There was something revolutionary in the way Jesus acted. The Pharisees and teachers of the law said, "This man welcomes sinners," and others that he went to be "the guest of a sinner." He was even called "a friend of sinners".¹¹ It is true that the learned Jews often directed their repentance preaching at 'sinners', but both Pharisees and Essenes avoided all social contact with them. Jesus, on the other hand, put himself alongside the wrongdoers, and not only for a time: his whole life's programme took the lead from this. In the end even the way he was crucified was symbolic of the same, in that he was executed between two robbers.

The gentle approach of Jesus to the sinner is nowhere more beautiful than when he meets a reprobate woman. We have seen that the Jewish male still to this day gives thanks to God that he did not make him "a Gentile, a slave or a woman". The woman has to content herself with the more humble prayer of thanks that God has made her "according to his will". A devout Jew was even forbidden to speak in the street to his own wife, nor could he be alone in an inn with a strange woman or even his own daughter. In the case of divorce, only the man was allowed to write a bill of separation to his wife. The Galileans were not so rigid in their attitudes, as can be seen from the following anecdote from Jewish tradition: The wife of a devout Rabbi met the Galilean Rabbi Josi on the road, who asked her in five words, "Which road leads to Lydda?" "You idiotic Galilean!" the woman snapped back at him. "Have not the Wise given their counsel that one must not be long-winded with a woman?"¹² What he should have said was no more than "How to Lydda?" The words "You idiotic Galilean" soon became a catch phrase.

Nowadays it is possible to find women who have studied the Torah in depth, whereas in ancient times it was said that "women, slaves and children are free from the obligation to learn the Torah". The Talmud explains that "a woman who has studied the Torah will certainly have her reward, but without the same merit as a man, because she is not commanded to do so". The Talmud gives a reason for this with the humorous saying that "Only at the spinning wheel does a woman have wisdom,"¹³ insisting that woman was created for the work of the home, and that her wisdom is in the first place the "wisdom of the heart".

The gospel of John recounts two episodes, in one of which the woman Jesus encounters is a Gentile and in the other a Jew. Both of these narratives depict Jesus as the Great Shepherd of souls.

Jesus and the woman of Samaria.

The well-known writer Walter Trobisch sees five distinct aspects in counselling: introduction, initiating discussion, catching the other party off guard, convicting him of sin and finally, his liberation. Counselling is the identifying the problem and even unsettling or disturbing the counsellee.

The fourth chapter of John tells us of how Jesus stopped in the Samarian town of Sychar at Jacob's well. He is wearied with the travelling and sits down on the side of the well. It is already midday, "about the sixth hour". Eastern women go to the well in the early morning or in the evening, but now a woman comes to draw water at the hottest time of the day. Jesus perceives her problem and asks, as if in passing, "Will you give me a drink?" Here we see Jesus' gentle introduction, which strand by strand draws out the whole tangled mess of the woman's life.

The Jews despised the Samaritans. From early times they considered them traitors, since the Samaritans, an imported mixed race, had at one point informed the king of Persia of the Jews' aspirations towards independence (Ezra 4 and 2 Kings 17:23-27). The very name of the town, Sychar, was often distorted into shikhor or shekher, in other words a hotbed for 'drunkards' and 'liars'. Indeed Isaiah 28:1 speaks of the Samaritans as "Ephraim's drunkards", "the fading flower . . . the pride of those laid low by wine". The woman recognises Jesus as a Jew from his clothing and from the fringes on his cloak (Num. 15:38). It is no wonder that she now asks, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" Jesus had said only a few words, but this was sufficient to evoke surprise, since the Jews were completely forbidden to associate with the Samaritans.

Now Jesus initiates the discussion proper: "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." The woman is puzzled, since Jesus has nothing with which to draw water, and the well is over 20 metres deep -- how then can this stranger give her living water? In the East, it is generally only water from a spring that is called 'living water'. "Are you greater," she asks, "than our father Jacob who gave us this well?

