Manfred Diefenbach - THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS, THE CHRIST AND THE SON OF GOD, ACCORDING TO JOHN

vv. 11–12:She respectfully – “ Lord ” (note the vocative in vv. 11b, 15b, 19b) – asked Jesus a question (cf., for example, 1:48; 2:9; 3:8) because of her thinking in human terms and thus misunderstanding Him: “ Where / do / ( ) you ( have/get ) the living water ” (v. 11d) – without a “ ladle ” 316(cf. v. 11b) on a rope for the “( deep ) well ( )” (v. 11c)? And her second question was: “ Are you greater than ( our ) father/ancestor ( ) Jacob ” (v. 12a – cf. v. 5c) – note also the comparative in 8:53 (Abraham) – who “ gave … the well ” (v. 12b – cf. v. 6a) and for drinking water from it himself, “( his ) sons ( )” and “( His ) livestock 317( )” (cf. Genesis 29:10; Exodus 2:16) as well as the citizen of Sychar.

vv. 13–14:Jesus, the “giver” (cf. v. 14b) of “ the ( living ) water ( )” (vv. 10f, 11d) on God’s/the Holy Spirit’s behalf (cf. John 14:14, 23), contrasts the “normal” water (cf. v. 13b and Exodus 17:1–7; Psalm 105:41) and the (divine) “ living water ” in an antithesis respectively a correction in verse 14a–g (“ not … but ” in v. 14c, d): Everyone who “ drinks (v. 13a) “normal” “ water will be thirsty 318 again ” (v. 13b–c), however whoever “ drinks ” (v. 14a) the living “ water will never 319 be thirsty ” (v. 14c – cf. v. 15b–c and John 6:35; 7:37 – note also God’s promise in Isaiah 49:10) again. More: This living water will become like a “ well ”/“ spring ” (cf. Isaiah 58:11) for a fulfilled life first on earth and “( eternal/everlasting 320) life ( )” (v. 14g) in Heaven.

v. 15:Similar to His request in verse 7d (“ give me to drink ”), she requests Him “ the Lord ” (cf. vv. 11b, 15b, 19b), in her literal misunderstanding 321of His (spiritual/divine) “ living water ” (cf., for example, Psalm 42:1; Jeremiah 17:13: drinking in vv. 7d, 9c, 10c, f, 11d, 12c–d, 13b–15e], and food [vv. 8b, 31c, 32b–34b]) to “ give ” her this “special” water in the sense of “running water” now, so that it is practical for her: She “ will not get thirsty” and will not “ scoop/draw water ” (v. 7b) again.

# Part II: The Samaritan Woman and Her Men (vv. 16–19)

v. 16:Jesus changed the topic with an invitation in the form of an order – three imperatives:

“Go , call 322( your ) man/husband ( ) and come back ”.

v. 17:She briefly answered Him: “( ) I have ( no ) man/husband ” (v. 17b, e).

vv. 18–19:The result of Jesus’ prophetical knowledge (cf. John 1:42, 47–48) of her private situation with “ five men ” (cf. vv. 17e–18d 323) was that she confessed Him as “ Lord ” – note the vocative in verses 11b, 15b, 19b – and as a (Mosaic) “ prophet ” (v. 19c – cf. John 1:21; 6:14; 7:40; 9:17; Luke 7:39) in consideration of Deuteronomy 18:15–18. Four possibilities regarding her five husbands are discussed by the scholars:

- “The woman’s past would be considered sinful” 324(cf. John 7:53–8:11)

- That she married five men in the context of the so-called levirate marriage 325legislation according to Deuteronomy 25:5

- The “ five men ” have been interpreted symbolically as the five gods of the five foreign nations the Assyrians brought to inhabit Samaria (cf. 2 Kings 17:24–41; Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews IX 288)

- “The five books of Moses” are “the only part of the Jewish Scriptures the Samaritans acknowledged” 326.

# Part III: The Worship of God in Jerusalem and on Mount Gerizim (vv. 20–26)

v. 20:The woman confesses Jesus as a “ prophet ” (v. 19c) and she introduces the theological issue of the correct place of the true “ worship ” (in Greek “ proskunéo ” in vv. 20a, d, 21d, 22a, c, 23b, c, 24c and John 9:38; 12:20 and “ worshiper ” in Greek “ proskunet é s ” in v. 23b – cf. 1 Kings 17:29–33): in the temple on “ Mount ” Gerizim in the Samaritan “ fathers ’” respectively ancestors’ tradition (cf. John 6:31, 49, 58; 7:22) or the temple on “ Mount ” Zion “ in Jerusalem ” (v. 21) in the Jewish tradition (cf. Deuteronomy 11:29; 12:4–7; 27:12–16; Judges 9:7–15 or Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XVIII 85–87)?

v. 21:Jesus answered her that the physical/geographical location is not decisive – “ neither this mountain ” Gerizim “ nor ” Mount Zion “ in Jerusalem ” (cf. Acts 17.23) –, but the attitude of the worshipers 327– here and now (cf. Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 3:16) – in the “ coming hour ” (vv. 21c, 23a – cf. John 5:25, 28; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1; 16:2, 4, 21, 25, 32; 17:1) in the present-eschatological sense of the end of time.

v. 22:For Jesus it is very important that all “ Jewish ” including 328Samaritan people should worship God YHWH together because of their covenant as the basis/foundation of the Jewish tradition and their “ salvation ” 329(cf. Psalm 14:7; Isaiah 2:3; 59:20). The Pontifical Biblical Commission (2001) writes that “the relationship between salvation and the Jewish people becomes an explicit object of theological reflection in John: ‘Salvation comes from the Jews’ (Jn 4:22). This saying of Jesus is found in a context of opposition between Jewish and Samaritan cults that will become obsolete with the introduction of adoration ‘in spirit and truth’ (4:23)” 330.

vv. 23–24:Therefore Jesus emphasizes that “ God is Spirit” (v. 24a and 2 Corinthians 3:17–18), the “ Father ” (v. 23d) “ in spirit and truth ” (vv. 23d, 24b and John 14:6) now.

v. 25:She confessed Him (cf. v. 19: “ Prophet ”) now as a “ Messiah ” 331(in Hebrew – cf. 1:41 or in Greek “ Chr ɩ st ó s ” in vv. 25d, 29d), which means the “anointed one”.

v. 26:As in John 9:37, Jesus confirmed her confession with a typical Johannine phrase “ I am ” (cf., for example, 6:20; 8:18, 24, 28, 58; 13:19; 18:5–6, 8) as an allusion to God’s proclamation of His name in Exodus 3:14: “ I am who I am ” (cf. Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 41:4).

+ The Second Dialogue (vv. 27–38)

# A Scenic-Dialogical Intermezzo (vv. 27–30)

v. 27:His “ disciples ” “ came ” – note the verbum simplex “érchomaı” (v. 27a) – back from their shopping (cf. v. 8) from the town “ Sychar ” (v. 5a), the city of the Samaritan woman, and were “ wondering ”/“ surprised ” (in Greek “ thaum á zo ” in v. 27b and in John 3:7; 5:20, 28; 7:15, 21; 1 John 3:13) in the negative sense that Jesus – a “ Jew ” (v. 9b) – “( talked ) with ( )” a Samaritan “ woman ” “in public” (cf. John 7:13). The Evangelist comments that “ nobody ” asked her (“ What do you want ”?) or Him (“ What do you speak with her ”?).