On a Scale of Nicodemus to the Woman at the Well

It Doesn’t Matter Where We Are

In John, chapters 3 and 4 offer a juxtaposition of two conversion stories. The first is about a rich man. John 3:1 “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:” and the second is about a Samaritan woman. In the course of these two stories, we see that these people come from polar opposite places in society. Nicodemus is at the top of his society while the Samaritan woman is at the bottom, yet Jesus treats them the same. It is also interesting to note that the conversion of the Samaritan woman is much quicker than that of Nicodemus. You can see this in how she addresses Christ through their conversation, first she calls him Jew, then sir, then prophet, and then as soon as she learns he is the Messiah, she leaves her waterpot and tells everyone in her town.

The woman at the well strikes a chord with me, because I’ve sometimes felt as wretched and unclean as she is.  

John 4:27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?

These internal judgements aren’t unwarranted, she’s had five husbands and the man she is with isn’t even her husband. She is such an outcast that she comes to the well a noon, while the other women go at the cooler times of dawn and dusk. Christ knows of her sins, but he does not revile against her.

So, it doesn’t matter where we are on the scale of Nicodemus to the Woman at the Well. We even change which role we identify more with as we go through life, but Christ teaches the same Truth to everyone and offers us all that Living Water, or Eternal Life, through his Atonement.

Details (in the New Testiment): It’s all Greek to Me

This week in my religion class, my professor emphasized that we can be biblical scholars (keep in mind that the bible has been through so many translations, and some things are muddied) and gave us a couple cool websites that show you the Greek verse and the individual definitions of the Greek words. Also, he goes into the symbolism of things and is really knowledgable. He is really helping me be interested in the New Testament, even though I know most of the stories recounted in it, specifically the four gospels, which are our focus this semester.

We discussed John 1:1 (KJB means King James Bible)

KJB “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Greek:  Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁλόγος  

sounds: en arche in ho logos kai ho logos in pros ton Theos kai theos in Logos.

There are many meanings for a few of the Greek words in this verse, and a few other noteworthy things.

So “ho” is basically “the.” Notice, in the Greek, there is not “ho” in front of the second word “arche.” Not The Beginning, but in beginning. Means there have been multiple beginnings, not just one.

Also, the word “arche” itself has five definitions, which boil down to: beginning, leader/first person in a sequence/ person who caused, origin/cause, furthest point/limit, in the first place/ authority.

I love things like this, I hope this is making sense to you. But substitute these meanings in the verse one at a time. see how cool it is? (also, the first word can mean in, by, with, etc. so you can make it grammatically correct)

And then there’s the word Logos. It has like a million definitions. Basically it’s anything Godly, or anything that sets humans above animals (reason, language, intelligence, etc.) the Greeks really loved it, like it was the epitome of awesome.

Anyway, John uses “ho” in front of Logos, meaning there is only one. Christ. The Word of God is Christ (in this verse at least)

And, I used the websites he recommended in my personal study and found something rather cool. After Christ tells the parable of the sowers in Mark 4, he says  in verse 12,

“That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at anytime they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.”

It sounds like he doesn’t want them to convert and repent. That does not sound like something He would say. The Greek word here is ἀφίημι, which means cry, forgive, forsake, lay aside, leave, let (alone, be, go, have), omit, put (send) away, remit, suffer, yield up. The KJV translates it as leave (52x), forgive (47x), suffer (14x),let (8x), forsake (6x), let alone (6x), misc (13x). So this changes the meaning for me. I think what this verse is actually saying is that the reason they won’t listen is because they don’t want to forsake their sins. The people don’t want to repent, it is hard. We see this in many scriptural stories, that the people revile the prophets who preach repentance.

2 Nephi 9:40 in the Book of Mormon says something very similiar:

"O, my beloved brethren, give ear to my words.Remember the greatness of the Holy One of Israel. Do not say that I have spoken hard things against you; for if ye do, ye will revile against the truth; for I have spoken the words of your Maker. I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken."

I think I fall into this sometimes too. We all do. We make mistakes and sin, but the idea of giving up that sin and going through the process of repentance just seems like it's too hard. For whatever reason, it's easy to think that it is better just to pretend nothing is wrong than to face a problem head on. But then the problem never truly gets solved. Until we firmly forsake our sins, which often involves suffering and tears, until we let the Lord in and offer up our broken heart and contrite spirit, we are like the Pharisees and Sadducees and many other groups who continued in sin. I hope I have the strength to seek repentance even when it seems hard.