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“…grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
This is a quintessential portrait of Jesus and his ministry. He goes where no one wants to go (Samaria); to a group of people hated by his own (Jews hated Samaritans as half-breed traitors—long story); to meet a person whom no one else wants to meet (a woman going for water at mid-day suggests that she is excluded from the female community in the village, probably because of the circumstances around the five-plus husbands/lovers that she has had).
Jesus reaches across racial, gender, and religious boundaries and offers her unmerited favor in his gracious pursuit of her. He explains the truth to her in a way that draws her in, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty…” (v15). Along the way, he reveals more truth regarding his identity to this immoral, rejected, Gentile woman than he does to even the Jews. The contrast between Jesus’ interaction between Nicodemus, the religious leader, and this Samaritan woman is breathtaking. And to top it all off, he completely overlooks her sin.
Well, actually he doesn’t. Grace AND truth come through Jesus Christ. Moving towards her in grace isn’t gracious unless he treats her as a whole person. This means addressing the longings of her heart as well as the failures in her life.
From here, this woman’s experience of meeting Jesus becomes a revival. No miracles in this part of the chapter. This is just grace and truth and a person’s story of meeting Jesus in the middle of the day.
Study Notes: It is helpful to look at a map in order to understand this passage. Jesus was making a trip from the Judean countryside (3:22) to Galilee. Jewish people usually went far out of their way, crossing the Jordan River, in order to avoid the hated Samaritan population that dwelled between Judea and Galilee.
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2 comments:
I always thought that Jesus was the one baptizing people. Verse 2 opened my eyes to the fact that the disciples were the ones doing the baptizing. Does this mean that any of us could baptize a person who might want to be baptized but might be far away from a church or a Pastor?
Let me give this a shot:
technically, there is nothing in the Bible that says someone cannot baptize another person wherever. In fact, Acts 2 records Phillip baptizing an Ethiopian.
Historically, the best practice of the church has been for people to have the baptism within the context of the church. Symbolically, baptism is a sign that identifies the person with Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. Those who perform infant baptism tie the symbol to the pouring out of the Spirit.
The symbol is not just personal identification with Christ, but also a corporate initiation for if a person is united to Christ in faith, they are simultaneously united to the entire body of Christ. So, baptism is not just a symbol of a new personal identity, but also a symbol of a new social identity.
For these reasons, the best practice has been for a person to be baptized in context with the greater body of Christ.
Is that helpful?
Marc Lucenius
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