SAMARITAN WOMAN

The interchange with the Samaritan woman at the well illustrates the Johannine dialogue in use with a different social stratum. Nicodemus is eminently respectable, the Samaritan woman is not. "If we analyze the repartee at the well, we find quite true-to-life the characterization of the woman as mincing and coy, with a certain light grace."(28) She fails to appreciate his gesture in conversing with her－outside the normal custom. It is suggested by Roustang that the woman is mocking Christ in the first exchanges about water. Certainly she is not expecting serious consideration from this man who is a Jew and Rabbi. The dialogue shows rising clarification: Jesus asks for water, the woman fails to understand, he clarifies, she asks about the clarification－an indication of 'buying the answer'－and takes the initiative in demonstrating that he can see her. He points out his knowledge of her, mirrors her for herself. The woman tries to evade the knowledge Christ has put in front of her but Jesus again uses her answer to show her who she is.

The entire scene shows the progressive relationship of the healer and the healed: before Jesus can bring her to healing in her life she must see, as he does, who she is. The flirtation, the evasion and twisting of the truth would be characteristic of a normal counseling relationship especially in the case of the hysteric personality. The woman seeks to manipulate Jesus, that being the only pattern with which she is familiar. Under the pattern lies the lack of acceptance, which has marred her life and prevented trust and the building of permanent relationships. Jesus not only responds, indeed, initiates the contact, but also demonstrates that he knows who she is and is still willing to accept her. "We heard in iii 19-21 that those whose deeds are evil do not come near the light lest their deeds be exposed. The dialogue in 16-18 constitutes the crucial moment of judgement: will she turn her back on the light?"(29)

Judgement is not really the best description of what is happening in this scene. Reality modeling is a closer description; Christ will not allow her to play games or evade the truth about who she is. The turning point in the healing process must be her acceptance of this reality, and her realization that he is willing to accept her despite her desperate manipulation because he sees what lies beyond the role. In verses 19-20 we have the situation where the woman sees the 'light' and in 21-24 Jesus explains "that true worship can come only from those begotten by the Spirit of truth. Only through the Spirit does the Father beget true worshipers."(30) In verses 25-26 the woman finally recognizes who Jesus is and Jesus affirms it; and implicit in this fact is that she recognizes who she is, and that He also affirms it－one without the other is difficult. She must know who she is in order really to 'see' him clearly. Brown comments: "In this scene John has given us the dramma of a soul struggling to rise from the things of this world to belief in Jesus ". (31)He has also given us the basics of a psychological dramma. When she calls Jesus a prophet, her identification of him" stems from the special knowledge that he has exhibited, but may also refer to his obvious wish to reform her life."(32) The insight Christ shows in seeing what her real needs are, and his tolerance for her behaviour again mirrors his ability to 'see' the person beyond normal perceptiveness.

28)Id, 175, citing M.J. Lagrange, Evangile selon S. Jean (8th ed; Paris, Gabalda, 1948), 101. The following reference to Roustang is taken from Brown, Jn., 177.

29)Id, 177.

30)Ibid.

31)Id, 178.

32)Id, 171.