Ex.17:1-17 Ps.95:6-11
Roman 5:1-11 John 4:5-42
Lectionary Link
When we read the Gospels, we must not fall into chronological confusion of thinking that the Gospels were the first New Testament writings presenting exact accounts of the hero and chief inspiration for the Jesus Movement. The first New Testament writing are from St. Paul in the form of letters giving pastoral advice and teaching instruction for gatherings of this particular party that still was connected with Judaism but who believed that Jesus was the Messiah.
When the Gospel genre of writing occurred, it involved connected the mystical and spiritual theology of St. Paul with Jesus of Nazareth by presenting narratives of Jesus. These narratives embedded the mystical theology of Paul and others into "as if eye-witness" stories to provide stories as indirect teaching methods to inculcate the reality of a community which was established and promulgated by the replication of the mystical experience called by Paul and others of receiving an identity with the Risen Christ. The Gospels gave a narrative concrescence to the mystical experience. They were crafted in story units as devices for easy memory and transmission among people, of whom many were not literate. The story units as a genre were effective for transmission of the teaching goals of the early communities of Jesus Movement.
By the time the Gospel of John came to textual form, the Jesus Movement was quite old, almost six decades after Jesus had lived.
Like Matthew, Mark, and Luke, John was crafted by an educated writer who knew the Greek language. Their literary education included the ability to use existing textual and rhetorical traditions from both rabbinical and the Roman Empire cultural and empire propaganda and political rhetorical traditions. This means that terms like son of god would not be unfamiliar to Roman ears, for in fact, their own emperors were so designated.
What is the writer of John's Gospel trying to do in the presentation of the story of the encounter of the Samaritan women with Jesus at the well? What might be some of the concrete features revealed by this text?
First, one might assume that by the year 90, a number of people of the Samaritan Torah-based religion had become followers of Jesus. In fact, from this writing one might trace Samaritan converts to this woman who could be called the founding apostle of the Samaritan church. The chief apostle of the Samaritan church was a woman who had a history of rather unstable relationships with the men of her life. This apostolic role of a Samaritan woman might be considered to be quite an innovation and challenge to patriarchal norms of the period.
Secondly, the Gospel writer of John developed themes found within the Gospel itself. In the narrative account, Jesus gave the living water discourse following his discourse with Nicodemus, to whom he said, "You have to be born anew, from above, and by water and the Spirit." Water as an outer baptism is water as an agent of cleansing of the outer life. But water as a thirst quencher is an interior baptism which provides continuing life for our bodies which are mostly water, as well as the delightful and satisfying feature of what happens when one imbibes. The living water of the Holy Spirit which Jesus promised, was an internal baptism and such a baptism pertains to the request of the Psalmist: "Create in me a new heart and renew a right spirit within me." The Jesus Movement of the year 90 consisted of a group of people who were united by sharing an interior living spirit which resonated with the words of Jesus which were being passed in their tradition. As the Johannine writer would also write Jesus saying, "My words are spirit and they are life." This discourse is about the spirit words of Jesus.
This living water story is also consistent with another theme in John's Gospel, namely, the plain and literal or empirically verifiable words have their place but they also can be words which point to parallel inward experience. Jesus, in the Gospel of John, is often presented as rebuking the literal minds. The Samaritan women wanted actual drinking water while Jesus was referring to inward refreshment of spiritual experience. The disciples were speaking about food for Jesus to eat, while Jesus was speaking about inward sustenance in the experience of not living by bread alone but by spirit-words which informed the entire value system of one's life. Jesus spoke of laborers and harvest, not as actual farming, but as referring to the bringing to spiritual harvest people who need to know that life is more than mere food and drink, but very much about the inward organization of our lives for the highest and best values of quality life.
And this living water story reflects the reality of spiritual enlightenment. By the spirit words of Jesus, the lives of the Samaritan woman and her neighbors were changed forever. This was the reality of Jesus Movement in the year 90; peoples lives were still being changed and converted by the spirit words of the Risen Christ. The writer of John's Gospel was proclaiming the firm belief that the experience of the Risen Christ decades after Jesus was initiated by the life of Jesus of Nazareth and was in succession with it in the work of the Holy Spirit through time.
Where do you and I find Gospel correspondence for us?
The Gospel was for unsuspecting people who often lived in patriarchal and narrow group chauvinism. The Gospel is still for people who have been marginalized and neglected as not have most favored status by us and our group. The Gospel is for everyone equally who has human need and we cannot put limits upon the spirit words of Jesus.
The Gospel for today also warns us not to misread biblical words in crassly literal ways. The Bible invites us to the art of spiritual living and this means the ability to read the Scriptures with the inner eye toward spiritual transformation. Too many people waste all their religion on defending biblical words as continuous unique occasions of events which defy common sense and natural laws. The words of Jesus invite us to inner meanings.
Finally, this Gospel proclaimed that people living decades after Jesus still could have a spiritual and inner connection with him. The ways in which this connection happens for you and me will be different than other people in other times and places, and the proof of this connection will be our transformed lives in love and justice. Let us continue to seek the spirit words of Christ which will still change our lives. Amen
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