Fantastic, Tim! Thank you so much for sharing this. I preached on this passage yesterday, and was amazed to find out (thanks to Willard Swartley and the Believer's Church Bible Commentary) that the Greek word used for "Jesus *had to* go through Samaria." was 'dei' (it is necessary that). The very same word used several times in chapter 3 -- 'you must be born again', 'the Son of Man must be lifted up', and (as said by John the Baptist) 'I must decrease and he must increase'. In other words, Jesus going through Samaria was not a geographical necessity, but a theological/missiological one -- as you so eloquently explained, a key truth of the good news could only be revealed there, in that village, by that well, with that Samaritan woman.
Thanks for this further insight Lydia (it reminds me I need to do more work learning my Greek again). I don't know if you ran into this article in preparing for your sermon but you probably would appreciate it as it pushes back on some typical assumptions made of the text - http://newlife.id.au/equality-and-gender-issues/samaritan-woman-john-4/. Blessings!
Fantastic, Tim! Thank you so much for sharing this. I preached on this passage yesterday, and was amazed to find out (thanks to Willard Swartley and the Believer's Church Bible Commentary) that the Greek word used for "Jesus *had to* go through Samaria." was 'dei' (it is necessary that). The very same word used several times in chapter 3 -- 'you must be born again', 'the Son of Man must be lifted up', and (as said by John the Baptist) 'I must decrease and he must increase'. In other words, Jesus going through Samaria was not a geographical necessity, but a theological/missiological one -- as you so eloquently explained, a key truth of the good news could only be revealed there, in that village, by that well, with that Samaritan woman.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this further insight Lydia (it reminds me I need to do more work learning my Greek again). I don't know if you ran into this article in preparing for your sermon but you probably would appreciate it as it pushes back on some typical assumptions made of the text - http://newlife.id.au/equality-and-gender-issues/samaritan-woman-john-4/. Blessings!
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