Jesus arouses her curiosity still further. "Everyone who drinks this water," he begins, "will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Could anyone plumb the depths of these words of Jesus? The woman begins to have an inkling of what he is saying. "Sir", she asks,"give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." It may be that it was just thirst for life that had driven the woman into a blind alley, to the extent that she was forced, in deep shame, to slink to the well like a thief.

At this point Jesus catches her off guard with her own words, and gently shows her her own guilt: "Go, call your husband and come back." "I have no husband," she is forced to answer. Jesus says to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

The woman still tries to wriggle free and she turns the conversation to questions of external religion. That is what we often do, when the truth begins to burn us. "I can see you are a prophet," she says. "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus replies that the important thing is to worship "in spirit and in truth". The woman begins to realise who she is speaking to, and says, "I know that the Messiah, the Christ, is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declares, "I who speak to you am he."

It is fascinating to observe how, inwardly, the Samaritan woman experienced this spiritual interrogation. She knew Jacob's history. She knew that the Samaritans awaited 'the one who is to come', the Tahib, and she knew this word's Hebrew and Greek equivalents, 'Messiah' and 'Christ'. Perhaps she had heard someone speaking of a writing held in esteem at that time, the Book of Enoch, in which it is said of the Christ that "he will reveal the secret things, nor can anyone speak with him". "In his mouth will be heard all the secret wisdom" (49:1 and 51:3).

The woman also knew the moral standards of her time, giving her good reason too flee others. Jewish regulations permitted a woman to marry twice, at most three times, in the case of her husband dying. All extra-marital relations were forbidden. The gospel does not tell us whether Jesus pronounced her sins forgiven, as was his wont, but his attitude showed without words that he empathised with the woman's problem. Thus she was enabled to refind her value as a human being, and in her excitement she left her water jar beside the well as she hurried into the town. She had been set free.

We read three times in Ezekiel that men can "loathe themselves for all the evil they have done" (6:9, 20:43 and 36:31). The Samaritan woman had lost her own self-esteem, something which can lead to with-drawal from human society, even to suicide. But now this same woman was telling everyone in the town, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" We can just picture the amazement of the town tittle-tattlers; They knew why she had been driven from their midst. Nevertheless, many Samarians believed in him "because of the woman's testimony, 'He told me everything I ever did."' Jesus stayed in the town for two days, "and because of his words," John tells us, "many more became believers. They said to the woman, 'We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world'."

In this little essay we have "weighed up" Jesus' delicate way of approaching someone in need of inner healing. He used the "surprise method", but he did not put his subject's back to the wall. Doctors have shown that if a troubled person is helped to find the sore point in his life, liberation will take place almost of itself, a liberation which will be quite explosive in force, an apertura ad coelum, 'an opening up to the heavens'. The woman of Samaria found in Jesus a spring of water welling up to eternal life. That was her life's apertura.

The scandal in the sanctuary.

There is a remarkable magic letter in Hebrew, the so-called vav ha- hipukh or 'vav conjunctive'. One Jewish author has written a fairy tale based on it alone. In Old Testament Hebrew this magic letter signifies past action when it is attached to the future tense of the verb, and futurity when attached to the past tense. This is, in fact, the most significant difference between OT and Modern Hebrew. 'Vav consecutive' shifts past events into the future and turns future events into those which have already taken place. The reader of the Bible needs this miracle.

The 7th and 8th chapters of John depict Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. On the last and greatest day of the feast Jesus arranged a scandal. He raised his voice in the Temple and shouted,

"If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink, Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life".

