An Exegetical Reflection on the Gospel of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A, John 11:1-45, April 10, 2011
When some major TV networks featured an Abu Sayaf footage a few years ago, there was much outrage and furor—as well as approval. The TV footage showed machete-wielding Abu Sayaf rebels interrogating captured soldiers before chopping off their heads in an undetermined location at the Basilan jungles. There was much criticism on Malacañang’s decision to release the tapes to the TV networks. People were terribly upset, calling Malacañang insensitive and manipulative in gathering support to the holding of the Balikatan 02-1. Others, however, favored the airing of the footage, saying that it embodies the truth about the Abu Sayaf atrocities. Former President Arroyo herself, defending the decision to release to gory footage, declared that the people have the right to know. But amid the mounting outrage as well as increasing support, a person who called himself “Jun” claimed that the machete-wielding man seen on TV was not an Abu, but he himself who was forced to do it, because if he did not, the Abu Sayafs would have beheaded him instead. He killed others so that he might live.
Today’s Gospel is about Jesus who is the exact opposite of “Jun”—Jesus died so that others may live. But that is going ahead of the point of the narrative. At first blush, it would seem that the story is about Lazarus. But as one reads the story, he gradually notices that it leaves much to be desired. For example, after Jesus raised him from the dead, did Lazarus live a normal life? Did he die again? Why is it that we do not hear about him in the subsequent events in the Gospel? Truth is, these questions are irrelevant, because the story is not about Lazarus, but about Jesus. In the previous Sundays, we noticed that Jesus performed signs—he performed acts of power that brings the reader who has faith to spiritual realities. The water of Jacob’s well was a sign of the water of life, and the cure of the blind man was a sign of Jesus as giver of light. In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus once again performs a sign—the seventh—to bring the mind and faith of the believer to another spiritual reality: Jesus is the giver of life.
But what is life, in the first place? Does it simply mean a power that animates something or someone? It may be noticed that the word “life” occurs 36 times in the Gospel of John, 13 in the Johannine Letters, and 17 in Revelation. Since it is found 107 times in the Johannine writings and 135 times in the entire New Testament, the concept is therefore relatively important. But what does the term signify? Of course, there are various meanings of the word. Metaphorically speaking, for example, one might say that Jennifer is his life, or money in his life, or teaching is his life. In the Johannine usage, however, life is what God himself and Jesus possess: “Indeed, just as the Father possesses life in himself, so has he granted it to his Son to have life in himself” (John 5:26). Jesus has it from the Father: “Just as the Father who has life sent me, and I have life because of the Father…” (John 6:57). Life is therefore the fellowship of the Father and the Son, and this fellowship cannot be destroyed: “Whoever believes in me, though he should die, will come to life, and whoever is alive and believes in me will never die” (John 11:26). If we may attempt at a short description, we say that life is the experience of God in our lives, and this life is one of wholeness that is shared with others. In this life there is integrity of body and soul, and there is fullness of joy. In the letters of Paul, this seems to be akin to the indwelling of the Spirit: “You are not in the flesh, you are in the spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Rom 8:9).
In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that anyone who believes in him will live (John 11:26). This means that a person, even here on earth, can already share or possess this life of fellowship with God if he puts his faith in Jesus (1 John 1:3). And the seventh sign—the story of Lazarus—is meant to illustrate this teaching. If Lazarus is Jesus’ close friend, he represents the Christian who believes in Jesus and, like Lazarus and his sisters, is loved by him. But who does Jesus love? According to John, he who keeps the commandments of love: “He who obeys the commandments he has from me is the man who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father. I, too, will love him and reveal himself to him” (John 14:21). John categorically states that Jesus loves Lazarus (John 11:3), and therefore one can assume that Lazarus, while he was living, obeyed the commandments of love. For this reason, Jesus gives him life. Because life has not been taken away from him, though he died, Lazarus’ death is only a form of sleeping (John 11:43-44). In this narrative, therefore, the physical death of Lazarus is simply meant to signify a spiritual reality. It is a sign of who Jesus is—he is a giver of life. At the same time, it is a sign of what he can do to those who believe in him—one does not die if he possesses the life of Jesus.
