John 4:1-42

Second Section: 4:1-42. Jesus in Samaria.

The first phase of the public ministry of Jesus is ended. Unbelief on the part of the masses, faith on the part of a few, public attention greatly aroused, such is the result of His work in Judea. Nevertheless the uneasiness which He sees appearing among the leaders of the people with relation to Himself, is for Him the signal for retreat. He does not wish to engage prematurely in a conflict which He knows to be inevitable. He abandons Judea therefore to His enemies and, returning to Galilee, He makes that retired province, from this time onward, the ordinary theatre of His activity.

The direct road from Judea to Galilee passed through Samaria. But was it the one which was followed by the Jews, for example the Galilean caravans which went to the feasts at Jerusalem? Writers ordinarily answer in the affirmative, resting upon the passage of Josephus Antiq. 6.1: “It was the custom of the Galileans to pass through Samaria in order to go to the feasts at Jerusalem.” But R. Steck has concluded, not without reason, from a passage in the Life of Josephus (chap. 52): “Those who wish to go quickly from Galilee to Jerusalem must pass through Samaria,” that the custom of which that author speaks in the Antiquities was not so general as the first passage seems to imply. Perhaps this road was that of the festival caravans; but it was not that of the Jews who were of strict observance, at least in private life. As to Jesus it has been claimed that by following this road in this case, He would have put Himself in contradiction to His own word in Matthew 10:5, where, on sending them out to preach, He said to the apostles: “ Go not into the way of the Gentiles and enter not into any city of the Samaritans; but go ye rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ” But, between passing through Samaria (διὰ τῆς Σαμαρ., John 4:4) and making the Samaritan people the object of a mission, there is an easily appreciable difference. We should much rather acknowledge, with Hengstenberg, that it might be befitting for Jesus to give once, during His earthly life, an example of largeness of heart to His apostles which might afterwards direct the Christian mission throughout the whole world. Luke 9:51 proves that Jesus really did not fear to approach the Samaritan soil.

The fact which is to follow has a typical significance. Jesus Himself acutely feels it (John 4:38). This Samaritan woman and these inhabitants of Sychar, by the readiness and earnestness of their faith, and by the contrast of their conduct with that of the Israelitish people, become in His eyes the first- fruits, as it were, of the conversion of the Gentile world. There is therein a sign for Him of the future destiny of the kingdom of God on earth. Must we from this conclude, with Baur, that this whole account is only an idea presented in action by the author of our Gospel? Certainly not. If the Samaritan woman was nothing but a personification of the Gentile world, how would the author have put into her mouth (John 4:20 f.) a strictly monotheistic profession of faith, as well as the hope of the near advent of the Messiah (John 4:25; comp. ver.

42)? Because a fact has an ideal and prophetic significance, it does not follow that it is fictitious. If there is a story of the Saviour's life which, by reason of the vivacity and freshness of its totality and its details, bears the seal of historic truth, it is this. Renan himself says: “Most of the circumstances of the narrative bear a strikingly impressive stamp of truth.” (Vie de Jesus, p. 243.) As an example of faith, this incident is connected with the two preceding representations: that of the faith of the apostles (John 1:38 ff.) and that of the visit of Nicodemus (John 3:1-21). These are the luminous parts of the narrative which alternate with the sombre parts, representing the beginning of unbelief (John 1:19 ff.; John 2:12 ff.; John 3:25 ff.).

We distinguish in this narrative the following three phases: 1. Jesus and the Samaritan woman: John 4:1-26; John 2. Jesus and the disciples: John 4:27-38; John 3. Jesus and the Samaritans: John 4:39-42.