The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (117 page)

4:20 on this mountain:
In OT times the Samaritans worshiped in a sanctuary built on Mt. Gerizim. Although it was destroyed in 128
B.C.
, they continued to worship on the mountain during NT times and even to the present day. 
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4:22 what you do not know:
Samaritan religion was an admixture of Israelite faith and pagan idolatry (2 Kings 17:29-34). • Jesus speaks from the perspective of the OT, which describes idol worship as ignorant worship (Wis 13:1-2, 10-19; Is 44:9-20).
from the Jews:
The Messiah was expected to come from the line of King David, who belonged to the royal tribe of Judah (Gen 49:8-12). 
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4:23 in spirit and truth:
Christian worship contrasts with Jewish and Samaritan worship. It will be in
spirit,
not confined to a single Israelite sanctuary where the ritual sacrifice of animals has continued since the days of Moses. It will also be in
truth,
not tainted by the errors of idolatry that have plagued the Samaritans since the days of the divided kingdom. See topical essay:
The "Hour" of Jesus
. 
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4:26 I . . . am he:
Jesus accepts the title "Messiah" (4:25) only here and at his trial (Mk 14:61-62).
See note on Mk 1:44
. 
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4:28 left her water jar:
The woman becomes both a believer and a missionary, accepting Jesus as the Messiah and sharing that belief with her hometown (4:39-42). •
Morally
(St. Augustine,
Tract. on John
15, 16, 30): the water jar is the fallen desire of man that draws pleasure from the dark wells of the world but is never satisfied for long. Conversion to Christ moves us, like the Samaritan woman, to renounce the world, leave behind the desires of our earthen vessels, and follow a new way of life. 
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4:34 My food:
The Father's will is always the driving force behind Jesus' mission (5:19; 6:38; 12:49; 14:10; etc.). 
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4:35 white for harvest:
Suggests that the world in general and the Samaritans in particular are ripe and ready to be gathered by the missionary efforts of the Church (Acts 8:4-25; Rev 14:14-16). 
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4:42 the Savior:
A title for Jesus also in Lk 2:11 and 1 Jn 4:14. Although salvation comes
from
the Jews (4:22), it is
for
all the nations of the world (3:17; 1 Jn 2:2). 
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4:44 a prophet has no honor:
A similar proverb is uttered when Jesus is rejected by his hometown of Nazareth (Lk 4:24). The remark resonates with bitter irony: although Jesus is a Jew (4:9), he is rejected by kinsmen from his own country of Judea (4:3, 47).
See note on Jn 1:19
. 
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4:46 Capernaum:
This village was more than 15 miles from Cana. The official from the town was probably a royal officer under Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee. A similar episode where Jesus heals from a distance appears in Mt 8:5-13 and Lk 7:1-10. 
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4:47 Judea to Galilee:
Geography plays a symbolic role in John. For the most part, the northern regions of Samaria and Galilee accept Jesus in faith (1:43-49; 2:11; 4:39, 53-54), whereas the southern region of Judea with its capital in Jerusalem is persistently antagonistic toward him (5:18; 7:1; 9:22; 10:33; 11:7-8, etc.). This tension between north and south is underscored by repeated emphasis on Jesus' withdrawal from Judea to Galilee (4:3, 45, 46, 54) and elsewhere when the Judean opponents of Jesus make derogatory remarks about Galileans and Samaritans (7:52; 8:48). It is against this background that John classifies the enemies of Christ as "the Jews", i.e., the unbelieving leaders of Judea and Jerusalem.
See note on Jn 1:19
. 
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4:52 the seventh hour:
About 1
P.M.
See note on Mt 20:1
. 
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The "Hour" of Jesus

S
EVENTEEN
times the Gospel of John mentions the "hour" of Jesus. In the first half of the book, the "hour" is a highly anticipated moment in the ministry of Jesus that constantly grabs the attention of the reader and drives the narrative forward (Jn 2:4; 4:21; 5:25; 7:30, 8:20). In the second half of the book, readers discover that Jesus comes upon his "hour" only in the final days of his life (Jn 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1). What is the meaning of this "hour", and why was it the singular focus of Jesus' mission?

A careful analysis of the Fourth Gospel reveals two dimensions of this mysterious "hour", one rooted in the historical life of Christ and another in the liturgical life of the Church.

THE HISTORICAL HOUR

The "hour" of Christ is first and foremost the appointed time of his Passion, which in John, as in all the Gospels, is the climactic phase of his mission. Before this time the attempts of Jesus' enemies to arrest him are in vain because his "hour" has not yet come (Jn 7:30; 8:20). The clock begins ticking, however, at the start of Passion Week, when Jesus declares that the "hour" of his glorification has at last arrived (Jn 12:23). Although troubled by the painful ordeal that will seize him in this "hour" (Jn 12:27), Jesus embraces the prospect of suffering as the "hour" when he will pass out of this world to his heavenly Father (Jn 13:1). His disciples, too, will share in this trial as the "hour" strikes them with the fear and distress of a woman in labor (Jn 16:21-22). At the historical level, then, the "hour" is the time when Christ passes through the agonies of betrayal and bodily torment, finally mounting the Cross out of love for the Father and as a sacrifice for our salvation. This "hour" of Christ's humiliation and death is in John's Gospel the "hour" of his exaltation that becomes the source of everlasting life for the world.