The story of Lazarus is narrated to challenge the hearer to believe in Jesus (John 11:26), and to believe in him is to love, for it is in love that faith is shown: “His commandment is this: that we are to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and we are to love one another as he commanded us” (1 John 3:23). By believing in him and loving him in the community of believers, the believer receives life from him. But if he rejects Jesus and even hates him, one dies. But if one receives life because he believes and loves, he is no longer in the realm of death, but even here on earth, he receives divine life: “That we have passed from death to life we know, because we love the brothers” (1 John 3:14b). For John, this is the only kind of life that endures—others perish with death. Life of wealth will go bankrupt, life of beauty will fade, life of popularity and fame wanes. If there is anything that persists even after death has occurred, this is our fellowship with God. And because this assumes that one loves his brothers, one cannot follow the example of a certain “Jun” who, if his story is true, blindly obeyed the Abu Sayaf to chop off the head of the soldiers, in order to have life. Such life would end soon in death. If Christ is able to give life because he died, so is a Christian: he must offer his life for others so that others may live, and in that way, he will surely receive a hundredfold life.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
The Christian Community as a People That Walks in the Light
An Exegetical Reflection on the Gospel of the 4th Sunday of Lent, Year A, John 9:1-41, April 3
During the presidency of Arroyo, a power outage hit the entire Luzon amid loud blasts, fueling rumors of coup d’etat. But National Power Corporation (Napocor) officials were quick to explain that the blackout was due to a short circuit that occurred when an overhead groundwire in a Tayabas substation snapped. According to Jo Maglina, Napocor corporate communication manager, when the groundwire fell, it hit the conductors connecting the 230 kilovolt Tayabas-Kalayaan line with the 500-kv Tayabas-Dasmariñas line, both of which bring power from generation plants in southern Luzon to the rest of the island. The general blackout not only resurrected fears for destabilization plots that the military immediately sought to allay. It also put businesses to a standstill and paralyzed the operation of many plants. Life in Luzon almost came to a halt. At night, people lived in darkness, and some could only move because improvised light guided them. Many might have felt they were living the life of the blind--scared, threatened, immobile or almost, and removed from the joys of normal living.
We recall this power outage because today’s Gospel is a story about a man born blind whose physical impairment Jesus cured (John 9:1-41). If this narrative occurred in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), this would have been treated as a miracle story, and the wondrous cure by Jesus would have been considered an evidence of the coming of the Kingdom of God. But far from taking it as a miracle, John simply calls this particular act of power as sign, and in the entire Gospel, this is the sixth of the seven signs. As a sign, it points to a greater and deeper reality. It gives the recipient, and those who witness the wondrous deed an anticipation and foretaste of what Jesus can give when his hour, that is, the hour of his passion, death and resurrection, comes to pass. From a material sign, one is led to a spiritual reality. In last Sunday’s Gospel, for example, the water from the well of Jacob is a sign of the supernatural water, God’s wisdom that Jesus, after his resurrection, gives to those who believe in him. In today’s Gospel, the physical blindness of the man is meant to teach us about our spiritual blindness, and the sign of the healing of the man born blind is intended to lead us to spiritual light that shines in darkness.
In the Old Testament, the light that shines on in darkness is none other than the word of God inscribed in the Law. The Law regulates a form of life that a Jew must live if he is to attain salvation. Hence, the Psalmist sings: “A lamp to my feet is your word, a light to my path” (Ps 119:105). In the New Testament, however, the light that shines on in darkness is none other than the Word made flesh. That is why, if John tells us about the story of the healing of the man born blind, it is his way of asserting that the true light is not the law but Jesus himself. Says Jesus: “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5b); and John claims that Jesus is the light that gives light (John 1:4). But if he is the light of the world, this implies that people who live apart from him dwell in darkness. And in John’s theology, darkness represents the kingdom of wickedness and evil; it is the realm of sin, and one who lives in darkness lives in sin and wickedness. “Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were wicked. Everyone who practices evil hates the light; he does not come near it for fear his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:19b-20). Hence, if one lives outside the Christian environment, he is like the physically blind who lives in darkness; he lives a life of sin and wickedness. Just like Manila when it experienced the Luzon-wide power outage, people like him are blind, scared, unable to move for lack of a guiding light. They are removed from the joys of living with electricity; that is to say, they do not live authentic life. They simply exist, but they do not have real life.
