Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT (Cycle A)
The "Scrutiny Rites" are initiation rites that usually begin on the Third Sunday of Lent and continue on the Fourth and Fifth Sundays. It is a beautiful ancient practice of the Catholic Church that can be traced back to St. Cyprian (AD 258) and the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. The rites are believed to be inspired by St. Paul's First Letter to Timothy, where he wrote: "Do not lay hands too readily on anyone and do not share in another's sins (1 Tim 5:22 NABRE). The RCIA candidates receive the scrutiny rites as they stand with the support of their godparents or sponsors. The ritual includes a minor exorcism where the church prays that the elect will be free from Satan's power and for protection as the candidates continue their journey to the fullness and beauty of the Catholic Faith.
Readings:
Exodus 17:3-7
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
John 4:5-42
Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).
The two Testaments reveal God's divine plan for humanity, which is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: Do Not Test God, Who is the
Source of Life
Today's readings use the symbolism of water. Living things
cannot survive without water; water is necessary for life. This symbolism was
especially significant for the Israelites, who lived in a land surrounded by
deserts. However, our Biblical readings tell us there is more to life than having
an adequate supply of water.
In the First Reading, we recall the Israelite's exodus from Egypt. God's miracles liberated them from slavery, and they journeyed out of Egypt under God's divine protection. However, the Israelites continually challenged God's plan for their future with complaints. They did not trust God to provide for them, and they made demonstrations of unfaithfulness to test God, even when He miraculously provided water flowing from a rock to save their lives at Horeb.
The Responsorial Psalm reminds us that God is faithful. As a shepherd guides and cares for his sheep, God spiritually nourishes and guides His people on their journey through life. In the psalm, the voice of the LORD speaks to us today, warning us to be sincere in our trust and worship. We must avoid being like the people of the Exodus generation who tested God and rebelled against His divine plan on the wilderness journey out of Egypt. The rebelliousness of the first generation of the Exodus cost them their inheritance in the Promised Land of Canaan (Num 14:27-35). However, our disobedience could cost us our inheritance in the Promised Land of Heaven.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul wrote about the life-giving love of God "poured out into our hearts." He tied that visual image to the piercing of Jesus's heart as He hung on the Cross and the "living waters" of baptism and the Eucharist that poured forth from His body for the salvation of humanity (Jn 19:34-37). Paul spoke of this event as proof of God's love in that "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." In His infinite love, God took the necessary action to bring about humanity's salvation. God the Son's self-sacrificial death is how God manifested His love for humanity (see 1 John 2:1-2; 3:16a).
Our Gospel Reading recalls Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Jesus offered the woman "living water" that, He told her, leads to eternal life. In our Eucharistic celebration, Jesus is the "living water" in our midst as He was at the Rock of Horeb and Jacob's well. He calls us to believe "I am He," as Jesus told the woman of Samaria with the promise that He can pour out the love of God into our hearts through the Holy Spirit "today," "the day of our salvation," if only we will believe. Jesus is our source of life; He is the "living water" welling up for eternal life.
God calls us to accept His gift of eternal salvation through the Cross of Jesus with gratitude and the obedience of faith in Christ and His Church. The Israelites of the Exodus first generation forfeited their happiness when they lost the blessing of living in the Promised Land of Canaan because of their continual rebellious testing of God's goodness. Let their failure be a warning. Do not test God by being rebellious or contentious and forfeit your eternal happiness in the Promised Land of Heaven.
The First Reading Exodus 17:3-7 ~ Israel Tested God in the Desert
3 In those days, in their thirst for water, the people
grumbled against Moses, saying, "Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it
just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?" 4 So
Moses cried out to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? A little more
and they will stone me!" 5 The LORD answered Moses, "Go over there in front of [ahead
of] the people along with some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand,
as you do, the staff with which you struck the river. 6 I will be standing
there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will
flow from it for the people to drink." This Moses did, in the presence of the
elders of Israel. 7 The place was called Massah and Meribah, because the
Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD in our
midst or not?"
During the journey out of Egypt to Mt. Sinai, the two years at Sinai, where the Israelites received the Law and the Tabernacle, and then during the thirty-eight years of wilderness wandering after Sinai, God continually provided for the Israelites. However, the Israelites marred those years under God's divine protection with complaints, lacking trust in God to provide for them, and other demonstrations of unfaithfulness. For example, they complained to Moses about their thirst (Exodus 15:24; 17:3 and Num 20:2), they complained about their hunger (Ex. 16:2-3; Num 11:4ff), and they complained about the dangers of war (Ex 14:10-12 and Num 14:2). The first generation of Israelites to witness God's mighty works was so willful that they threaten to return to Egypt and to reject the promises of God made to the Patriarch Abraham (Ps 78:13-44; 106:6-22).
When the people threatened Moses and accused God of wanting to cause their children and livestock to die of thirst on the journey to Mt. Sinai (verse 3), Yahweh told Moses to take some of the elders of Israel with him and to go ahead of the people to Mt. Sinai/Horeb. God told Moses He would be waiting at Sinai on the rock. Moses was to strike the rock, and water would flow out from it for the people. It was significant that God was on the rock, and He commanded Moses to strike the rock upon which He stood. The striking of God was necessary to produce the waters of life for the people, and when the people arrived at Mt. Sinai, the water was there waiting for them.
