Gospel of John: Woman at the Well

Woman at the Well

text: John chapter 4

Outline:

A. 4:1-6, Geography remark on the reasons to go through Samaria to Galilee

  B. 4:7-26, Conversation with Samaritan woman at the well about Christ

    C. 4:27-38, Food discussion with the disciples

  B'. 4:39-45, Samaritans believe “for themselves”

A'. 4:46-54, Jesus comes to Galilee, healing of a boy.

Comments: This is one of the most complicated chapters in the Gospel of John. There are few pairs of tensions: Jews vs. Samaritans; man vs woman; wells vs mountains; faith of Samaritans vs Ministry in Cana. Let us walk through the chapter to see the beauty of the Gospel.

Woman at the well. There is a symbolic level of this story. We have at least three stories in the Books of Genesis and Exodus when a man meets with a bride at a well. Abraham sent a servant to find a wife for Isaac, and he meets Rebekah by the well (Genesis 24:11-15). Jacob meets Rachel by the well (Genesis 29:9-10). Moses meets his wife by the well (Exodus 2:17-17).

Add to this – Jesus became the seventh man in the life of the woman. She was married five times, now there is another (sixth) man, then comes Jesus – the man of Sabbath. He gives her rest. To understand it we should note that she comes to fetch the water at noon – she preferred the heat of the sun vs. heat of the remarks of the local women. But at the end of the story she runs to the city and – what is very important – people believe her and take words respectfully.

Wells turned into mountains. What began at the well under the blazing sun turned into a conversation about the mountains. From one of the lowest places they shift the attention of their dialog to the highest. And Jesus leads her to the ultimate understanding – the point is not for US to climb a mountain, the point is to meet with the Father, who is actively seeking the worshipers in the Spirit and the truth through Jesus the Messiah (John 4:23-26, cp. John 14:6).

Evangelism “questions” of Jesus. To bring her to this realization Jesus leads the woman through the maze of question. He starts with a simple proposition – asking for the water. John explains it in the most obvious way – disciples are gone and He wanted her to help Him. She could've simple give Him a drink – and that would be the end of the story. Yet, she is a smart and a curious woman. She engages in a conversation. Every request, question, or statement Jesus makes has an open-ended character. She could stop Him at any given point – being upset, or offended, or... fill the blank... But she doesn't end until Jesus reveals Himself as the Messiah. This news frees her to rush to her hometown, sharing this Good News or the Gospel (John 4:29-30).

After two days the people of Samaria, Jesus leaves (on the third day). Two things worthy to be noted here: first, their personal encounter of Jesus (John 4:42); second, the faith of Samaritans vs the rejection of the Pharisees (cp. John 4:1).

Food as doing God's will. While she is gone and the people of Samaria didn't come yet, the disciples got an important lesson, a lesson on the food from God. When we think about the food – it is something that we eat. We eat to get “fuel,” for pleasure, for the joy of fellowship. All of this three aspects of food are given in Jesus' statement about doing the will of the Father (John 4:34). Then the Father prescribes the actions to do – they feed us, as the sacrament of the Altar.

Son of Capernaum official is healed at Cana. The distance between Cana and Capernaum is about 20 miles – a day of travel. The official came to Cana to meet Jesus, as the healer. There is a short conversation between them, where Jesus tries to point him toward faith, believing in the Son of God (John 4:48). But it doesn't look like the man is interested in Jesus as the savior – he simply wants his son to be healed. And what is interesting, is Jesus grants him his request. Son will be healed, but nothing else.

This shows Jesus as a compassionate Savior of the world – He responds to people's requests (not always grants all of them), but He never forces people to relate to Him. He man was looking for son's wellness, and nothing else. Jesus grants his request, which leads to man's realization that Jesus didn't requires anything in return, healing his son immediately by His mighty Word. This resulted in faith of the man and his [whole] household (John 4:53).