This raises the question: how does one acquire real or authentic life? In the present narrative, the blind man was given sight because Jesus smeared mud on his eyes and commanded him to wash at the pool of Siloam (John 9:6-7). In John’s symbolism, this curing of the blind man by washing and the use of spittle is a symbol of baptism. In other words, for John, true light, which is the real or authentic life, is communicated to the believer through Christian baptism. Notice that we say “believer”—for the story assumes that the blind man has an initial faith in Jesus. Strictly speaking, John asserts that one who lives in sin wickedness receives the light of life through faith and baptism. In Christian theology, one who is baptized belongs to Christ; he no longer lives in sin that makes it impossible for him to be saved, but receives the light of grace that saves him.
The reception of true light, however, implies a moral imperative—once one receives light, he no longer walks in darkness. Despite the attempt of the Pharisees to persuade the cured man to renounce his belief in Jesus, he stood his ground. Though he experienced excommunication and suffered rejection in the hands of authorities, he demonstrated his courage in defending his gradual understanding of Jesus—he is a man called Jesus, a prophet, one from God and finally the Son of Man. It is in this sense that we can understand when Jesus says: “I have come to the world as its light to keep anyone who believes in me from remaining in the dark” (John 12:46), or when he declares: “He who acts in truth comes into the light to make clear that his deeds are done in God” (Jon 3:21). This teaching recurs in other New Testament writings. In a letter attributed to Paul, for example, we are told: “Now you are in the light of the Lord. Then, live as children of light. Light produces every kind of goodness and justice and truth” (Eph 5:8-9). Matthew expresses it differently: “Your light must shine before men so that they may see goodness in your acts and give praise to your heavenly Father” (Matt 5:16). This simply means that a Christian is to identify himself with the blind man who, having been cured, gives witness to Christ against the hostility and bullying of powerful authorities, even if this implies abandonment of one’s friends, family and the society to which he belongs.
During the presidency of Arroyo, a power outage hit the entire Luzon amid loud blasts, fueling rumors of coup d’etat. But National Power Corporation (Napocor) officials were quick to explain that the blackout was due to a short circuit that occurred when an overhead groundwire in a Tayabas substation snapped. According to Jo Maglina, Napocor corporate communication manager, when the groundwire fell, it hit the conductors connecting the 230 kilovolt Tayabas-Kalayaan line with the 500-kv Tayabas-Dasmariñas line, both of which bring power from generation plants in southern Luzon to the rest of the island. The general blackout not only resurrected fears for destabilization plots that the military immediately sought to allay. It also put businesses to a standstill and paralyzed the operation of many plants. Life in Luzon almost came to a halt. At night, people lived in darkness, and some could only move because improvised light guided them. Many might have felt they were living the life of the blind--scared, threatened, immobile or almost, and removed from the joys of normal living.
We recall this power outage because today’s Gospel is a story about a man born blind whose physical impairment Jesus cured (John 9:1-41). If this narrative occurred in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), this would have been treated as a miracle story, and the wondrous cure by Jesus would have been considered an evidence of the coming of the Kingdom of God. But far from taking it as a miracle, John simply calls this particular act of power as sign, and in the entire Gospel, this is the sixth of the seven signs. As a sign, it points to a greater and deeper reality. It gives the recipient, and those who witness the wondrous deed an anticipation and foretaste of what Jesus can give when his hour, that is, the hour of his passion, death and resurrection, comes to pass. From a material sign, one is led to a spiritual reality. In last Sunday’s Gospel, for example, the water from the well of Jacob is a sign of the supernatural water, God’s wisdom that Jesus, after his resurrection, gives to those who believe in him. In today’s Gospel, the physical blindness of the man is meant to teach us about our spiritual blindness, and the sign of the healing of the man born blind is intended to lead us to spiritual light that shines in darkness.
In the Old Testament, the light that shines on in darkness is none other than the word of God inscribed in the Law. The Law regulates a form of life that a Jew must live if he is to attain salvation. Hence, the Psalmist sings: “A lamp to my feet is your word, a light to my path” (Ps 119:105). In the New Testament, however, the light that shines on in darkness is none other than the Word made flesh. That is why, if John tells us about the story of the healing of the man born blind, it is his way of asserting that the true light is not the law but Jesus himself. Says Jesus: “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5b); and John claims that Jesus is the light that gives light (John 1:4). But if he is the light of the world, this implies that people who live apart from him dwell in darkness. And in John’s theology, darkness represents the kingdom of wickedness and evil; it is the realm of sin, and one who lives in darkness lives in sin and wickedness. “Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were wicked. Everyone who practices evil hates the light; he does not come near it for fear his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:19b-20). Hence, if one lives outside the Christian environment, he is like the physically blind who lives in darkness; he lives a life of sin and wickedness. Just like Manila when it experienced the Luzon-wide power outage, people like him are blind, scared, unable to move for lack of a guiding light. They are removed from the joys of living with electricity; that is to say, they do not live authentic life. They simply exist, but they do not have real life.