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, St. Paul identified the Rock as Christ: I want you to be quite certain, brothers, that our ancestors all had the cloud over them and all passed through the sea. In the cloud and in the sea, they were all baptized into Moses; all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, since they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and that rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:1-4). The Fathers of the Church, like St. Caesarius of Arles, wrote that the rock struck to bring forth life-giving waters was an allegory of the Passion of Christ and His work of redemption: "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Take the staff and strike the rock, that it may produce water for the people.' Behold, there is a rock, and it contains water. However, unless this rock is struck, it does not have any water at all. Then when it has been struck, it produces fountains and rivers, as we read in the Gospel: 'He who believes in me, from within him there shall flow rivers of living water.' When Christ was struck on the cross, he brought forth the fountains of the New Testament. Therefore, he needed to be pierced. If he had not been struck, so that water and blood flowed from his side, the whole world would have perished through suffering thirst for the word of God" (St. Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 103.3, quoting John 7:38).
Just as the manna continued to satisfy their hunger and give nourishment to the Israelites on their journey out of Egypt, the rock that gave life-giving water now followed them on their forty-year journey (1 Cor 10:4). There was a repeat of the miracle of "water from the rock" at Kadesh in Numbers 20:1-11. At Kadesh, the people banded together against Moses and blamed him for their sufferings, complaining again that Moses had purposely brought them out into the desert to die of thirst. Moses and Aaron appealed to God, and the LORD instructed Moses: Take the staff and assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron, and in their presence, order the rock to yield its waters. From the rock, you shall bring forth water for the community and their livestock to drink (Num 20:8-11). In the first water from the rock miracle, God commanded Moses to strike the rock in the presence of some elders in Exodus 17. The second time, God told Moses and Aaron to call together the assembly of the Old Covenant Church, and in their presence, God instructed Moses to speak to the rock to bring forth the water.
The Fathers of the Church saw this event as prefiguring the Passion of Christ. Struck down once and for all time for the sins of humanity, Jesus received that blow just as Moses struck God upon the rock once in Exodus 17:6. From that time onward, living water flows from Christ until the end of time in the gift of the Sacrament of Baptism through water and the Spirit and the gift of the bread of life in the Eucharist. Until Christ returns, the assembly of the faithful receive the gift of the Spirit and the Bread of Life when God's representative speaks to the Rock, who is Christ, and He becomes present on the altar in what only appears to be bread and wine, giving the waters of spiritual life to all who come to Him in faith.
| The Miracle of Water from the Rock at Sinai/Horeb (Ex 17:1-7) |
Christ's Crucifixion at Golgotha (Mt 27:4-42, 57, 66-67; Jn 19:17-18, 34) |
|
God commanded Moses to take some of the elders of Israel
as witnesses (Ex 17:5).
|
Some of the elders of Israel witnessed Jesus's crucifixion (Mt 27:41-42). |
| God was on the rock (Ex 17:6). | Jesus is the Rock (1 Cor 10:4). |
| Moses and Aaron (the High Priest) were God's representatives (Ex 3:10; 4:14-16). | The elders of the Sanhedrin and the High Priest Caiaphas, who served the people as God's representatives, condemned Jesus to death (Mt 26:57, 66). |
| God commanded Moses to strike the rock with his staff (Ex 17:5). | Jesus, the Rock, was struck, beaten, crucified & speared in His chest (Mt 26:67; Jn 19:17-18, 34). |
| When Moses struck the rock, the people received the gift of life-giving water (Ex 17:6). | Jesus died on the Cross, and when the soldier struck Him with the spear, blood, and water flowed from His side (Jn 19:34); these are the gifts of Baptism and the Eucharist. |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2009 | |
7 The place was called Massah and Meribah, because
the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD in our
midst or not?"
Since the people were contentious and put God to the test by
asking if He was truthful about being with them and seeking what was best for
them, Moses re-named the site of their unfaithfulness Massah, "testing" and
Meribah, "contention" (Ex 17:7;
Dt 6:16; 9:22; 33:8). It wasn't just a
complaint that the Israelites made to Moses; it was a challenge to test God's
willingness to provide for them (see CCC 2119). It is a sin of rebellion to
test or challenge God, the source of life.
Responsorial Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9 ~ Follow the Voice of the
Lord
The response is: "If today you hear his voice, harden not
your hearts."
1 Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD; let us acclaim
the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
Response:
6 Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before
the LORD who made us. 7a For he is our God, and we are the people he shepherds,
the flock he guides.
Response:
7b Oh, that today you would hear his voice: 8 "Harden not
your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, 9 where your
fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works."
Response:
The psalmist began with an invitation for the people to praise the LORD (verses 1-2), the King of the universe who is our God. In verses 6-7, he also offered an invitation to worship the Lord because He is faithful to His people; He nourishes and guides them as a good shepherd cares for his sheep. The voice of the LORD follows the invitation, speaking to His people "today." He warned them to be sincere in their trust and worship and to not be like the people of the Exodus generation who tested God and rebelled against His divine plan on the wilderness journey out of Egypt.