Jesus' words referred directly to the theme of the Feast itself. On the first and seventh days of the feast there was a great procession. After the morning sacrifice the high priest went with a silver jug to the Pool of Siloam where, with great ceremony, accompanied by instrumentalists and young celebrants, he drew water for the "water ceremony". The feast itself lasted 8 days, the seventh, the special day of celebration, being popularly known as the "last and greatest day", the "Great Hosannah". To this day, the Prayer-book contains, in the liturgy for the Feast of Tabernacles, the plea hosannah!, 'oh save!', repeated almost 100 times. Some of these prayers have the title ANI VA-HO hôshi'a-nâ, 'I and he, oh save!'. According to Rabbi Gottlieb Klein the first part of this combination of words is taken from the name of God, Yahweh. The "unmentionable name of God", the use of which was forbidden as such, was, he maintains, ANA HO, 'I am he'. "He who uses this", the Talmud says, "merits death". Klein also tells an old tale about a Sage who had calmed a storm by the power of that secret name. The celebrant in the Feast of Tabernacles inserts ve or 'and' in between the two words, with the intention of emphasising his close relationship with God. Without this insertion the words proclaim 'I am he', the forbidden formula, which Klein says is precisely the phrase used by Jesus when he spoke of himself. And herein lay the scandal: a young carpenter from Nazareth tells the people to come to him and believe in him, because he will give them living water.

In Israel, Autumn is the time of the hottest weather, thus prayer for abundant rains were offered up at the time of the water-ceremony. The people sang the Messianic "Hosannah-psalm" 118 which the Sages maintained related to the coming of the Messiah. The words of Isaiah 12, "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation", were also recited. The Talmud says that water symbolises the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Such minute details are evident in John's narrative. Having marched in procession in the heat of the day, the people assembled in the Temple, where a group of priests sounded three shofar trumpet blasts. The high priest lifted high the water vessel to pour its contents into the narrow aperture which led under the altar. The people shouted "Lift up your hands!" They wished to see that everything was taking place in accordance with the ceremonial prescriptions, and not as in the year 95 BC when the Hasmonæan king Alexander Jannæus, who also functioned as high priest, had poured the water disdainfully on the ground. The people in their fury pelted him with the   citron-fruits which, along with palm fronds, they carried at that feast along with the palm fronds to the times of prayer, and in the ensuing riots the king's mercenaries massacred almost six thousand men.¹⁴ When the water and a goblet of wine had been poured out, the Temple music began, led by the priesthood. With songs of praise the people circled the altar seven times waving their palm leaves, which, after a week of constant use, finally broke up. When the last verse of Psalm 118 had died down and the words "blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD" were still on the people's lips, something strange happened: a voice from the Temple collonades suddenly sounded clearly above all else:

"If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

But why did Jesus refer to what "the Scripture has said"? He meant the prophecy in Joel 3:18 which says that one day "a fountain will flow out of the LORD's house". The learned Jews refer to this in several different contexts when they are speaking of the Messiah as the "second Moses".

"Just as the first saviour opened up a spring, so will the second saviour provide water, as it is written (Joel 3:18), 'And a fountain will flow out of the house of the LORD'."¹⁵

There was yet another scandal which took place during this same feast, an account of which is given in chapter 8 of John. We know that the Hosannah Rabbah or 'Great Hosannah' celebrations continued late into the evening in the shelter of the "court of the women". There the young priests set up four great lampstands with golden lampholders which they lit with the aid of four ladders. The wicks of the lamps were made from the cast-off clothes of the priests. Music and dancing continued into the early hours of the morning. With torches in their hands the youths danced and made merry, spilling out into the city market-places. Finally the torches were placed in the recesses of the windows and doors, and Jerusalem became literally an "illuminated city on a hill". The Talmud says that "there was not a single house which was not lit up in this way".¹⁶

The nocturnal celebrations continued, however, into the greyness of morning among the tabernacles, and a Jewish woman entered the wrong tent and fell into adultery. The scribes and Pharisees saw in this unfortunate event a suitable expedient for their machinations, and dragged the woman in the early hours of the morning to the Temple where Jesus sat teaching. Now they would be able to put him to the test in matters regarding the literal interpretation of the law of Moses. John says that they were using this question "as a trap" in order to have something of which to accuse him. The other party in the adulterous union, the man, had been let off scot-free. They say to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" Jesus displays remarkable tact. He does not begin to question the already deeply humiliated woman but bends down and starts to write on the dusty floor of the Temple. The conjecture has been made that on the stone pavement, which may have been covered by a recent sandstorm, a question appeared: 'Hayâv ô zakkai? 'Guilty or innocent?'. This question was considered in all legal proceedings.