This raises the question: how does one acquire real or authentic life? In the present narrative, the blind man was given sight because Jesus smeared mud on his eyes and commanded him to wash at the pool of Siloam (John 9:6-7). In John’s symbolism, this curing of the blind man by washing and the use of spittle is a symbol of baptism. In other words, for John, true light, which is the real or authentic life, is communicated to the believer through Christian baptism. Notice that we say “believer”—for the story assumes that the blind man has an initial faith in Jesus. Strictly speaking, John asserts that one who lives in sin wickedness receives the light of life through faith and baptism. In Christian theology, one who is baptized belongs to Christ; he no longer lives in sin that makes it impossible for him to be saved, but receives the light of grace that saves him.
The reception of true light, however, implies a moral imperative—once one receives light, he no longer walks in darkness. Despite the attempt of the Pharisees to persuade the cured man to renounce his belief in Jesus, he stood his ground. Though he experienced excommunication and suffered rejection in the hands of authorities, he demonstrated his courage in defending his gradual understanding of Jesus—he is a man called Jesus, a prophet, one from God and finally the Son of Man. It is in this sense that we can understand when Jesus says: “I have come to the world as its light to keep anyone who believes in me from remaining in the dark” (John 12:46), or when he declares: “He who acts in truth comes into the light to make clear that his deeds are done in God” (Jon 3:21). This teaching recurs in other New Testament writings. In a letter attributed to Paul, for example, we are told: “Now you are in the light of the Lord. Then, live as children of light. Light produces every kind of goodness and justice and truth” (Eph 5:8-9). Matthew expresses it differently: “Your light must shine before men so that they may see goodness in your acts and give praise to your heavenly Father” (Matt 5:16). This simply means that a Christian is to identify himself with the blind man who, having been cured, gives witness to Christ against the hostility and bullying of powerful authorities, even if this implies abandonment of one’s friends, family and the society to which he belongs.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Christian Community as a People Living on the Wisdom of God in Jesus
Exegetical Reflection on the Gospel of the Third Sunday of Lent, Year A, John 4:5-42, March 27, 2011
A few years back, a group of Marinduqueños wanted to see the then President Arroyo (but were not able to) to appeal for her help, bringing with them a postcard with a photo of children posing along the “dead” Mogpog river, three bottles of bluish water from the rivers with the label “Marcopper Water: Toxic” to remind her of the sorry plight of the islanders. According to a report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, since l996 when the Marcopper Mining Co. spilled up to 300 million gallons of mine tailings into the Boac River and Calancay Bay in Marinduque, the people have been suffering from fish kills, skin and health diseases, and the degradation of their flora and fauna. The President was reported to have been pursuing a Canadian firm, the Placer Dome, which owned 40 percent of the mining company, for the compensation of the affected Marinduqueños, and it is claimed that Placer Dome could be made to pay up to $13 million to bring back the river and bay to life. But as Msgr Senen Mapalad argued, their demand was not simply about compensation; it was about justice: “What about the deteriorating health of the victims, the rehabilitation of our rivers and the continuing environmental degradation caused by the disaster?”
This mining disaster underscores how important water is to life. Without clean water, people and animal will die. We recall this tragedy because today’s Gospel is about water, more particularly, about living water. This term “living” water (John 4:10), which is the subject of Jesus’ conversation with a Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob, is a common expression for spring or flowing water to distinguish it from the still water, like the one found in cisterns, which is less desirable. A remarkable dialogue began when Jesus asked water from her. Assured that he could give her water that banishes thirst forever, the Samaritan woman eagerly asked for some of it so she would not be thirsty or have to keep coming to the well of Jacob to draw water (John 4:15). Of course, she misunderstood what Jesus was referring to, when he talked of the water that, once drunk, will not make the drinker thirsty again, and that becomes in the recipient a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14). What she thought was that Jesus would provide her flowing water that is much tastier than the stagnant one. In John’s literary technique, her misunderstanding serves as a springboard for Jesus to explain, and for the reader to understand, that Jesus was simply using a symbolic language, a metaphor. If Jesus spoke of living water, it was meant to bring the Samaritan—and the reader of this story—to the real or supernatural water.