Christians reading this psalm should take it as a warning to avoid repeating Israel's rebellion in the wilderness (Ps 78; Ex 17:17) so that what happened to that generation will not happen to those who praise the Lord today (verse 10; Num 14:30, 34). Tempting God or challenging Him to prove His goodness and fidelity as though His past works are not enough is an act of disloyalty. The Letter to the Hebrews offers a commentary on these verses and presents them as spoken by the Holy Spirit (see Ps 95:8-11 in Heb 3:6-11). The Israelites of the Exodus generation who tested God did not enter the Promised Land and died in the wilderness (Num 14:20-33). That God continues to warn us about the same judgment for those who are rebellious and will not enter His "rest" means He is referring not to the Promised Land of Canaan (as in the case of the Exodus generation) but the eternal rest He promised His faithful in the true Promised Land of Heaven (Mt 11:28-29). Let those of us who hear His warning make every effort to remain obedient and grateful so that we do not follow the bad example of the ungrateful and disloyal Exodus generation and find ourselves barred from entering the Promised Land of Heaven (Heb 3:6-11; 4:8-11).
The Second Reading Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 ~ Proof of God's Love for Us
1 Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace [eirene]
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by
faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of
God. [...] 5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been
poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For
Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the
ungodly. 7 Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though
perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. 8 But God proves
his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
[eirene]
= Greek translation, IBGE, Vol. IV, page 424.
According to St. Paul, the first effect of justification (being made "right" with God) is that the believer experiences peace. Paul was not using the word "peace" in the sense of peace of mind or an absence of conflict. Instead, he used the Greek word eirene in the same sense as the Hebrew word shalom, meaning the fullness of a right relationship. In this case, peace with God results in our justification that establishes a rightly ordered and obedient relationship with the LORD through the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus the Redeemer-Messiah.
2 through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace
in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God.
When human beings enter into a relationship with God through
the new and everlasting covenant in the blood of Christ, they are no longer
under the penalty of God's wrath as a child of Adam living under the curse of
original sin. Instead, as adopted sons and daughters, they are at peace because
they are reborn into God's family, where the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ
has removed the penalty of God's wrath. This reconciliation is a gift of God's
grace, and the result is the inner peace that comes from unity with the life of
the Most Holy Trinity.
5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God
has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given
to us.
This line evokes the powerful visual image of the life-giving
water being poured out upon the people to quench their thirst in the Exodus
miracle, but also the imagery used by the Prophet Isaiah and Jesus:
This visual image also looks forward to the eschatological event of the outpouring of the Spirit prophesied in Ezekiel 47:1-12 and the vision of St. John in Revelation 22:1-5. It is a vision that St. John received years after St. Paul's letter to Rome. Paul's point was to remind the Roman Christians that the pouring out of God the Holy Spirit is a manifestation that is distinctive to the New Covenant Church and not part of the Old. He is the Spirit who dwells in the circumcised heart of the New Covenant believer from the moment of the infusion of God's sanctifying grace in the Sacrament of Baptism, which makes the believer a child in the family of God (see Jn 15:26; 16:5-15; Rom 8:8-11; 14-16; 1 Cor 3:16; 2 Tim 1:14).
6 For Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Jesus's "hour" is the appointed time to which St. Paul
refers when Jesus, the Rock of our salvation, was struck on the Cross. As Christ
received His final blow, struck by the Roman soldier's lance, living waters
flowed out from Christ our Rock (see Jn 19:34-37).
In Romans 5:6-8, Paul spoke
of this event as the proof of God's love that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us. Paul identified the unjustified person as incapable of doing
anything on his own to achieve righteousness in the sight of God apart from
Jesus Christ. God, in His infinite love, does what we cannot do for ourselves. God
takes the necessary action to bring about the gift of eternal salvation, and God
the Son's self-sacrificial death is how God manifests His love for humanity (see
1 Jn 2:1-2; 3:16a).
The Gospel of John 4:5-42 or 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42 ~
The Water Welling Up for Eternal Life
5 Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the
plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon
[the sixth hour]. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her,
"Give me a drink." 8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. 9 The
Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman,
for a drink?" for Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered
and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give
me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living [zoe]
water." 11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you do not even have a bucket, and the cistern
is deep; where then can you get this living [zoe] water? 12 Are you greater
than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with
his children and his flocks?" 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who
drinks this water will be thirsty again; 14 but whoever drinks the water I
shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring
of water welling up to eternal life." 15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me
this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."
16 Jesus said to her, "Go call your husband and come back." 17 The woman
answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband." Jesus answered her, "You
are right in saying, 'I do not have a husband.' 18 For you have had five
husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is
true." 19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our
ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you people say that the place to
worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the hour is
coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem. 22 You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we
understand, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and
is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and
indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. 24 God is Spirit, and those
who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth." 25 The woman said to him, "I
know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he
will tell us everything." 26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one speaking with
you." 27 At that moment his disciples returned and were amazed that he was
talking with a woman, but still no one said, "What are you looking for?" or
"Why are you talking with her?" 28 The woman left her water jar and went into
the town and said to the people, 29 "Come see a man who told me everything I
have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?" 30 They went out of the town and
came to him. 31 Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat." 32 But he
said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." 33 So the
disciples said to one another, "Could someone have brought him something to
eat?" 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me
and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, 'In four months the harvest will be
here'? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. 36 The
reaper is already receiving payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so
that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. 37 For here the saying is verified
that 'One sows and another reaps.' 38 I sent you to reap what you have not
worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their
work." 39 Many Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the
word of the woman who testified, "He told me everything I have done." 40 When
the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed
there two days. 41 Many more began to believe in him because of his word, 42 and
they said to the woman, "We no longer believe because of your word; for we have
heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world."
[...] = Greek translation, IBGE, Vol. IV, pages 256-259.