THE LITURGICAL HOUR

If Christ's "hour" is linked with the historical events of his Passion, it also reaches beyond them into the liturgical commemoration of these events in the life of the Church. Several statements regarding the "hour" of Jesus are thus connected with Christian worship.

1. 
In Jn 2:4, Jesus responds to his Mother's request for wine with the puzzling statement "My hour has not yet come." The hidden premise, it seems, is that when this still-distant "hour" finally arrives, he expects to provide an abundance of the finest wine (Jn 2:10). This may be read as an allusion to the liturgy, where believers all over the world gather to worship Christ as he pours himself into the eucharistic cup under the visible sign of wine.

2. 
In Jn 4:21-23, Jesus insists that his coming "hour" has everything to do with worship—and not just with any worship, but with a spiritual adoration of the Father superior to any previously known in Samaria or even in Israel! The worship characteristic of this "hour" will not be confined to any particular mountain sanctuary, but will lift true worshipers up to a new and heavenly height in the Spirit (Rev 1:10, chaps. 4 and 5).

3. 
In Jn 5:25-29, Jesus looks to his "hour" as a time when those who are dead will hear his voice and live again. This, too, has connections with the liturgy, where Christ continues to speak through the Scriptures and awaken souls deadened by sin.

4. 
Finally, Christ's "hour" will bring in a harvest of believers from every nation, because Jesus, like a grain of wheat that dies and is buried in the earth, enables Israel and every nation to sprout into new life (Jn 12:20-24). This blessing comes not only through Christ's death, but also through his risen and glorified humanity, which is the wheat that becomes for us the "bread of life" in the Eucharist (Jn 6:48).

These two dimensions of the "hour" are part of the one Paschal Mystery of Christ. We cannot, therefore, drive a wedge between the historical and the liturgical, between the
sacrificial
gift of Christ to the Father on the Cross and the
sacramental
gift of Christ to us in the liturgy. This was recognized in the early Church, where the "hour" of Jesus referred not only to his suffering and death, but, as in the ancient liturgies of St. James and St. Mark, the expression "this hour" referred to re-presentation of the Passion in the eucharistic celebration.

Combined with references to Baptism (Jn 3:5), the Eucharist (Jn 6:35-58), and Reconciliation (Jn 20:23), we see in John's Gospel that the "hour" of Jesus that unfolds during Holy Week also extends throughout the centuries and throughout the world as Christians commemorate the sacred mysteries of this "hour" in the sacramental liturgy of the New Covenant. «
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4:54 the second sign:
Despite numerous signs performed in Jerusalem (2:23), this is only the second performed in Galilee (2:11). See word study:
Signs
at Jn 2:11. 
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5:1 a feast of the Jews:
John usually identifies the religious festivals that Jesus attends, whether it is Passover (2:13), Tabernacles (7:2), or Dedication (10:22). Here the unnamed feast may be Pentecost (Weeks), which celebrates the spring harvest as well as the giving of the Torah to Israel. It is one of three pilgrim feasts that required Israelite men to travel to Jerusalem (Deut 16:16; 2 Chron 8:13) (CCC 583). 
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5:2 the Sheep Gate:
An entryway in the northeastern wall of Jerusalem used in bringing sheep to the Temple for sacrifice (Neh 3:1). Two pools were built in the same area of the city; they were surrounded by four colonnade walkways and separated by a fifth portico running between them. One of these pools was called
Bethzatha
and was believed to possess healing properties. 
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5:5 thirty-eight years:
The man's protracted suffering is evident to Jesus (5:6). • The duration of the man's illness, due to some unspecified sin (5:14), recalls the duration of Israel's wandering in the wilderness after rebelling against Yahweh at Kadesh (Num 13:25-14:11). The grueling journey from Kadesh to the threshold of Canaan lasted 38 years (Deut 2:14). 
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5:8 Rise . . . and walk:
According to Jewish tradition, medical attention could be given on the Sabbath only when someone's life was in danger. The boldness of Jesus in neglecting this convention reflects his own theological stance that giving rest to suffering souls, whether or not they are on the brink of death, fulfills the true intent of the Sabbath (CCC 2173).
See note on Lk 6:1
. 
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5:13 Jesus had withdrawn:
i.e., from the man just cured of paralysis. •
Morally
(St. Cyril of Jerusalem,
Sermon on the Paralytic
16): Jesus disappears into the crowd to teach us to shun worldly praise. Though we are inclined to boast of our accomplishments, or at least be recognized for them, humility must turn us away from whatever acclaim might lead us to pride. 
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