 4: 10-16, Eternal Fresh Water

Returning to Galilee from Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples pass through Samaria.  They stop at a well in Sychar. Jesus asks a woman there for water and in the conversation that follows, he explains that he offers fresh, "living" water.

John 4: 10-12, The Gift of God
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

Jesus describes himself as "the gift of God." The image of Jesus as God's gift for mankind is a theme throughout the book.

The woman first thinks that Jesus claims to have found a spring of fresh water.  She reacts to his statement by recalling the importance of this well to Jacob. But Jesus is pursuing a metaphor.  The "fresh" water he offers will satisfy one's thirst forever.

John 4: 13-15, Eternal fresh water
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 
14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

The woman's response still ignores the metaphor; her response it too literal. It is not clear what she thinks here, but is intrigued by Jesus' statements. And, in the hot noon sun, she would be very happy to have eternal fresh water.

John 4: 16, Clarification
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

Jesus suddenly appears to change the subject, asking to speak with the woman's husband.  Although appearing out of the blue, his request is culturally reasonable, as he has been talking privately to this woman, alone, for a little bit now, and there might be confusion over his intentions.

This relatively simple request leads immediately to a conversation about transparency and (I think) openness to God. We will look at that next time.

John 4: 1-10, A Well in Samaria

Jesus, growing up in Galilee, has now been ministering far south of home, in and around Jerusalem.

John 4: 1-3, Return to Galilee
Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 
2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 
3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

It is not clear why Jesus returns to Galilee.  His popularity has gained the attention of the religious leaders and controversy has been stirred up by that popularity. If his cleansing of the temple (in chapter 2) truly occurred before this time, then that would certainly explain the opposition from the Pharisees. This popularity brings some type of threat from the religious leaders and Jesus moves back north to spend time (several years?) in Galileean ministry.

The author digresses to explain that Jesus himself was not baptizing people. For all the energy American Christians seem to put into disputes about baptism, neither Jesus nor Paul (I Corinthians 1:14) spent time on baptism.

John 4: 4-6, A well in Samaria
Now he had to go through Samaria. 
5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 
6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

Commentators will point out that, no, strictly speaking, Jesus did not have to go through Samaria. Samaria was the region between Judea and Galilee, but devout Jews could bypass it by going east of the Jordan river and traveling north until they were past Samaria and then crossing back over the Jordan.

Jesus appears to have deliberately decided to pass through this region, a region populated by people who were not quite Jewish....

In the village of Sychar, Jesus stops at a famous well. It is likely that this area is the old region of Shechem, purchased by Jacob in Genesis 33:19. The Encyclopedia of the Bible has an article on Sychar.

John 4: 7-10, A Samaritan woman
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 
8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

There are a number of social taboos being broken here.  First, Jesus speaks to a woman by herself. And she is not a Jew but of "mixed" racial heritage, a Samaritan, a descendant of the racial mixing of Jews with non Jews after the return from Babylon.  Jesus, with the disciples gone, is willing to chat alone, with a woman who is also alone.

Many Jews despised Samaritans as religiously impure, not just racially impure.  The author of the book makes a brief comment to that effect, saying either that "Jews do no associate with Samaritans". The NIV footnotes suggest that this may simply mean"Jews do not use dishes Samaritans use," implying that the utensils the woman would use to draw the water would be unacceptable to a Jew. Regardless of the translation, Jesus is making a request that many would consider unclean.

But Jesus responds to the woman's questioning by saying, "I give you an opportunity for living water."  Here "living water" is a metaphor for "fresh water", for water that is pure and moving, not still and brackish. For someone visiting a stagnant well in the heat of midday, fresh, moving water would be a wonderful offer.