5 Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the
plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
The place name Sychar is probably the Greek corruption of
the name of the ancient city of Shechem. The site of Shechem fits perfectly
both theologically and geographically in the encounter between Jesus and the people
of Samaria. Located at the entrance to the mountain pass traversed by the road
from Jerusalem to the North, the city of Shechem/Sychar has stood on that site
since the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. Egyptian diplomatic
correspondence that dates to the 19th-18th century BC
mentions Shechem.
Shechem played a significant role in the Salvation History of the Old Testament as well as in this New Testament encounter with Christ:
| Genesis 12:7 | Yahweh promised the land of Canaan to Abram/Abraham and his descendants, and Abram built his first altar to the Lord at Shechem in Canaan. Yahweh's promise of land was the first of three promises that became the Abrahamic Covenant. |
| Genesis 33:18-20 | Jacob camped opposite the town upon his return from Paddan-Aram. He purchased land from the sons of Hamor and built an altar. The city bears the name of Prince Shechem, the Gentile prince who loved Jacob's daughter, Dinah, desired to marry her, and wanted to enter his people into a covenant relationship with Jacob's God. |
| Genesis 34 | Shechem is the site of a failed covenant, a failed marriage, and a terrible injustice when the Gentile community of Shechem, whose men submitted to circumcision to join Yahweh's covenant with Jacob's family, was murdered by men under the command of three sons of Jacob/Israel. |
| Deuteronomy 27:4, 11-12 | Shechem is near the site designated by Moses (between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim) for the Israelite's oath of covenant renewal with Yahweh when the Israelites took possession of the Promised Land. |
| Joshua 8:30-35 | When Joshua and the Israelites began the conquest of Canaan, the covenant renewal ceremony and the blessing of the people ordered by Moses in Deuteronomy 27 took place near Shechem. |
| Joshua 24 | Before his death, Joshua called an assembly of the tribes of Israel at Shechem for a reaffirmation of the stipulations of the Sinai Covenant after the first phase of the conquest. |
| Judges 8:29-9:21 | The people of Shechem decided to follow a false king of Israel who betrayed them. |
| 1 Kings 12:1-25 | The Great Assembly of the 12 tribes to proclaim Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Israel, took place at Shechem; it was the beginning of the end of Israel as a united kingdom. After the civil war that divided the nation of Israel into the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel, King Jeroboam of the Northern Kingdom made Shechem his capital. |
| Hosea 6:7-9 | Sinful priests committed murder on the road to Shechem = broken covenant. |
| Jeremiah 41:1-10 | The unjust murder of the descendants of Gentiles from Shechem and Samaria who came in peace to bring offerings and mourn the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. |
The re-occurring themes associated with Shechem are covenant, failed covenant, failed marriage/family bond, murder/terrible wrongs, betrayal, and the lost opportunity to witness to the Gentile people concerning the One True God. Jesus, the true King of Israel and descendant of King David, would undo all those centuries of wrongs and abuses as He called Samaria (Northern Israel) back to true worship in covenant with God. He came to save that which was lost. He is the bridegroom who loves this "daughter of Jacob/Israel."
6 Jacob's well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey,
sat down there at the well. It was about noon [the sixth hour]. 7 A woman of
Samaria came to draw water.
St. John includes the information that Jesus was
tired to remind the reader that Jesus was fully divine and human. Like us, He
suffered from hunger and thirst and felt fatigued, but despite His tiredness,
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, did not waste the opportunity to reach out to the
lost sheep.
It was about the sixth hour [literal Greek].
This number of the hour may be literal, or it may be symbolic.
Six is the number of man/humanity, referring to when God created the first man
and woman on the sixth day (Gen 1:27-31). Six and any multiples of six are also
symbolic numbers for humanity in rebellion against God (i.e., Dan 3:1,
Rev 13:13:18). The Northern Kingdom of Israel (the location of Shechem) had been
estranged from God in violation of the Covenant of Sinai since the 10th
century BC. However, if the time is literal, then the question arises is John
using Jewish or Roman time? If it is Jewish time, it would be noon. If the
time is Roman, it is 6 AM (we keep Roman time). The usual times when the women
came to the village well were at the beginning and end of the day. It is
another indication that St. John is using Roman time in his Gospel and not Jewish
time as the inspired writers of the other Gospels. Why would St. John, writing
his account late in the century to a predominantly Gentile Christian Church
from his diocese of Ephesus, the third most important city in the Roman Empire,
use Hebrew time and not Roman time? He also explains the meaning of Aramaic or
Hebrew words and only uses the Roman names of geographic locations like the Sea
of Tiberias instead of the Sea of Galilee.
The place of their meeting has theological significance. Although wells figure prominently in the Old Testament, this particular "well of Jacob" is not mentioned in the Old Testament. The site of Jacob's well is at the foot of Mt. Gerizim in the West Bank, 40 miles north of Jerusalem and 1 mile east of the modern Palestinian city of Nablus. It has been a site of religious pilgrimage since the 4th century AD. The woman's encounter with Jesus repeats a reoccurring theme in the Old Testament of the courting of a future bride at a well:
| Genesis 24:10-67 | Abraham's servant, seeking a bride for Abraham's son Isaac, met Rebecca at a well. |
| Genesis 29:1-30 | Jacob/Israel met Rachel, his future bride, at a well. |
| Exodus 2:15-21 | Moses met Zipporah, his future bride, at a well. |
It is also an ancient Christian tradition that the Holy Spirit came to Mary at the well in Nazareth for the Annunciation and Incarnation of Jesus. In our story, Jesus, the divine Bridegroom, has come to court His Covenant Bride, Israel (Samaria), as symbolized by the woman and as promised by the prophets of Yahweh (c.f., Hosea Chapter 2). John the Baptist's last testimony of Christ as the "Bridegroom" in John 3:29 prepares us for the symbolic importance of this encounter.
