There are two main scenes in John, Chapter 4. First, Jesus is thirsty and goes to Jacob's well to drink water. But He goes to find a Samaritan woman. Jesus goes to find her. He offers her the water of life, the one that satisfies all thirst. He is a Jew, and she is a Samaritan. And in those times, a Jew did not talk to a Samaritan woman, and when Jesus spoke to her, she was surprised.
Furthermore, Jesus planned to meet her there. He went there to talk to her, the meeting was not by chance. He wanted to meet her, and bring salvation, as He wants to bring salvation to each one of us (Abrams, n.d.). He shows his divinity to the Samaritan woman, even though she was a sinner. And He also wants to show his power to heal us, and He also intends to show in our lives that He is our God.
St Agustin explains in the Catena Aura (Aquinas, n.d.) that the Samaritan woman is a foreigner, she is part of the foreign people, and represents the Gentiles, and the Church was going to come from the Gentiles. What Agustin is telling us is that no matter who we are Jesus comes to us. He came for everyone, not just a selection of people. He does not care about our past, nor our sins, our blood, our colour, how rich or poor we are. He cares about each one of us for who we are.
Furthermore, the Samaritan was living with a man that was not her husband. She was not lawfully marriage, and this again tells us that Jesus, knowing our sins, breaks the walls and comes and meets us as he met the Samaritan woman. Not to allow us to continue living in sin, but to convert us and invite us to go to Him and live a new life. He shows his deity so we can trust him, and in him find new life. He comes to us to break the barrier that otherwise we would not be able to break on our own. HE talks to the Samaritan woman. She would not have spoken to him unless he did it first. He shows us that He loves us as we are.
The other big miracle is in Cana, where he did his first public miracle, the transformation of water into wine (John 2:1-12). After meeting the Samaritan, he goes to Cana. A royal official looks for Jesus as his son is lying ill. He wants to find Jesus to ask him to cure his son before he dies. The official asked Jesus to go and heal his boy, but instead Jesus sends him away saying he is already healed. Jesus is demanding faith from the nobleman. A faith that he did not have until Jesus healed his son.
The nobleman who went all the way from Capernaum to Cana to find Jesus shows a great sign of faith. Chrysostom says that the miracle Jesus does is not only to heal the boy physically but to heal the mind of the man. He thought Jesus could cure his boy, but he was not convinced. Furthermore, he needed Jesus to go and see his son; he did not believe until then, that Jesus did not need to see the boy heal him, as he is God, He is Life (Chrysostom, 259).
Ultimately we are seeing that Jesus loves us all. The Samaritan, the nobleman and the child. He just asks of us to trust him, to believe in him. There are no other barriers between us than that. He breaks all the obstacles, and He needs us to go to him, as the nobleman did (Chrysostom, 260).
Furthermore, Jesus demands more faith from us just as He did to the nobleman. He demanded from him to believe that it was not necessary for him to go and see his son. To believe that his son was already healed. (Oxford Bible Church, n.d.). He wants to help us grow our faith. He does not care if we are Jews, or Gentiles, poor or wealthy, he just loves us for who we are, and will and always is with us and is waiting for us.
Abrams, C. A Commentary on the Gospel of John Four. Bible-Truth.org. n.d. Web. 26 July 2016.
Aquinas, T. Catena Aurea – The Gospel of St. John. Easy Read Versions. Digital.
Chrysostom, J. Homilies on the Gospel of John. Web. documentacatholicaomnia.eu. n.d. 26 July 2016.
Oxford Bible Church. The Gospel of John Commentary Chapters 1-11. n.d. Web. oxfordbiblechurch.co.uk. 26 July 2016.
