The Woman at the Well
One of my favorite stories in the Bible is Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman. John was obviously with Jesus to have recorded the encounter with such detail. The story speaks for itself. What do you perceive from the story? Prejudice, sexual mores, religious division, the tendency to not confront the truth about ourselves.
What is significant about this story is that this is the first recorded statement of Jesus declaring his divine nature to a layman — excuse me, a woman. Up to this point, he had only declared himself to the Jewish religious leadership, and only clearly so with one of them — Nicodemus. So here he is saying to a Samaritan woman, who is divorced and currently living with another man, “the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Just as with the Pharisees, when Jesus spoke of rebuilding “the temple” in three days, he seemed to be speaking in riddles to this woman. Her response is indicative, “give me this water so I won’t have to draw out water again!”
At this point, Jesus almost seems to be teasing the woman, “Go, call your husband.” I wonder how she responded, her tone of voice when she said “I have no husband.” And then Jesus declared her life history. The woman was under full conviction, but she would retreat to what she understood to know of God, the variant of Judaism that Samaritans maintained. Jesus once again steered her back on course, declaring that whether you worship God here or there, it will not matter. What will matter is whether you worshiped God in spirit or truth.
It is interesting that both Jews and Samaritans hoped for a Messiah. When she said the coming Messiah would explain everything, Jesus declared “I who speak to you am he.”
This would eventually lead to the woman returning to the village under full conviction, declaring to the town what she had just encountered. For John, evidence of the first revival was in the small town of Sychar in Samaria. You can only imagine the impression this made with the religious elite in Jerusalem. Good Jews never traveled through Samaria, good Jews never would speak to a woman alone, much less one who was a fornicator and evidently unable to maintain a faithful relationship with a husband.
Meanwhile, Back in the Neighborhood
The other gospels all note that Jesus received little respect from his “own country,” basically the region around his home town. But it is a bit puzzling by how far this extended. Was it all Galilee, or only as far as Nazareth? All we know is that when he returned to Galilee he was suddenly welcomed by the Galileans because word of his ministry in Jerusalem had spread like wildfire. It is evident in the other gospels, which extensively covered his work in Galilee, that he was well followed by people in Capernaum and surrounding towns along the Sea of Galilee. It would be in this region that he would preach the Sermon on the Mount and feed the 5000.
Yet his encounter with the “royal official” is rather amusing. Here is a guy who most likely rides a horse from Capernaum to Cana, a 20 mile journey. That’s a long ride for one day! He does not order, but pleads with Jesus to come with him to heal his son. But Jesus bluntly responds to this man, and his response says many things about the relationship between Jesus and the elite in the region. “You people.” He decries their cynicism, “Unless you see signs and miracles …” and I can only consider Jesus standing before Herod two years later being mocked by the king.
But the man was insistent. It was evident that he demonstrated a sincere love for his son, more than the humiliation he risked by riding so far to beg from a peasant the favor of a miracle!
The reach of God’s power is marvelous to behold, as well as the indication that this royal official understood this. When Jesus told the man his son would live, “He took Jesus at his word and departed.” Upon hearing that his son was healed, he shared with his family what had happened and the entire household believed.
The irony of this event makes for a great novel. Consider who this man served — Herod Antipas. This was the same Herod who would behead John the Baptist and later would mock Jesus before his crucifixion. It is only conjecture at this point, but where did the gory details of the death of the Baptist come from? Who was there to record what Herod said to Jesus? One can only wonder.