What water was Jesus referring to? In Jewish tradition, water can signify the purifying of God’s Spirit in the community. Among the Qumran sectaries, for example, we find the belief that “God will cleanse by his truth all the works of every man, and will purify for himself the (bodily) fabric of every man, to banish all Spirit of perversity from his members, and purify him of all wicked deeds by the Spirit of holiness; and he will cause the Spirit of Truth to gush forth upon him like lustral water” (1QS 6:21). Most likely, however, it refers to God’s wisdom. In the Old Testament, the role of God’s wisdom is cast in water metaphor: “He who eats of me will hunger still, he who drinks of me will thirst for more; he who obeys me will not be put to shame; he who serves me will never fail” (Sir 24:20-21). And for the Jews, that wisdom is none other than the Law: “All this is true of the book of the Most High’s covenant, the law which Moses commanded us as an inheritance for the community of Jacob” (Sir 24:22). A similar identification is found among the Qumran monks: “He opened (this) before them, and they dug a well of abundant waters” (CD 3:16); “The well which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people delved with a rod. The well is the Law” (CD 6:4-5). In Isaiah, God invited his people to hear his wisdom so they might live: “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!… Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life” (Isa 55:3).
In the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, the wisdom that Jesus speaks of, however, is not the Law, but he himself, together with his teaching, for he is the one who gives the water that, when drunk, will not make the drinker thirsty again (John 4:14a). As well as his teaching, he himself is wisdom, and the giver of wisdom. Paul likewise makes this identification: “Christ is… the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24). “What we utter is God’s wisdom: a mysterious, a hidden wisdom. God planned it before all ages for our glory. None of the rulers knew the mystery: if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.” And this wisdom is far superior to the Law of Moses because it gives eternal life to the recipient: “The water I give shall become a fountain within him, leaping up to provide eternal life” (John 4:14c). The teaching that Jesus as wisdom gives eternal life is supported by the first reading (Exod 17:3-7). At the time of the Exodus, when the Israelites journeyed through the desert and became unfaithful to the Lord, they experienced water crisis and almost died, but God saved them by providing them water from the rock. This event highlights God’s care for his people, and in crisis, the Israelites, long after the event, hankered for the time when God would once again draw water from the rock to save his people. That hope finds fulfillment in Jesus.
For John, if the Christian community wishes to achieve wholeness in its life, it must therefore draw water from Christ, the wisdom of God. Apart from Christ, the community cannot experience integrity and happiness. It would be like the Samaritan woman who, in her search for happiness, married five times (John 4:18), for she drank only from the water of Jacob’s well. However well educated and intelligent we are, we cannot be sufficient unto ourselves; hence, we cannot simply depend on our own wisdom and our own resources. It is just ironic that, according to Jeremiah, we prefer to drink water from our own cistern (Jer 2:13). We think, for example, that our own wealth and power can assure us happiness. But soon we realize that these, like sex, drugs, and honor, are fleeting. Moreover, they do not satisfy; once we have them, we never have enough. We crave for more money, more power, more sex, more drugs, and there is no end to that.
A few years back, a group of Marinduqueños wanted to see the then President Arroyo (but were not able to) to appeal for her help, bringing with them a postcard with a photo of children posing along the “dead” Mogpog river, three bottles of bluish water from the rivers with the label “Marcopper Water: Toxic” to remind her of the sorry plight of the islanders. According to a report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, since l996 when the Marcopper Mining Co. spilled up to 300 million gallons of mine tailings into the Boac River and Calancay Bay in Marinduque, the people have been suffering from fish kills, skin and health diseases, and the degradation of their flora and fauna. The President was reported to have been pursuing a Canadian firm, the Placer Dome, which owned 40 percent of the mining company, for the compensation of the affected Marinduqueños, and it is claimed that Placer Dome could be made to pay up to $13 million to bring back the river and bay to life. But as Msgr Senen Mapalad argued, their demand was not simply about compensation; it was about justice: “What about the deteriorating health of the victims, the rehabilitation of our rivers and the continuing environmental degradation caused by the disaster?”
