On the way back to Galilee from Jerusalem Jesus and his disciples traveled through Samaria, stopping at the village of Sychar. Sychar was the site of Jacob’s well and near the center of Samaritan temple worship.
The Samaritans had become detached from the Jews during the captivity and missed some of their history and development. They still followed the five books of Moses and still worshiped at Mount Gerazim, near Sychar, the last place mentioned in the Torah where God had placed his name. They didn’t appreciate the developments the Jews had made in the captivity, and they did not include the Writings and the Prophets in their sacred canon. They didn’t recognize Jerusalem as a legitimate place for worship, but offered sacrifices at the ruins of a temple long demolished.
It was unusual for Jews to travel through Samaria. Jews looked down on their distant cousins for indiscreet intermarrying with pagans generations before. They usually avoided Samaria like the plague, often traveling around it when traveling between Jerusalem and Galilee.
But Jesus, unconventional as he was, went straight through Samaria. And Jesus, unconventional as he was, didn’t mind asking a Samaritan woman for something to drink even as social convention looked down on interactions – between Jews and Samaritans and between men and women.
More interested in the kingdom than social convention, Jesus asked for water and opened a conversation with the woman that transformed a sleepy Samaritan village.
They spoke of living water coming from within. They spoke of her history of failed marriages and her current live-in situation. They spoke of prophecy and she brought up the “worship wars” between Samaritans and Jews as to where the correct place for worship should be. And they spoke of the anticipated Prophet foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15).
Which is the most important theme? I guess it depends on who you ask. Some will emphasize the living water, and that is important. Some will concentrate on worship in spirit and in truth. Others will talk about the woman’s moral challenges and Jesus’ forgiveness of her nonetheless.
Yet there is a common theme running through them all that attracts the town out to the well to meet the Jewish rabbi who told the promiscuous woman all she had ever done. That is Jesus’ role as Prophet.
The Samaritans, reading their Scriptures, were looking for a messiah figure who would be the “prophet like me from your midst” as foretold by Moses. The prophet would have God’s words to speak.
Jesus’ living water spoke of the Holy Spirit, which had always been associated with prophecy. Whenever someone prophesied it was always attributed to the Spirit of God.
Prophecy is underscored again when Jesus told the woman of her marital failures and disclosed her embarrassing living arrangement. “I perceive you are a prophet,” she said.
When the woman brought up worship Jesus said the time had arrived when place was irrelevant, explaining that God seeks those who worship him in spirit and in truth. Spirit, of course, is the one who speaks prophecy; and truth is prophecy’s disclosure. Truth is mystery revealed. True worship is prophetic worship.
The woman put down her water pot and set aside her shame to run call the villagers. “Come, see a man who told me all the things I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” Many believed because of her report, others believed when they met Jesus for themselves.
When we encounter the authentic Jesus the spirit of prophecy is there. He looks deep into our hearts, discloses our inner thoughts, and applies the Word to them. Encounters with the authentic Jesus change us from the inside out.
The Samaritans had become detached from the Jews during the captivity and missed some of their history and development. They still followed the five books of Moses and still worshiped at Mount Gerazim, near Sychar, the last place mentioned in the Torah where God had placed his name. They didn’t appreciate the developments the Jews had made in the captivity, and they did not include the Writings and the Prophets in their sacred canon. They didn’t recognize Jerusalem as a legitimate place for worship, but offered sacrifices at the ruins of a temple long demolished.
It was unusual for Jews to travel through Samaria. Jews looked down on their distant cousins for indiscreet intermarrying with pagans generations before. They usually avoided Samaria like the plague, often traveling around it when traveling between Jerusalem and Galilee.
But Jesus, unconventional as he was, went straight through Samaria. And Jesus, unconventional as he was, didn’t mind asking a Samaritan woman for something to drink even as social convention looked down on interactions – between Jews and Samaritans and between men and women.
More interested in the kingdom than social convention, Jesus asked for water and opened a conversation with the woman that transformed a sleepy Samaritan village.
They spoke of living water coming from within. They spoke of her history of failed marriages and her current live-in situation. They spoke of prophecy and she brought up the “worship wars” between Samaritans and Jews as to where the correct place for worship should be. And they spoke of the anticipated Prophet foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15).
Which is the most important theme? I guess it depends on who you ask. Some will emphasize the living water, and that is important. Some will concentrate on worship in spirit and in truth. Others will talk about the woman’s moral challenges and Jesus’ forgiveness of her nonetheless.
Yet there is a common theme running through them all that attracts the town out to the well to meet the Jewish rabbi who told the promiscuous woman all she had ever done. That is Jesus’ role as Prophet.
The Samaritans, reading their Scriptures, were looking for a messiah figure who would be the “prophet like me from your midst” as foretold by Moses. The prophet would have God’s words to speak.
Jesus’ living water spoke of the Holy Spirit, which had always been associated with prophecy. Whenever someone prophesied it was always attributed to the Spirit of God.
Prophecy is underscored again when Jesus told the woman of her marital failures and disclosed her embarrassing living arrangement. “I perceive you are a prophet,” she said.
When the woman brought up worship Jesus said the time had arrived when place was irrelevant, explaining that God seeks those who worship him in spirit and in truth. Spirit, of course, is the one who speaks prophecy; and truth is prophecy’s disclosure. Truth is mystery revealed. True worship is prophetic worship.
The woman put down her water pot and set aside her shame to run call the villagers. “Come, see a man who told me all the things I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” Many believed because of her report, others believed when they met Jesus for themselves.
When we encounter the authentic Jesus the spirit of prophecy is there. He looks deep into our hearts, discloses our inner thoughts, and applies the Word to them. Encounters with the authentic Jesus change us from the inside out.
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.John 4:5-26, 28-30, 39-42 (3 Lent A 2014)
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