This sign-faith connection is going to be expanded when Jesus will address Thomas – blessed are those who didn't see but believed (John 20:29), speaking about us. We believe because of the Word reviled in the Bible and the Sacraments (AC V:2). This faith gives us the reason to ask and pray to the LORD for the health, help, and support of our loved ones and ourselves.

Gospel of Mark: Two stories of healing

Two stories of Healing

Text: Mark 4:35 – 5:43

Outline:

A. 4:35-41, Calming down a storm

B. 5:1-20, Healing a man with a demon

C. 5:21-43, Healing of two “girls”

Comments:

I told you I am a fan of Creation. Here we go again. Just look at the outline. Nature, then Man, then Woman (actually two of them – God loves His daughters). Now, let us go to the text.

Gospel of Mark: Many Healings

 

Many Healings

Text: 1:21 – 3:6. 

Comments: The number of “healing” stories is symbolic – maybe there is a paradigm of 10 commandments behind it, or maybe not.

1. 1:21-28, Jesus heals a man with unclean spirit. We talked about this story last time, but some things should be clarified. Note that Mark talks about “unclean” spirit not an evil one. It doesn’t make spirit “good,” what it does it presents a “specialization” of the spirit. It is not a spirit of sin; it’s a spirit that disqualifies a man from godly worship. In the Old Testament the Israel’s camp should be kept clean (not only tidy) – see Deuteronomy 23:9-14. Worshiping community is the LORD’s Army – therefore, keeping it clean (from within) is the utmost responsibility of the Church. His ‘authority’ is the authority of true King – he talks (teaches) and acts (Mark 1:27).     

2. 1:29-31, Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law. Then He goes from the synagogue to the house – all aspects of life are in submission to Jesus: church, home, and the world (see next stories – city, v. 33 and desolate place, v. 35). When the mother-in-law is restored – she begins to serve (v. 31).   

3. 1:32-34, Jesus heals many. They (?) bring Him people at the sundown – the last moments of a day (see Genesis 1:5b, 8b, 13). When the New day will come, they want to be sure to begin it as a “new creation.” Same as before, Jesus rejects the testimony of demons – He doesn’t want to be associated with them in any way.

4. 1:35-39, Jesus preaches in Galilee, casting out demons. He goes through the synagogues turning them into holy army of the Lord. Jesus says He wants to preach and Mark records that demons were cast out. It’s not a contradiction – for it is not “either/or” scheme. It is plan and result: preaching (His Word) results in cleanness/readiness for service (action).

5. 1:40-45, Jesus heals the leper. Two things: again, leprosy in the Bible is not simply a disease, it’s a sign of uncleanness and, therefore, is treated in isolation (Leviticus 13:46). Leper couldn’t be a part of worshiping community. So, when Jesus restores the guy, from now on he can be a part of spiritual army of the LORD (note, it is a priest who “lifts up the ban,” not a healer, prophet, or a king, Leviticus 14:1-7). As a result: many are coming to Him. Why? They found a way to overcome their isolation… Jesus brings people together!

6. 2:1-12, Jesus heals a paralytic. This story is in some respects a reversed story of a previous visit to Capernaum synagogue (1:21-28). Same city, not a synagogue but a home, but scribes (synagogal authorities) are there. Instead of marveling, they accuse Jesus of blasphemy (2:7). Jesus IN His spirit (same as the guy in the synagogue, lit. 1:23 should read IN unclean spirit) knows what they are trying to do and ruins their plans – by Word and Action!       

7. 2:13-17, Jesus calls Levi. Please note that in a call of Levi Jesus refers to the sick who needs a doctor. So, it is a story of “healing.” Also, Jesus calls Levi by the sea – like Simon/Peter and Andrew, James and John. This will “qualify” him to become a fisher of men, the sinners who want to be righteous, and not those who are satisfied with their own righteousness (2:17).   

8. 2:18-22, Question of fasting. In the presence of Jesus people should rejoice! That’s why in the West liturgical tradition 40 days of Lent do not include Sundays (do your math).   