This mining disaster underscores how important water is to life. Without clean water, people and animal will die. We recall this tragedy because today’s Gospel is about water, more particularly, about living water. This term “living” water (John 4:10), which is the subject of Jesus’ conversation with a Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob, is a common expression for spring or flowing water to distinguish it from the still water, like the one found in cisterns, which is less desirable. A remarkable dialogue began when Jesus asked water from her. Assured that he could give her water that banishes thirst forever, the Samaritan woman eagerly asked for some of it so she would not be thirsty or have to keep coming to the well of Jacob to draw water (John 4:15). Of course, she misunderstood what Jesus was referring to, when he talked of the water that, once drunk, will not make the drinker thirsty again, and that becomes in the recipient a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14). What she thought was that Jesus would provide her flowing water that is much tastier than the stagnant one. In John’s literary technique, her misunderstanding serves as a springboard for Jesus to explain, and for the reader to understand, that Jesus was simply using a symbolic language, a metaphor. If Jesus spoke of living water, it was meant to bring the Samaritan—and the reader of this story—to the real or supernatural water.
What water was Jesus referring to? In Jewish tradition, water can signify the purifying of God’s Spirit in the community. Among the Qumran sectaries, for example, we find the belief that “God will cleanse by his truth all the works of every man, and will purify for himself the (bodily) fabric of every man, to banish all Spirit of perversity from his members, and purify him of all wicked deeds by the Spirit of holiness; and he will cause the Spirit of Truth to gush forth upon him like lustral water” (1QS 6:21). Most likely, however, it refers to God’s wisdom. In the Old Testament, the role of God’s wisdom is cast in water metaphor: “He who eats of me will hunger still, he who drinks of me will thirst for more; he who obeys me will not be put to shame; he who serves me will never fail” (Sir 24:20-21). And for the Jews, that wisdom is none other than the Law: “All this is true of the book of the Most High’s covenant, the law which Moses commanded us as an inheritance for the community of Jacob” (Sir 24:22). A similar identification is found among the Qumran monks: “He opened (this) before them, and they dug a well of abundant waters” (CD 3:16); “The well which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people delved with a rod. The well is the Law” (CD 6:4-5). In Isaiah, God invited his people to hear his wisdom so they might live: “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!… Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life” (Isa 55:3).
In the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, the wisdom that Jesus speaks of, however, is not the Law, but he himself, together with his teaching, for he is the one who gives the water that, when drunk, will not make the drinker thirsty again (John 4:14a). As well as his teaching, he himself is wisdom, and the giver of wisdom. Paul likewise makes this identification: “Christ is… the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24). “What we utter is God’s wisdom: a mysterious, a hidden wisdom. God planned it before all ages for our glory. None of the rulers knew the mystery: if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.” And this wisdom is far superior to the Law of Moses because it gives eternal life to the recipient: “The water I give shall become a fountain within him, leaping up to provide eternal life” (John 4:14c). The teaching that Jesus as wisdom gives eternal life is supported by the first reading (Exod 17:3-7). At the time of the Exodus, when the Israelites journeyed through the desert and became unfaithful to the Lord, they experienced water crisis and almost died, but God saved them by providing them water from the rock. This event highlights God’s care for his people, and in crisis, the Israelites, long after the event, hankered for the time when God would once again draw water from the rock to save his people. That hope finds fulfillment in Jesus.
For John, if the Christian community wishes to achieve wholeness in its life, it must therefore draw water from Christ, the wisdom of God. Apart from Christ, the community cannot experience integrity and happiness. It would be like the Samaritan woman who, in her search for happiness, married five times (John 4:18), for she drank only from the water of Jacob’s well. However well educated and intelligent we are, we cannot be sufficient unto ourselves; hence, we cannot simply depend on our own wisdom and our own resources. It is just ironic that, according to Jeremiah, we prefer to drink water from our own cistern (Jer 2:13). We think, for example, that our own wealth and power can assure us happiness. But soon we realize that these, like sex, drugs, and honor, are fleeting. Moreover, they do not satisfy; once we have them, we never have enough. We crave for more money, more power, more sex, more drugs, and there is no end to that.
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