The entire narrative divides into three Scenes in which Jesus
makes seven statements to the woman of Samaria:
Scene I, Part 1: Introduces the topic of "living
water" and Jesus's claim to be the Messiah.
Jesus's seven statements to the Samaritan woman are in bold print in the following Scripture quotations. The number seven is significant in Scripture, symbolizing fullness and completion. It is also the number of the Holy Spirit. Jesus would also make seven last statements from the Cross in the combined Gospels.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to
her, "Give me a drink." 8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy
food. 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you, a Jew, ask me, a
Samaritan woman, for a drink?" for Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans. Verse
7 is Jesus' 1st statement.
That Jesus's disciples went into town to buy food may
suggest that this was the start of their traveling day. The first encounter
between Jesus and the woman is rather amusing. The woman, astonished at Jesus's
willingness to speak to her, is meant to remind Him of proper Jewish/Samaritan
etiquette. To associate with a Samaritan, much less to accept food or drink
from such a person, would cause a Jew to become ritually unclean (Jn 4:7). Most
Jews thought the Samaritans were worse than pagan Gentiles since they were
considered apostate Jews at best and Gentile heretics at the worst. This attitude
is what made Jesus's story of the "Good Samaritan" so astonishing for the Jews
(Lk 10:30-37). It is also outside the boundaries of Jewish customs for a man to
converse with women in public who are not part of his immediate family (Jn 4:27),
much less a woman who is a recognized sinner by Jewish standards (Jn 4:18).
However, unlike Jews becoming ritually unclean by coming into contact
with sinners when sinners came into contact with Jesus, they were cleansed ritually
and spiritually.
John 4:10 (Jesus to the woman) "If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." Verse 10 is Jesus' 2nd statement as He issued a two-part challenge to the Samaritan woman:
St. John has a fondness for using words with a double meaning. The word zoe in Greek can mean "living" and "flowing." Just as in His encounter with the Pharisee Nicodemus, Jesus used ordinary words and expressions to offer a more spiritual teaching. Everyone knows that water is essential for physical life. Similarly, the grace of Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary for supernatural life! It is this supernatural "water" that truly gives life. Jesus uses the ordinary and the mundane to lead the Samaritan woman away from her chore of drawing water from an ordinary well to the point where she understands that it is more than well water that she needs. What she needs is the more satisfying "water" that wells up to eternal life.
The Woman to Jesus:11
The woman said to him, "Sir[ Kyrie], you do not even have a bucket, and the
cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater
than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with
his children and his flocks?"
The Greek word kyrie means both "sir" and "lord." The
woman began to address Jesus with increasing respect. Considering that they are
at a community well, it is natural that she thinks of water on a material and
earthly level as "flowing" water, a preferable water source to non-flowing well
water. However, Jesus is not referring to "flowing water" but to "living water."
The "living water" is not Jesus himself but something spiritual that He offers
to the woman and to the believer who can recognize God's gift. The "living
water" is not eternal life but leads to it (see verse 14).
In the 2nd - 4th centuries AD, Christian scholars like St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine of Hippo, and St. Jerome saw "living water" as the revelation of Jesus or the Spirit of God, which Jesus gives to humanity. Since Medieval times, Biblical scholars like St. Thomas Aquinas and others have seen the "living water" as a symbol for sanctifying grace. Most modern Catholic scholars believe Jesus spoke of the life and vitality of the Spirit of God, His gift to us. All these scholars, however, would agree that God's gift flows from the Sacrament of Christian Baptism. The use of water is a realistic way for Jesus to symbolize the importance of this gift: physical water is to natural life, as living water is to eternal life. Jesus spoke symbolically of water in the same sense as the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: "The symbolism of water signifies the Holy Spirit's action in Baptism, since after the invocation of the Holy Spirit it becomes the efficacious sacramental sign of new birth: just as the gestation of our first birth took place in water, so the water of Baptism truly signifies that our birth into the divine life is given to us in the Holy Spirit. As 'by one Spirit we were all baptized,' so we are also 'made to drink of one Spirit.' Thus the Spirit is also personally the living water welling up from Christ crucified as its source and welling up in us to eternal life" (CCC 694). Also, see Baptism in the Economy of Salvation: CCC 1217-1222; Christ's Baptist: CCC 1223-1225; and Baptism in the Church: CCC 1226-1228.
The "living water" Jesus promised prefigures Christian Baptism, which Jesus taught is necessary for salvation (Jn 3:3, 5; Mk 16:16). He also commanded His disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them (Mt 28:19-20; Mk 15:15-16). Baptism is necessary for the salvation of all people who have heard the proclamation of the Gospel and can ask for the Sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude. For this reason, she does not neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are "reborn of water and the Spirit." God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but He is not bound by His sacraments and can extend the gift of eternal life to whomever He chooses (CCC 1257).
In John 4:12, the woman said: "Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern
and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?"