9. 2:23-28, question of Sabbath. Jesus justifies the behavior of His disciples by referring to 1 Samuel 21:2-17. For a fuller understanding of the Bread of the Presence see Exodus 25:30 and Leviticus 24:5-9. Yet, the main question is who or what has the higher authority. The Man of God is the one who should’ve practiced the authority in the Garden (by kicking off the serpent), now Jesus brings this power back to humanity.   

10. 3:1-6, Jesus heals a man with withered hand. There is a possibility for an interesting parallel with Psalm 137:5 but we’ll save it for another time. Here again Jesus reinstitutes the PURPOSE of Sabbath – to restore a man, to make him about to worship properly – with raising his hands (1 Tim. 2:8). Also, note Jesus’ [holy] anger when He notices the hardening of their hearts (3:5). Their inability and rejection of acting godly did not stop or prevented the execution of His mercy.

 

St. Peter heals a beggar

Peter heals crippled beggar  

The Passage: Acts 3:1 – 4:4

Structure: a (scene’s beginning) – b,c,d,e,d’,c’,b’, (Peter’s speech) – a’ (scene’s end)

a. 3:1-11, all people in the portico 

  b. 3:12-13, God of ancestors

    c. 3:14-16, refusing the sacred person

      d. 3:17-18, suffering Messiah

        e. 3:19, Repent

      d’. 3:20-21, appointed Messiah, Jesus

    c’. 3:22-24, refusing the sacred person

  b’. 3:25-26, God made covenant with ancestors

a’. 4:1-4, 5000 people

Structure of “a”

a. 3:1, Peter and John are in the Temple

  b. 3:2, Lame man was carried in by the Beautiful Gates 

    c. 3:3, He sees Peter and John going into the Temple

      d. 3:4, Peter speaks

        e. 3:5, He looks at them – response to Peter

      d’. 3:6, Peter speaks

        e’. 3:7, His feet and ankles got strong – response to Peter

    c’. 3:8, He begins to walk

  b’. 3:9-10, Now man leaping by the Beautiful Gates

a’. 3:11, Peter and John are at the Portico of the Temple   

Historical and geographical context:

The passage begins with a fairytale start – “once upon a time”. Sometime after Pentecost within a timeframe of 2:40-47 (see last lesson). Now the story moves from “houses” to the Temple area. 

Theology:

Healing is an important part of Christian ministry but not the main one. The most important one is the restoration of man because of his faith in the name of Jesus Christ. Also, note that disciple do same things as Jesus did – cp. John 5. 

Name of Jesus. Building up theology of the NAME. The name of God was associated with the Sanctuary – the Tabernacle and Temple. To be in the name – to be in God’s presence (1 Kings 8:48 “the house I have built for Your NAME”). 

Proclamation of Jesus Christ crucified. The consistent central point of apostles preaching. St. Peter brings this during his Pentecostal sermon (2:22-24), here in ch. 3, then 4:10-11. The first Christian martyr Stephen drives the same point (7:52-53). Then St. Paul declares it as the main message of his ministry (1 Cor. 1:22-24). Also, note personal theological growth one can see in the life of St. Peter. Matthew 16:21-23 tells us that idea of suffering and crucifixion was repulsive to Peter, he was confession the Son of God as a glorious person, not the one who must suffer and die. Yet, being a person of betrayal and an eyewitness of the Cross and Resurrection, he comes to personal, devotional conviction of the importance and necessity of Son’s sacrifice.    

Other themes:

Regular religious life of the apostles was taking place in Jerusalem and – most importantly – in the Temple. They did not cut off all the connections with the “old ways” but used any chance to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to those who knew the Scriptures, who were raised in the traditions, who wanted to maintain piety prescribed by Torah. Neither St. Peter nor St. John who accompanied him wanted to insult the worshipers or obscure their faith and conduct. They engaged in the healing activities because they were asked to. What later St. Peter will summarize in 1 Pet. 3:15.