Jesus and the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42) : a paradigmatic encounter for discipleship [μαθητής] and witness [μαρτυρία]

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Gospel of John relates intense dialogues, often long and complexly difficult, between Jesus and the most diverse people. The first is with Nicodemus, in chapter 3; then we encounter the Samaritan woman (4), the man born blind (9), Martha and Mary, upon the death of their brother, Lazarus (11). They are called dialogues of 'revelation because they become occasions of 'self-revelation, wherein Jesus, while talking with one of these personalities, reveals Himself, and tells the paradigmatic reader something of Himself. To Nicodemus, who knows all the laws, who goes to Him by night, Jesus speaks of himself as a free and limitless love, which brings you where you do not know; to the Samaritan woman, who has a great thirst for love, who comes there with the baggage of her wounded and complex history, He speaks to her of living water; to the blind man he reveals Himself as light; to the sisters of Bethany, who are weeping at the death of their dear one, Jesus is resurrection and life. Modern disciples are thus affirmed that Jesus reaches and enters every human story. He is at one with all humanity: and thus, He reveals Himself. And while He reveals Himself, something happens in the one He is speaking to, who becomes involved in the dialogue, so in the end he finds himself different from what he was at the beginning of the encounter: life is transformed by it and salvation happens in every story. However, it is the particular encounter with the Samaritan woman that introduces the paradigmatic reader (PR) to revealed knowledge of Jesus. The dialogue in the encounter is in fact constructed in such a way as to gradually bring out the truth about Jesus as rabbi, prophet, Messiah, etc. All of this affirms that the 'character of the Samaritan in John 4, is open to various readings and interpretations, as various stereotypes and even literary intertexts hint at. Nevertheless, her encounter and dialogue with Jesus transforms her. As inquisitiveness moves to marvel, the focus of her life moves from debatable eros to that of discipleship and witness in the manner she engages her townspeople. This latter manifestation appeals to her allure as a character in the FG, in that she is presented as a model of and for a transformative encounter with Jesus and thus leads the paradigmatic reader to significant insights into the dynamics of discipleship and witness in the FG. As a character in the FG, she is depicted as someone who learns from her encounter with Jesus a profoundly new purpose for her own life, and as a direct result of that encounter, she exemplifies qualities of a disciple and consequentially offers partial witness about him to her own townspeople.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University