This exchange is an example of St. John's use of irony. The
woman was using Jacob as her authority. The Assyrians imported the five
different Gentile peoples and their pagan gods into the region after the exile
of the ten Israelite tribes; some may have intermarried with the remnant of
Israelites who remained, but this is not mentioned in Scripture (2 Kngs 17:24).
They assumed an imperfect and misdirected worship of Yahweh practiced by the
former apostate ten tribes; therefore, Jacob (Israel) became, in some cases, a
physical "father," but in all cases, the Samaritans considered him a spiritual
"father" (see 2 Kngs 17:25-41). However, the Samaritan woman was also
unconsciously and ironically stating a truth; Jesus is greater than Jacob!
13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who
drinks this water will be thirsty again; 14 but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal
life." Verses 13-14 = Jesus' 3rd statement.
Christian tradition, as mentioned, associates "living water"
with the Spirit and the waters of baptism in Christ, which lead us to eternal
life. St. Paul described baptism in terms of drinking from the Spirit in 1
Corinthians 12:13 ~ For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink
of one Spirit. Verse 13 is John's thesis: the "living water" is the Spirit.
Many Christian writers down through the centuries expounded on this theme of
living water gushing forth and bringing the abundant gift of salvation. St.
Justin Martyr wrote circa 155 AD: "As a fountain of living water from God...has
this our Christ gushed forth" (Dialogue with Trypho LXIX. 6).
5 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so
that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."
The woman has finally discerned from Jesus's challenge in verse
10 and His teaching about living water that He is referring to "living" and not
"flowing" water. She now asks for this water as He challenged her to do when He
said: "If you only knew what God is offering ...you would have been the one to
ask."
Scene I, Part 2: Jesus and the woman discuss true worship.
16 Jesus said to her, "Go call your husband and
come back." 17 The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a
husband." Verse 16 is Jesus' 4th statement.
Jews would have considered the woman's life immoral. We do
not know enough about the practices of the 1st century AD Samaritans;
however, she does not seem to have a bad reputation among her own people who were
willing to listen to her testimony (verses 28-39). Notice that the woman does
not challenge Jesus in what He says about her past, nor does she call Him to
task for being a "Jewish busybody."
17b Jesus answered her, "You are right in saying, 'I
do not have a husband." 18 For you have had five husbands, and the one you have
now is not your husband. What you have said is true." Verse 17b
is Jesus's 5th statement.
Since the earliest years of Christianity, Christian scholars
have found symbolism associated with reference to "husbands" in this passage. In
Biblical times, a legal wife in a covenantal union with a man called her
husband "lord" or "my man. "Lord" in Hebrew is adon. But a concubine, considered
to be property, called her man "lord" or "master," using the Canaanite word baal
for "lord/master." Sarah could call Abraham "lord = adon" or "my man," but
Hagar, the slave, could only call him "baal." The word baal had a dual
meaning. Baal meant "lord" or "master" but also "god" as in the sense of pagan
gods. Each Canaanite god was called "Baal," along with the city name or place
name where the people practiced Baal worship. For example, Baal of Peor in
Numbers 25:1ff was the god Baal of the plains of Peor in Moab (also see Judg 6:28;
1 Kngs 18:19ff, etc.). Christian scholars have always seen a play on words or a dual
meaning with the word "husband" in the passage referring to the woman's five
"husbands" and the baals (baalim plural) of the five pagan peoples
who were the ancestors of the Samaritans (2 Kngs 17:22-24, 29-34). Yahweh in the
Old Testament and Christ in the New Testament both symbolically unite with the
Church in the imagery of Bridegroom to Bride or perhaps more correctly stated
as Bridegroom to covenant Bride (see Ezek 16:8-14; Rev 21:1-2).
More than commenting on the woman's life, Jesus could also be referring to the five different groups of people who became the Samaritans and who brought the worship of each of their principal baals (baalim = false gods) with them and then adopted the worship of Yahweh (2 Kngs 17:24-28, 34, 41). Jesus could be saying that Samaria had five different false gods, and the god they worship now is not their own because, although they adopted the worship of Yahweh, they were instructed by a false priest of the Northern Kingdom (2 Kngs 17:28) and have reinterpreted the covenant into their idea of worship (2 Kngs 17:33-34). Therefore, His rebuke was that their religion and covenant, which separated from the Jerusalem Church, were not legitimate. They had even rewritten passages of the Torah to reflect these changes, for example, designating the place of worship not as Jerusalem but as Mt. Gerizim in Samaria.
Jesus could also be saying that the woman, like the people of Samaria, has had five different "Lords"/gods/ baals, and "he," meaning Himself, "who is with you now" (Jesus was literally with her) is not your own; He is God, but He is not her/their God. Considering the use of double-meaning words in the fourth Gospel, St. John could also be using all these symbolic meanings. (see 2 Kngs 17:24-41 and Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews Book 9.14.3).
The connection between Jesus's message to the woman of Samaria, the husband, and baal references together with Samaria/Israel's relationship to Yahweh is in the book of Hosea. God gave Hosea a prophecy concerning the day Israel would again become the bride of Yahweh (Hos 2:18; in some translations, this passage is verses 16-17): When that day comes, declares Yahweh, you will call me, "My husband," no more will you call me, "My Baal." I shall banish the names of the Baals from her lips, and their name will be mentioned no more (NJB). Jesus's witness to the woman is an amazing fulfillment of that prophecy, written after the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the exile of the people in the 8th century BC.
19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I can see that you are a
prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that
the place to worship is in Jerusalem."