Since the Scribes are still demanding a reply from him, Jesus straightens himself up and says to them, "If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again, with great consideration, he bends down once more to write something on the ground and gives them time to ponder his reply. Perhaps he really did "write", as the Greek original says. The worst which a devout Jew in an equivalent situation could be forced to go through is to hear the Aramaic phrase which appeals to the justice God himself: it dinna ve-it dayanna, 'there is a judgement and there is also a Judge'. I know from experience that an Orthodox Jew will immediately correct a possible lie from his lips on hearing these words. The first five letters, "it dinna", alone are in fact sufficient!

As to the content of the words Jesus wrote, it will always remain a matter of conjecture. Soon the feet of the Temple-goers would trample over the words and the Scirocco would blow away what remained. The result is, however, recorded in the gospels:

"At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there."

When the Old Testament speaks of the conscience it uses the word "heart". Job could say, "My conscience will not reproach me as long as I live" (27:6). The Hebrew phrase lô yeharev levavi, 'my heart does not sting me', underlines the part played by the heart as an indicator of the state of one's relationship with God. When David had cut off a corner of Saul's robe in the cave at En Gedi we read that he was afterwards "conscience-stricken" (1 Sam. 24:6). The Hebrew states baldly that "his heart beat" inside him. The same phrase is used when the census is taken of the fighting men in Israel and Judah, when David, in his lack of faith, weighs up his own human potential (2 Sam. 24:10). . . the act implied a lack of trust in God. Solomon, in 1 Kings 8:38, prays for mercy for Israel since "each one is aware of the afflictions of his own heart". The phrase nega levavô means 'heart pains'. Our hearts 'sting' and 'hurt' unless we are honest before God.

Jesus saw into the hearts of the accusers and understood the pain in the heart of the humiliated woman. She had become the victim of the callous hypocrisy around her. Most of her accusers were no doubt morally blameless, but they had all at some time sinned at least in thought. The woman then heard the Gospel: "Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin."

Our episode continues with Jesus' words, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life," words which are also connected with the theme of the Feast of Tabernacles. The morning prayer for the eighth day, which is exactly the time of the event before us, contains the words:

"Be thou praised, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who makest light and causes darkness, who makest peace and createst all: the light of the world as the treasure of life . . ." ¹⁷

Since the onlookers were no doubt amazed at how lightly the woman was set free Jesus continued:

"You judge according to the flesh, I do not judge anyone. If I were to judge, my judgement would be true, because I do not judge alone, but I AND HE who sent me."

Jesus spoke of this in the Temple in a way which left no-one in doubt as to his origins:

"You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you could die in your sins; if you do not believe that I AM, you will indeed die in your sins." "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin . . . If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I AM."

We have attempted in these essais to "weigh up" the "innermost character" of the events, qui rerum naturam intuerentur. At the same time we see the "leading points of view" of the issues -- and it is almost as if a bridge had been cast over the chasm of history.
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11.     Luke 15:2, 19:7 and Matt. 11:19
12.    Aboth 1,5.
13.    Yoma 66b.
14.    Josephus, Antiquities, XIII 13,5.
15.    Midrash Qoheleth Rabbati, 1.
16.    See Edersheim's description in The Temple, its Ministry and Services, Michigan 1975, pp268-287.
17.    Shaharîth leshmini atseret, Mahzôr Rabbah, Sukkoth, nusah Sparad, p269.
18.    Eg. Gen. 1:3, Ps. 36:10 and 43:3, Is. 42:6 and 60:1-2, Dan. 2:22.