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John 4.7 and the imperative
My question concerning how Jesus's imperative statement in John 4.7
"give me to drink" could have been interpreted by the woman
stems from the idea that he was powerless to get the water and needed
her help. So, then, would his imperative be seen by her as her
obligation to serve him as a man, i.e. Jesus was using his authority
as a male over her, or could his statement be interpreted as
Jesus simply relying on her mercy to help him, not as a command?
The latter scenario shows Jesus as a vulnerable human being who had
to rely on peoples' help at the same time they needed his, a very different
way of reaching people than the popular contemporary evangelical
method of just telling people what they need to do while perhaps
being unaware of one's own predicament, or at least not relating
to people in an open, intimate way that builds trust.
Perhaps there is not enough known about that time to rule out the
second of the two interpretations?
David Headly
"headly@fsunuc.physics.fsu.edu"