The Woman @ the Well (Jn 4:1-42) comes almost right after John the Baptist speaks of Jesus as the Bridegroom (Jn 3:25-29).
Seen through ancient Jewish eyes, she looks mysteriously like a potential bride.
1st – The local well, not a bar or club, was where eligible young Jewish men looked for wives.
- True for Moses & Zippoarah (Ex 2:15-21), Isaac (via a servant – who asks for a drink to see if she is the bride) & Rebekah (Gen 24:14-16 – at “midday” too), and most important of all, Jacob & Rachel (Gen 29:1-9). Interesting that these men were all foreigners in a strange land – parallel to Jesus on Samaritan soil. This was remarkably similar to the encounter between Jacob, the patriarch of Israel, and Rachel, the matriarch of Israel. 62
- Formula: Male foreigner + Woman + Well = Betrothal
- That’s why Jesus’ disciples “marveled that he was talking with a woman” (Jn 4:27) – that is, a strange woman @ a well – b/c this usually leads to a wedding.
2nd – the Samaritan woman was no ordinary bride-to-be.
- 1st issue: The Samaritan people originated from the pagan Gentiles that the Assyrians brought into the northern kingdom of Israel after conquering them in 722 BC & casting them out of the holy land (cf. 2 Kings 17:24-25). Samaritans eventually worshipped the God of Israel & built a temple on Mount Gerizim. They are mixed-blood people. It was not customary nor acceptable really that Jesus initiated this conversation.
- 2nd issue – she already had multiple husbands. She was probably divorced 5 times! From ancient Jewish eyes, she was in a gravely immoral state and very undesirable. In the Torah, Moses gives a man permission to divorce his wife if he finds “some indecency in her” (Deuteronomy 24:1–4)—an obscure expression that later rabbis interpreted in different ways, ranging from finding her guilty of adultery to guilty of burning her husband’s dinner (Mishnah, Gittin 9:10)! 64
A number of biblical scholars have suggested that the Samaritan woman is also a symbol of the people of Samaria, with whom Jesus wishes to enter into a relationship as Bridegroom and Messiah. 65
- Potential fulfillment of the prophet Hosea marrying the prostitute Gomer, who represented the people as a whole.
- Second, in support of this suggestion, in the same way that Hosea’s harlot wife Gomer is a perfect match for the prophet to perform his sign, so too the Samaritan woman is a perfect fit. For with both the harlot Gomer and the Samaritan woman there is a striking parallel between the personal history of the individual woman and the national history of her people. 66
- Very similar to the religious history of the Samaritan people.
- Potential connection between 5 previous husbands and 5 male gods spoken of in 2 Kings 17:28-31 as 5 “Baals” – one for each of the 5 peoples or cults of Samaria.
- These gods were called “Baals” —the Canaanite word for “husbands” or “lords” (see Hosea 2:16). 67
- And the man she is living with now who is not her husband… the Samaritans also worshipped a sixth deity: YHWH, the God of Israel. And He isn’t her true husband… yet.
Through this encounter with Jesus the non–Jewish peoples of the world begin to be “betrothed”—so to speak—to the one who is both Bridegroom Messiah and Savior of the world. 69
- The gift of living water – the gift of the Bridegroom to his new bride. Very deliberate gift. Biblical times – Bridal gift offered. For Jesus, He offers “the gift of God,” in the form of “living water” (Jn 4:10). 3 different connotations in Jesus’ day: (1) running water – Jacob’s well was believed to have produced miraculous living water; (2) ritual water of the Temple for cleansing & purification from sins (when combined with the ashes of a sacrifice); (3) ritual bath – custom of a Jewish bride to undergo a ritual bath before her wedding (cf. Songs 4:12, 15; Joseph and Aseneth 14:12–17. Aseneth, the daughter of Pharaoh, was instructed by an angel to watch in “living water” – the same Greek expression used in the Gospel of John.
- When Jesus speaks of offering her a “gift,” he is not talking about the ordinary betrothal gift, because he is no ordinary bridegroom. Instead of offering the Samaritan woman gifts of gold or jewels, he offers her “living water”—miraculous water, greater than that given by Jacob, water that will both cleanse her from her past sins and prepare her for the everlasting wedding feast of eternal life. 75.
When does Jesus give this living water to the woman?
- Since Jesus identifies Himself as the source of living water (John 7:37-38) – out of His heart – Jesus’ heart flows the living water. That’s why the Samaritan woman should ask Jesus. “As Scripture has said” – the only place in Jewish scripture that speaks of a river of living water is when it flows out of the side of the Temple in the future age of salvation (Ezekiel 47). Zechariah connects the living waters from Jerusalem to the death of the Messiah (12:10-13:1, 14:8). Illuminating also since Jesus and the Samaritan woman speak about “living water” in the context too of worship in the Temple.
- But by speaking of the living water, Jesus points forward to the fulfillment of the biblical prophecies, in which there will be a new temple, new worship, and a river of living water flowing out of that temple to cleanse the people of God from their sins. 78
- The two times Jesus thirsted – at the well & at the Cross.
- The promised living water now comes out of Jesus’ heart at the Cross.
- St. Augustine said she is a “type of the church.”
- In other words, Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman demonstrates that the new covenant will be made with saint and sinner alike, Jew and Gentile. In the Samaritan woman, the Bridegroom God of Israel reveals his intentions toward all the nations of the world, and toward every sinner, no matter who they are, where they come from, or what they’ve done. They, like she, need only ask for the gift of living water, and it will be given. 80
- Jesus gives her the living water through Baptism (St. Methodius)
Prodigal Catholic 