Last week I, Pastor Todd, started us off on a new series in the Gospel of John. We looked at the first chapter of John and saw parallels to the accounts in Genesis. By the end, we came to the conclusion that John is a new type of creation narrative where Jesus, the Son carries out creative powers and miracles, like the Father in Genesis.
Yesterday, Pastor Byron continued our journey into the Gospel of John with chapters 3-5. You can listen to the full sermon here. Today, I’d like to talk about a recurring element that runs through John 3-5. That element is water. We see it brought up in conversation and is present during several encounters. In chapter 3, Jesus mentioned being born again of water and Spirit to Nicodemus. In chapter 4, Jesus and his disciples were baptizing in water; Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well and prompts a discussion about living water. In chapter 5, Jesus performs a miracle at the pool of Bethesda close to the Sheep Gate of Jerusalem.
Born of Water and Spirit
To the casual English reader, Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus is quite enigmatic. It seems as if Jesus were talking way above the learned Pharisee on a topic that he could in no way comprehend, then chides him for it. In reality, Nicodemus should have been able to follow Jesus’ words.
Ritual bathing had been a part of the Jewish custom all the way back to the Torah. The cleansing rituals for uncleanness were established during the leadership of Moses. Some defilements required people to stay outside the camp till nightfall or till they were declared “clean” by the priests. This was a common practice throughout Israel. Additionally, many of the religious leaders had ceremonial baths to purify themselves for religious work. Some tradition even states that scribes washed their hands every time they penned the name of God in the scriptures.
From the initial granting of the Torah, the people of Israel were inundated with purification rituals. Every time they had to leave the camp for an impurity, they had to wash and re-enter the camp–essentially being “born again” into the community. Westerners tend to take the “born of water” to mean physical birth,” but that may not be the case. We are looking at the concept of water purification in Israelite practice. In all, Nicodemus should have been aware of Jesus’ equation of rebirth to baptism (a.k.a. Ritual purification). Were he able to follow that, then it wouldn’t have been as baffling to hear of being “born again” of the Spirit.
This gives us a whole new way of looking at the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, because Jesus was addressing a very common practice in Israel and adding a spiritual component to it. Yet somehow, Nicodemus was not connecting the dots of Israelite ritual purification and the “born again” terminology.
Baptizing People
One of the opening scenes in John’s Gospel is that John the Baptist was baptising people. Then later on we see that Jesus and his disciples were also baptising people. How this baptism was different from post-resurrection baptism is a different discussion. For this post, we are looking at the theme of water that carries through the first few chapters of John’s Gospel.
We Protestants (meaning not Catholic, not Eastern Orthodox) view baptism as a symbolic practice of entering into the kingdom of heaven or the family of God. I think in Jesus’ time, baptism had a deeper meaning in their culture. We looked at the element of being “born again of water” in chapter 3. So here, we can see baptism as a purification ritual symbolising entry into following Jesus. This was likely a baptism of repentance, much like what John the Baptist was doing. It was a ritual washing to represent turning their thinking toward the teaching of Jesus.
What is interesting here is that in chapter 3, Jesus was talking about ritual purification with water accompanied by spiritual purification by the Spirit, then in chapter 4, He is having people go through the physical practice of ritual purification.
The Woman at the Well
In our next water themed scene, Jesus is just outside a Samaritan town, resting his legs by a well. His disciples had run off to get food and a Samaritan woman comes to the well to get water for her house. It is the heat of the day and Jesus is thirsty, so he asked her for a drink of water. This sparks a conversation starting with the inappropriateness of Jews talking with Samaritans and ends with Jesus telling the woman about her history with men. Yet in all this, he uses the water in the well as a foil to eternal life. The water in the well will only satisfy for a time, but the water he gives will prevent thirst forever. Being a woman who lived in shame, to not have to come to the well at inconvenient times to escape the derision of her fellow women was a very appealing idea. So she inquires of it. Come to find out, Jesus didn’t have magical water that eradicated the need for constant water. He carried a supernatural refreshing, free of guilt and shame.
For the Samaritan woman, every trek to the well was a grim reminder of her shameful life and social rejection. Jesus shared with her the idea that her life could be free from shame, then proceeded to name the root of her shame–her love life. This tipped her off that he was more than a man and became the first evangelist to spread his words and name.
Healing at the Pool of Bethesda
The final water theme I will address today is the story in chapter 5 about the invalid at the pool of Bethesda.
According to legend/tradition, there was a pool near the Sheep Gate to Jerusalem called Bethesda. The belief was that during a certain time of each day, an angel descended and touched the pool. Once the water stirred, the first person in was healed of whatever ailment they had. There was an invalid older man (he’d been invalid for nearly 40 years), who had been trying to get healed, but never could get to the pool in time. Jesus asked if the man “wanted to be healed.” The man replied with an excuse, “Every time the water stirs, I try to get in, but someone else is always quicker than me, so I miss out on the healing.” Jesus replied, “Get up and carry your mat, you are healed.” At that the man got up, carried his mat and was healed. Jesus didn’t need the water to stir to bring healing to the old man. Jesus has power over the bodies, minds, and souls of men just like his power over the elements (more on that later).
- In the end, we can see water as regular presence through the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. In many cases, it serves as a foil to something Jesus communicates about the divine and supernatural power. With Nicodemus, being “born again” of water should have been a common concept for the Pharisee. Yet Jesus then builds on that and adds a spiritual element to it. “Born again” of water meant re-entry into Israel’s camp. Born again of Spirit meant entry into the kingdom of God.–Born again of water became a foil for the supernatural call to God’s family.
- In Baptizing people, Jesus and his disciples were carrying out a common act in Judea. Yet there was a spiritual component dealing with repentance–a change in thinking that would align with the teachings of Jesus.
- With the Samaritan woman, the water in the well serves as a foil to eternal life in the analogy that Jesus’ water will prevent all future thirst, namely taking away shame from our past.
- Finally, the healing pool of Bethesda served as a foil to Jesus’ power of the human condition. People needn’t rely on legends/traditions of angels bringing healing, because the Son of God brings true legitimate healing, and a chance to be clean spiritually.
So those are a few reflections on the presence of water through the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. I hope you found this blog post interesting, insightful, and encouraging. As with all the people Jesus conversed with in these instances, we can experience these different facets ourselves. He allows us to be born again in the Spirit. He calls us to repentance, changing the way we think to match up with Jesus’ teaching. We can experience the life-giving flow of Jesus was the water of life, knowing that when we are forgiven, our shame is taken away. Finally, we can experience Jesus’ healing power without water or trinkets touched by angels or spirits. He is the true source for all life and healing; we have access to him.
Thank you for reading this week’s pastor blog post. I hope in some way, it helps and encourages you to experience God’s