The woman now realizes that Jesus was speaking about more
than just her own life. She acknowledges him as a prophet. The early Church
father, Origen of Alexandria, writing in the 2nd century AD, noted
that the Samaritans held as canonical only the five books of Moses. They did
not have the Histories or the Books of the Prophets in their Bible. Since the
Samaritans only accepted the Pentateuch as their canon of inspired Scripture,
Moses was their only prophet, and for them, there had been no other.
The only passage the Samaritans had in their sacred text of the Torah (five books of Moses) that prophesied a future prophet coming to the people was in Deuteronomy 18:17, where God told the Israelites: From among their own brothers, I shall raise up a prophet like yourself. The Samaritans only expected the Messiah to come as a prophet, unlike the Jews and Israelites, who had the whole canon of Scripture and expected the Messiah to come as a prophet, priest, and Davidic king. This is an example of how imperfect Sacred Scripture translations can hinder or distort divine revelation.
Perceiving that Jesus might be the promised prophet, she tested Him by asking a question about worship in verse 20. She mentioned the difference between the Samaritans and the Jews concerning their center of Yahweh worship, suggesting there was no significant difference. Jesus corrected her and affirmed that the Jews have a divine authority granted by God in the statement: "Salvation is from the Jews." In the Old Covenant Church, as in the New, there can only be one center and one hierarchy of authority. It is why, in Matthew 23:2, Jesus told the crowds: "The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do and observe what they tell you ...." The woman was now looking away from the material and looking to "the light" (Jn 8:12). Even though she diverted the topic of conversation away from her own life to something less personal, in opening the subject of worship, she was beginning to think on a spiritual rather than a material level.
21 Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the hour is
coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem. 22 You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we
understand, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and
is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. 24 God is Spirit, and
those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth."
Verses 21-24 are Jesus's 6th statement. God
established the center of worship for the sacred assembly of His Old Covenant Church
at His Temple in Jerusalem (Dt 12:5-7; 1Kngs 7-8;
2 Chr 3:1). When the Ten
Northern Tribes of Israel broke away to form a divided kingdom in 930 BC, their
king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel established worship at a counterfeit
Temple on Mt. Gerizim near Shechem. Jesus confirmed that God established one
Church in a holy covenant, and salvation was through that one Church. The One
Church had one geographic center and one man as the mediator between humans and
God. That center of worship and the hierarchy of the Church was Jerusalem, and
the High Priest in Jerusalem, who sat on the chair of Moses, was the mediator
between God and humankind and governed the Church with a priestly hierarchy (Mt 23:2).
The foundation of the Temple of the Old Covenant Church was on the physical rock of Mt. Moriah, and right worship continued through generations of physical descent to the children of Israel in the time of the Samaritan woman. In the New Covenant, Jesus explained that true worship could come only from men and women begotten spiritually by the "Spirit of Truth." In the New Covenant Church, there was to be one geographic center (Rome) and one man as covenant mediator, the man who sat on the chair of St. Peter, the Rock, and his successors, together with the successors of the Apostles, are the spiritual fathers who are the representatives of the Most Holy Trinity. The children of the New Covenant Church are "begotten" by God's Spirit to become inheritors of the New Covenant through a spiritual rebirth. Only through the Spirit does God the Father "beget" true sons and daughters.
"God is Spirit": this is not a definition of God but is a description of God's dealing with humanity. It means that God is Spirit toward humans because He gives the Spirit which "begets" them in spiritual birth through baptism. The Gospel of John uses this expression in the same way he used the words "God is light" (1 Jn 1:5) and "God is love" (1 Jn 4:8).
Scene II, Part I: Jesus reveals His true identity
Scene II, Part II: Jesus teaches His disciples
25 The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is
coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything." 26
Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one speaking with you." Verse 25 is
Jesus's 7th statement to the woman of Samaria.
In verse 25, the woman spoke of the coming of the promised
Messiah. Then, in verse 26, Jesus revealed His identity as the promised
Messiah. At the return of Jesus's disciples, the Samaritan woman left to tell
her community what had happened to her. Jesus then taught His disciples using
the metaphor of the harvest.
In Jesus's 7th statement to the woman of Samaria, He used the significant words "I am," which recalls God's revelation to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14 ~ "This is what you are to say to the Israelites, "I AM has sent me to you." As mentioned above, the Samaritans did not expect the Messiah in the sense of an anointed king of the house of David (they did not have those books in their Bible; they only had the five books of Moses). Instead, they expected a Ta'eb = "the one who returns," in the form of the Prophet-like-Moses, the teacher/Law-giver. This belief was the fifth article in the Samaritan creed. Their belief in a future prophet-Messiah came from God's promise to Moses in Deuteronomy 18:17-19. God told Moses to tell the people: from their own brothers, I shall raise up a prophet like yourself; I shall put my words into his mouth and he will tell them everything I command him (NJB, emphasis added). The Samaritan woman was referring to this passage, and she was slowly coming into the "light." She finally recognized who had offered her living water, and Jesus affirmed her declaration that He is the Messiah. The last part of the challenge Jesus made the woman in verse 10 was completed.
27 At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed
that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, "What are you looking
for?" or "Why are you talking with her?" 28 The woman left her water jar and
went into the town and said to the people, 29 "Come see a man who told me everything
I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?" 30 They went out of the town and
came to him.
