Lesson 4

Jesus’ Early Ministry

Painting of Saint John writing his Gospel

Synopsis

After having introduced us to the main characters of the story, John begins to develop the plot in the next section of the Book of Signs. In it, Jesus begins his public ministry: he converts water into wine at Cana, cleanses the temple, speaks with Nicodemus and then the Samaritan woman, and then heals the official’s son. Through his words and deeds, Jesus gradually reveals that he has come to renew all things. In the Christian understanding of the Bible, the realities in the Old Testament—such as the law, the temple, and the purification rite—are temporary realities that point to him. Jesus not only fulfills them, he also transforms them into something new that is part of the new covenant.

Jesus also begins to teach about the importance of faith. Faith in him will be an important theme, not just in this section but throughout the whole book. However, although many do believe in him, Jesus does not trust himself to them. This is another suggestion that not all is well; storm clouds are forming on the horizon.

Learning Objectives

You will have successfully completed this lesson when you can:

Explain the difference between the purification rites of the old and new covenants.
Describe how Jesus replaces the temple building, becoming himself the new temple.
Explain why it is no longer necessary to be a descendent of Abraham to enter into the Kingdom of God.
Explain why under the new covenant, we no longer need to go to Jerusalem to worship the Father.

Introduction

We will now begin to study the second section of the Book of Signs (2:1–4:54). In it, the Evangelist describes Jesus’ early ministry. This starts with the wedding at Cana and ends with the healing of the official’s son. We can identify these miracles as bookends that mark the beginning and end of an inclusio because both take place in Cana, on the third day. Chapter 2 explicitly tells us that the wedding at Cana took place on the third day. In chapter 4, we are told that the healing took place after two days. However, according to the Jewish way of counting days, this would have occurred on the third day.

Important Themes

Faith in Jesus

Faith is an important theme throughout this section as we find Jesus constantly teaching about it. For example, he tells Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (3:16). And we are told that many people came to believe in him.

After cleansing the temple, many believed in his name after seeing the signs he performed (see 2:23).
The Samaritans believed in Jesus through the testimony of the Samaritan woman (see 3:39–42).
After Jesus healed a boy, his father and all his household believed in him (see 4:53–54).

But faith in Jesus is not just important in this section, it is important throughout the whole Gospel. The Evangelist already introduced us to this idea in the Prologue: “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God” (1:12). And towards the end, he will tell us that this was his purpose in writing his Gospel.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. (20:30–31)

Making All Things New

Another important theme throughout this section and the whole of the Gospel is the novelty Jesus has come to bring. Through his words and deeds, Jesus gradually reveals that he has come to renew all things. In the Christian understanding of the Bible, the realities in the Old Testament—such as the law, the temple, and the purification rite—are temporary realities that point to Jesus. He not only fulfills them, he also transforms them into something new. This idea is confirmed by the Book of Revelation.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a great voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them.”… And he who sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Rv 21:1–5)

In this section, therefore, we see how Jesus gradually reveals the novelty he is going to establish through the new covenant.

The Storm on the Horizon

Many people come to believe in Jesus during his early ministry because of the signs he performed. However, if we pay attention to the details, we will begin to see storm clouds gathering on the horizon. For example, although many do come to believe in Jesus, we are told that he did not trust himself to them (see 2:24). And later he complains that “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe” (4:48).

The Purification Rituals Reinterpreted

In the previous lesson, we saw how Jesus connected the miracle at Cana to his hour, that is, his passion and death. And we interpreted the abundance of wine he provided as a sign of the fulfillment of the prophecies regarding the messianic age. However, there is another level of meaning in this miracle. Jesus could have provided wine in a myriad of different ways. For example, he could have made wine materialize out of nothing behind the shed in the garden and then told the steward to look there. Or he could have had a wine merchant coincidently pass through town just in the nick of time. However, when we interpret this sign typologically, we discover that it recalls the first plague in Egypt, when God converted water into blood. Just as this miracle marked the beginning of the exodus, so too does Jesus’ miracle inaugurate his hour.

