John 4: 10
“Jesus answered her, ‘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 subjunctive mood is a way of speaking that is characterized by being very indirect. My dictionary describes the word as meaning, “…what is imagined, or wished, or possible.” In this English translation of John’s writing, Jesus does not even refer to himself directly. He does not say, “I can give you living water!” or “I could give you living water!” Instead, he refers to himself in the third person: “He would have given you living water.”
If Jesus had been any more direct with this woman, it seems very possible that she would have closed the door of her mind to him and retreated behind the cultural wall that had grown up between the Jews and Samaritans. But Jesus gives her no reason to hide. He continues to tease her curiosity with this discussion about water which is what she had come to the well for in the first place.
All of this conversation is in stark contrast to how direct Jesus is with his own people. Especially the religious leaders. Yet there are exceptions even there.
Q: How is Jesus approach to the woman at the well similar to the words he had for Nicodemus when Nicodemus came to Jesus at night? (John 3:1-21)
Nicodemus was told he needed to be born again. The woman at the well was told she needed living water. When taken literally, this made no sense to either of them.
They needed to realize that Jesus was speaking of their spiritual and eternal well being.
You got it Robster. Jesus needed to get them thinking of something other than their flesh and the restraints of this world we live in.
Almost like being the dead being given life, blind being given sight, lame walking.
Robster & Ron,
Thanks for chiming in on this one.
In both cases, as you point out, Jesus is trying to get the person he is talking to thinking about eternal life. In both cases he uses metaphors. With the woman at the well it is the metaphor of living water. With Nicodemus Jesus uses birth, wind and light as metaphors. In both cases he is very patient with the person he is speaking to.
I love the subtlety of his metaphors and the way he draws people in. Even as we read these passages 2,000 years later, we still puzzle over his metaphors. As you might expect from the Creator of all things, Jesus is also a master of language and well versed in the power of the subjunctive mood to engage peoples minds and imaginations.