The woman at the well is the complete opposite of Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a Pharisee, an insider. He comes with all the knowledge and privilege that anyone could hope to have before God. He comes at night when understanding and sight are hindered and evil still rules.
The woman at the well is the outsider amongst outsiders, she is a Samaritan, a woman and outcast from them. She comes at high noon when everything is revealed and easily seen. Jesus offers her living water.
The woman also begins by thinking in earthly terms. How can you get this water, the well is deep? Give me this water so that I don’t have to come to the well again. After a few questions about family and worship she asks about the messiah. Jesus answers simple I Am. This is the name for God that Moses received at the burning bush. Jesus simply states “I am” and she gets it.
Nicodemus leaves Jesus confused and remains silent. The women at the well runs and tells everybody that she thinks she has found the long awaited messiah. She uses the same invitation that Jesus uses early to call his disciples, “come and see.”
Why this woman gets it and Nicodemus does not is a mystery. Nicodemus is the person we all want as a new member of the church. The woman at the well we would not rate as a likely candidate for church council. Yet it is the woman who responds. Maybe the message is, tell everyone about Jesus and we might be surprised at who responds.

The story of Nicodemus is a story of how easily things can be misunderstood. It follows naturally from the changing of water into wine at the Wedding in Cana. That brought to our attention that Jesus would replace the temporary Hebrew rituals with the permanent sacrifice of himself. The clearing of the temple was the next step in the process where Jesus again places himself as a replacement for the temple.
Nicodemus is a Pharisee and comes as a representative of the Hebrew law. The key to this story is Jesus statement, “If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” Nicodemus tries to understand everything in earthly categories. Jesus means them as truths come from heaven.
Nicodemus begins by recognizing that Jesus comes from God. Nicodemus is thinking that Jesus is like Elijah, a prophet that God called to do God’s work. Jesus has come from God but also is God. Jesus has always been God even before creation. Jesus is God come in the flesh to Nicodemus.
Nicodemus hears that life comes from God going us breath. Nicodemus would recall that God breathed into the dust and Adam came to life. The prophet, Ezekiel, also refers to this during his vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. Israel comes to life when God calls to the four winds and places his breath in the dried bones. Jesus means something more than breath. In both Hebrew and Greek the word for breath is the same as the word for spirit. Jesus is telling Nicodemus that God will place his Holy Spirit in us. It is more that air that we receive, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Nicodemus is also thinking that life is limited to this earth. The breath of God makes us alive only on this earth. Jesus is saying that the Spirit gives eternal life.
The last misunderstanding has to do with how we are born. Nicodemus thinks that it is something we must do, “How can I be born again?” The word that Nicodemus uses as again also means above. Jesus is telling Nicodemus that this life is a gift from God not a reward for works. Back in chapter one of John we are told this very thing in verse 12 & 13, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.” This life comes to those who are born from God. That is a gift that Jesus comes to make possible for all.

For the people of ancient Israel, everything centered around the temple in Jerusalem. This place is where their lives gained meaning and purpose. Where do you turn when the center of your life is destroyed? By the time John writes his gospel the temple has been destroyed in the rebellion of 70 A.D.
Jesus’ clearing the temple is more than a symbolic act. By his action that day, Jesus is pointing to what will replace the temple when it is gone. The disciples remember His words after the resurrection. “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up again in three days.” Jesus was talking about himself. He would become the center of life for people. Jesus would give life purpose and meaning.
In Jesus words are also a promise for us today. There are many things that can destroy a temple. The Roman army did. Today many a tragedy can cause us to destroy Jesus. We call it losing faith or declaring that God is dead. Jesus’ promise is that even when we do that He will not go away. He will rise again and remain with us when the very meaning of life is being taken from us. Jesus will not let us go. No matter what happens to us, Jesus will hold tight. In chapter 10 we are reminded that nothing can snatch us from Jesus hand. In his letter to the Romans Paul writes that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
What good news, God will always be faithful even if we are not. The disciples are truly seeing even greater things.

Jesus invited the disciples to “come and see” and promised that is they followed him they would see even greater things. As chapter 2 begins they begin to see what Jesus meant.
This is the story of the wedding at Cana. Weddings were a great festival that people in Jesus’ day would celebrate. Ancient Israel was known for the quality of the wine produced there. It would only be natural that wine would be a part of this celebration. This time the wine ran out.
Many would only know that there was no more wine. The wine that gave life to the celebration had run out. The disciples would understand that something more profound had run out. All those things that come from human hands eventually run out, They give life for a while but they cannot last.
So Jesus instructs the servers at the party to fill six jars to the brim with water. We all know that the water become wine. The wine exceeded the expectations of the wine steward and the guest drank their fill. This wine would not run out.
If all that took place was water becoming wine this would be impressive but there was more. Jesus replaces all those things that we use to find life. Those things that run out are replaced by something even better, something that exceeds our expectations. This Jesus is life that never runs out, life in abundance.
This sign sets the stage for the next few chapters. Jesus replaces water with wine becomes a Jesus who replaces the Temple in Israel with himself. In Nicodemus we hear how difficult it is to give up the old wine that runs out for the new. In the women at the well we hear of what happens when she drinks the new wine or living water.