Also, Jesus didn’t convert just any water into wine; he converted the water held in stone jars. Likewise, we read in the Book of Exodus that God not only converted the water of the Nile, he also converted the water stored in stone jars (see Ex 7:19). This repetition suggests that these two events are related.

But this sign doesn’t just point backwards to the exodus, it also points forward to the Last Supper, when Jesus will convert wine into his blood. This typological connection is further highlighted by the fact that all three miracles take place around the time of the Passover.

John gives us another clue by telling us that the stone jars weren’t just any stone jars. They were the stone jars used by the Jews for their purification rituals (see 2:6). This is important because the purification rituals were an essential part of the old covenant.

The Old Testament lists many situations by which a person became ritually impure: bodily discharges, childbirth, skin disease, eating certain foods, etc. It is important to note that being ritually unclean did not make the person a sinner. Ritual and moral impurity are two very different although related realities. The external defilement described in the Old Testament was just a symbol of the interior defilement caused by sin. But there were consequences for being impure. For example, the unclean could not enter the temple or participate in the sacrifices. And whatever or whomever they touched also became unclean.

The Scriptures describe various rituals by which a person could become clean again. The specifics differ according to the type and seriousness of the impurity, but what all the rituals had in common was that they included washing with water. This washing served as a visible sign that the person had been cleansed of their impurity. The most serious form of impurity occurred when someone touched a corpse. In this case, a person had to do the following:

He who touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days; he shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean; but if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. (Nm 19:11–12)

That is, the person had to wash themselves on the third and the seventh days. It so happens that John tells us that the wedding at Cana took place on the third day, which was also the seventh day. We are also told that the water used for the miracle was the water held in the stone jars used for the purification rituals. Are all these details merely coincidental, without any deeper meaning? I don’t think so.

Mary’s statement, “They have no wine” can be spiritually interpreted as a Johannine commentary on the barrenness of the purity rituals of the old covenant. They could only cleanse people from ritual impurity, but not from moral impurity caused by our sins. That is why Jesus replaced them with the rituals of the new covenant: the sacraments.

By telling the servants to fill the jars to the brim, Jesus could have been indicating that he came to fulfill these old testament rituals. In his covenant, the baptism he will establish and the wine he will provide—the best wine because it is his blood—are not just external rituals. They truly have the power to wash away our sins and transform us interiorly.

This is a good example of the different layers of meaning within the text of John’s Gospel, as we mentioned in the introduction. We start with the literal meaning. But as the believing Christian community read about these events in the liturgy and meditated on them, it discovered a deeper meaning.

The Temple Reinterpreted

Jesus not only replaced the rituals of the old covenant, he also replaced its temple with a new temple, his body. This is the spiritual sense of this passage. But let’s first look at some background information to help us understand the literal sense of the text.

A few days after the wedding at Cana, Jesus went up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast. This was celebrated on the 14th day of the lunar month, the day when the full moon appeared, which occurs sometime between the end of March and beginning of April. The feast commemorated the night in which the angel of death “passed over” the Israelite homes that had blood painted on their doorposts on his way to killing the Egyptian firstborn in their homes—hence the name “Passover”. This plague convinced the Pharaoh to let the people go and this set in motion the exodus out of Egypt.

The law of Moses stipulated that all male Israelites who could, had to go to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice.

(Image from Pixabay)

When Jesus entered the temple and saw the merchants selling animals for the sacrifice and the moneychangers at their stands, he made a whip and drove them out. We have no evidence that the merchants were corrupt, so this was probably not the cause of his outburst.

The merchants and moneychangers also offered an importance service. People would come for the festivals from all over the Roman empire, bringing with them many different types of coins, which they needed to change to be able to pay the temple tax. Also, it was much easier to buy an animal for the sacrifice in Jerusalem, rather than bring it along over long distances.

Jesus’ complaint was that all this activity was taking place within the temple, probably in the court of the gentiles, which was the outermost patio that surrounded the inner temple building. Solomon had built this court for the gentiles, so that they too could worship God.

Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of thy people Israel, comes from a far country for thy name’s sake (for they shall hear of thy great name, and thy mighty hand, and of thy outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to thee; in order that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name and fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name. (1 Kgs 8:41–43)

In the past, the merchants had set up their stalls across the Kidron Valley, on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. But in Jesus’ time, they traded in the temple itself and this would have obstructed the gentiles from praying to God. This angered Jesus, so he drove them out. He justified his action by quoting from the Scriptures, “You shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade” (2:16).

By cleansing the temple, Jesus wasn’t just purging it of an abuse; he was attacking the temple itself and announcing that it was going to be superseded by another temple. When the authorities asked him for a sign, he replied, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (2:19). They thought he was referring to the existing temple building, but he was speaking of a new temple, the temple of his body.

In the Old Testament, the temple building was the place God dwelt on earth. We read how God entered the temple after Solomon had consecrated it.

When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. (2 Chr 7:1)

However, the sin of the people had caused God to allow the temple building to be destroyed, first by the Babylonians in 587 BC and then by the Romans in AD 70. Despite its beauty and grandeur, this temple was no longer needed. In the new covenant, Jesus replaced it with his own body because, in him, God dwells in all fullness.

John placed this scene at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, whereas the Synoptic Gospels place it at the end. Scholars disagree on how to interpret this discrepancy. Some claim that John’s chronology is more accurate, others that the Synoptics are more reliable. A third group believes that there were two cleansings of the temple. There is not enough evidence to prove or disprove any of these interpretations.

The People of God Reinterpreted

After the temple cleansing, we are told that many believed in Jesus because of the signs he performed but that Jesus did not trust himself to them because he knew their hearts. Then, Nicodemus came to Jesus saying:

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.” (3:2)

It is difficult to know how sincere he was. He comes at night, which suggests that he did not want to be seen by others. But this detail could have a deeper meaning because, in John’s Gospel, darkness is associated with evil and ignorance. Nicodemus says “we know” but it is unclear whether he is using the majestic plural to refer to himself or is also speaking on behalf of others. Like the disciples, he addresses Jesus as teacher, which suggests a certain level of respect; but unlike them, his faith doesn’t progress beyond that; at least not at this moment. Nicodemus will later help bury Jesus.

It is also difficult to know what Jesus’ attitude towards Nicodemus was. He ignores his greeting and curtly confronts him with his need for spiritual rebirth. Then he chides him for not understanding, despite being a teacher. Was Jesus being sarcastic? And finally, John has Nicodemus silently disappear from the scene by abruptly converting the dialogue into a monologue.

During their conversation, Jesus upends another pillar of the old covenant: the concept of the people of God. The Israelites believed that, as the natural descendants of Abraham, they were the God’s chosen people. This idea is based on the covenants God established with Abraham and Moses. When God called Abraham, he promised to make of him a great nation (see Gn 12:2).

I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. (Ex 6:7)

He then renewed this promise to Moses:

Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. (Ex 19:5–6)

This idea is found throughout the Old Testament. Some passages call the Israelites the people of God and there are numerous references to similar expressions such as “the people of the Lord” or “the people of the Lord your God.” As a Jew, Nicodemus believed that he belonged to the people of God and that it was his birthright to eventually see the kingdom of God. So, he must have been greatly surprised when Jesus told him:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (3:3)

Anothen, the Greek word translated here as “anew” can mean both “from above” and “again”. Nicodemus understood Jesus on the natural level, that one had to be born again, so he asks him how this is possible. Jesus’ reply makes it clear that he meant it supernaturally, that is, one must be born from above.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (3:5–6)

This is a good example of how John describes how Jesus uses ambiguous language that leads to misunderstandings, which allows Jesus to then go deeper. In this case, Jesus rebukes Nicodemus for not understanding these spiritual truths, despite being a teacher. It is at this point that Nicodemus disappears from the scene and the dialogue turns into a monologue. Jesus says:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (3:14–17)

That is, in the new covenant, those who believe in the Son of man, and not just Abraham’s descendants, will be saved and become part of God’s people. Jesus is referring in this passage to the bronze serpent Moses erected in Numbers 21. Just as the people were saved from physical death when they looked at the serpent, so too will those who turn to Jesus be saved from spiritual death.