The disciples had already learned not to question Jesus when
He broke with custom or tradition, but St. John wanted us to understand that
this was highly unusual behavior for a religious Jew. Interestingly, John included
the detail that the woman left her water jar. She had recognized that the "spiritual
water" Jesus promised was much more valuable than the material, natural water
she was going to collect in her earthen vessel.
In his commentary on this passage, St. Augustine suggested that the water jar was the fallen desire of humankind that draws pleasure from the dark wells of the world but is never satisfied for long. He compared that desire, symbolized by the water jar that does not satisfy, to conversion to Christ, which moves us to renounce the world, leave behind the desires of our earthen vessels, and follow a new way of life. (St. Augustine, Homilies on St. John, 15, 16, 30).
The woman had not come fully "into the light" of understanding Jesus's true identity. She still hesitated in her announcement to the people by asking the question: "Could he possibly be the Christ?" instead of Philip's declaration to Nathanael (Jn 1:45) or Andrew's revelation to Simon Peter: "We have found the Messiah!" (Jn 1:41).
Scene II, Part 2: Jesus's dialogue with the disciples
30 They went out of the town and came to him. 31 Meanwhile,
the disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat." 32 But he said to them, "I have food to
eat of which you do not know." 33 So the disciples said to one another, "Could
someone have brought him something to eat?" 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is
to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say,
'In four months, the harvest will be here'? I tell you, look up and see the
fields ripe for the harvest. 36 The reaper is already receiving payment and
gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice
together. 37 For here the saying is verified that 'One sows and another reaps.'
38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work,
and you are sharing the fruits of their work."
It is possible that Jesus showed signs of weakness from lack
of food and, therefore, His disciples were concerned. Jesus is fully human and
felt all the physical effects of lack of food and sleep.
34b My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and
to finish his work.
The "food" Jesus was talking about is the will of the Father,
which is always the driving force behind His mission. Both the Synoptic Gospels
and St. Paul in his epistles teach that God the Father sent Jesus to do His
will, but St. John stresses this teaching to the point of insistence!
35b I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest
Jesus was probably looking out at the crops growing in the
fields of Samaria, but He was not speaking of the physical harvest of the crops
since it was four months before harvest time (verse 35). Instead, Jesus was
telling the disciples that it was the Samaritan people who were "ripe for harvest."
The Samaritans who were coming to Christ were among His first harvest of souls
for God's storehouse; they are Jesus's "first fruits. The reapers are the
disciples, and the sowers are those who labored before them, including the
prophets of the Old Testament and Jesus Himself. In John 3:12, Jesus taught
that faith consists in recognizing Him as the envoy of the Father (also see
Jn 7:28-29; 17:21, 25; 19:9b). Jesus told His disciples in verses 35-38 that He would
send them as envoys of the Father (the word apostle means envoy or emissary in
Greek) into the harvest of the world (Jn 13:30; 17:18; 20:21;
also see Acts 1:26; 22:21; Rom 1:1).
Scene III: Many Samaritans came to believe in the Messiah
John 4:39-42 ~ Many Samaritans of that town began to
believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me
everything I have done." 40 When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him
to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 Many more began to believe
in him because of his word, 42 and they said to the woman, "We no longer
believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that
this is truly the savior of the world."
It is a very spiritually symbolic experience that marks the
beginning of a new day/age for the people of Samaria. It was the end of their
rejection and the start of their relationship with Yahweh. It was significant
that they no longer only believed based on the woman's testimony but believed
for themselves.
the Savior of the world.
The Samaritans were the first to recognize that the salvation
Jesus offered was for all the nations of the world. In declaring Jesus "the
Savior of the world," they now believed what St. John would later write: He
is the expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the
whole world (1 Jn 2:2).
St. John used marital imagery in Chapters 2, 3, and 4 to present Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom of the New Covenant Church. That Jacob's well was the setting of Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan woman is St. John's way of reminding the reader that, in the Old Testament, a well was the place for courting a bride:
In Chapter 4, through the Samaritan woman, Jesus the Bridegroom was speaking to His beloved Israel, and He was calling her back into a loving New Covenant relationship with Him meant to bear fruit in the salvation of the children of all the generations of humanity across the face of the earth.
Catechism References:
Exodus 17:3-7 (CCC 694*, 2119*)
Psalm 95:1-2 (CCC 2628*); 95:7 (CCC 1165*); 95:7-8 (CCC 2659)
Romans 5:5 (CCC 368*, 733, 1820, 1964, 2658); 5:8 (CCC 604)
John 4:6-7 (CCC 544*); 4:10-14 (CCC 569*, 1137*); 4:10 (CCC 728*, 2560, 2561); 4:14 (CCC 728*, 1999*, 2557, 2652); 4:21 (CCC 586); 4:22 (CCC 528*, 586*); 4:23-24 (CCC 586*, 728*); 4:24 (CCC 1179); 4:25-26 (CCC 439*); 4:34 (CCC 606, 2611*, 2824*)
Baptism, the rebirth of water and Spirit (CCC 1214*, 1215*, 1216*, 1226*, 1227*, 1228*)
Jesus reveals the Holy Spirit (CCC 727-729)
The Holy Spirit, the living water, a gift of God (CCC 694*, 733*, 734*, 735*, 736*, 1215*, 1999*, 2652)
God takes the initiative; hope from the Spirit (CCC 604*, 733*, 1820*, 1825*, 1992*, 2658*)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2014; revised 2023 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.