The Way to Worship God Reinterpreted

In chapter 3, Jesus spoke with Nicodemus, who was not only a Jew, but also a Pharisee. Now, in chapter 4, we see him speaking with a Samaritan woman, who, as we find out is, is a sinner and outcast as well. This contrast is important. It confirms what Jesus told Nicodemus, that the kingdom of God is now open to all who believe in him.

Samaria is the biblical name for the central region of Israel that lies between Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. John tells us that Jesus had to pass through Samaria on his way from Judea to Galilee. This is not completely true; one could travel this way. But, because of the hostilities between Jews and Samaritans, most Jews avoided the region of Samaria. Instead, they crossed over the Jordan river and travelled on the other side. John must have meant that Jesus’ need was theological and not geographical. He had to pass through Samaria because he wanted to meet this woman.

Tired and thirsty—John does not shirk from showing us Jesus’ human weakness—Jesus is resting at Jacob’s well when she shows up. When he asks her for a drink, she discourteously brushes him off: “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (4:9). John explains that Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. This is quite an understatement because their relationship was actually very hostile. To understand why, we need to know who the Samaritans were.

According to 2 Kings 17, when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom in 822 BC, they sent the 10 northern tribes into exile, distributing them throughout their empire. They then resettled the land with the peoples from five other nations. Since they were pagans who did not know or fear God, he punished them by sending lions that started to kill them. The people complained about this to the king of Assyria and he fetched an Israelite priest and sent him back to teach them the ways of the Lord.

The Samaritan religion is, therefore, a mixture of both Jewish and pagan practices and beliefs. Samaritans accepted the first five books of the Bible but not the other books. This was probably because these later books emphasize the importance of the Jerusalem temple. But the Samaritans weren’t allow to worship there because they weren’t Jews. So instead, they built their own temple on Mount Gerizim. This was so offensive to the Jews that they ended up destroying it about 100 years before Jesus. The Samaritans got their revenge by sneaking into the Jerusalem temple one night and desecrating it with human bones.

This historical background explains the animosity between Jews and Samaritans in Jesus’ time. In addition to this, the woman was also surprised that Jesus spoke to her, because men didn’t speak to women in public places back then.

Ignoring her rebuttal, Jesus tells her that if she asked him, he would give her living water. This is another one of John’s play on words that leads to misunderstanding. The woman thinks he meant fresh, running water, like the water from a stream. However, Jesus meant supernatural water—that is, God’s grace—as described in the Old Testament.

For my people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living waters,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns,

that can hold no water. (Jer 2:13)

On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter. (Zec 14:8)

Because of this misunderstanding, she asks him how he will give her water, since he doesn’t even have a bucket. But Jesus clarifies that he is speaking about supernatural water that will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life, so that she will never have to thirst again. Still thinking he is talking about normal water, she says: “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw” (4:15).

Jesus then tells her to call her husband. We will study this part of the conversation in a future lesson on Jesus as the bridegroom. For now, it is important to note, how, unlike with Nicodemus, the ensuing dialogue leads the woman to grow in her faith. She first rebuffs Jesus, then she calls him sir, then a prophet, and finally Messiah. During this conversation, she asks Jesus about the correct place to worship God.

“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” (4:20)

Jesus replies:

“Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (4:21-24)

By this, he was announcing another novelty regarding the new covenant. The old covenant was only for Jews and Jerusalem was the only place they could offer their sacrifices to God. Now, with Jesus, the new covenant is not only open to everyone, but they no longer have to go to Jerusalem. Now they are able to worship God everywhere, because they worship him in spirit and truth.

Assignments

Explain the difference between the purification rites of the old and new covenants.

Describe how Jesus replaces the temple building, becoming himself the new temple.

Explain why it is no longer necessary to be a descendent of Abraham to enter into the Kingdom of God.

Explain why under the new covenant, we no longer need to go to Jerusalem to worship the Father.

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