V. Bluffing

"Go, call your husband, and come here." John 4:16
The absurdities of the commandment evade us unless careful examination is taken. "Go." But didn't this woman just ask to get living water? Shouldn't she come rather than go in order to drink this water? "Go." The exact opposite of how you or I would deal with this woman. The exact opposite of what we'd expect to hear ourselves. Of course, Jesus would tell me to "come and drink", not to "go" in order to drink. Wouldn't he? How vexing: "go!"

And then the irony, "call your husband". Well of course this woman hasn't a husband, for we know the end of the story. So she has to go and call her husband to get this water? What an impossible command! You cannot tell someone to do something they cannot do upon condition of getting something they want and expect success in the venture. Jesus tries this route, however, and succeeds wherein we would fail. You want living water? Come face to face with your biggest failures. Embrace your inability to meet the conditions to drink, woman! This seems even worse than the command to "go".

And then the last step, "come here." At least she'd not be cast off forever, she could come back upon condition of bringing her non-existent (or pent-existent) husband(s). Oh the indignity she would face upon fulfilling this commandment. What if she came back with five husbands in her train, and another man, in fulfillment of the Lord's command? Would he then reward her with living water? Does he want the letter of the law fulfilled in this case? All that is meaningless speculation, because Jesus is bluffing. That's right, it's a ruse. There will be no going, calling, and returning in the bare sense of the words. Because Jesus isn't looking for moral fiber and commitment from the woman. You don't tune a broken harp. Jesus is bluffing.

What is the point of this bluff? It seems cruel to dangle out a carrot to so sad a donkey. Surely a miserable beast like this woman should be kindly dealt with. Why this need for a bluff? Why call her hand, just give her the living water and then have a talk about morality, right? The way out of Eden was by the covering of our skin with skins, and the way back to Eden is the figurative denuding of us all over again. The Gospel causes us to find ourselves naked and ashamed in front of our Lord, instead of weaving together the fig leaf excuses of our fallen natures. This bluff strips bare the covers put on sin. This woman, who has done a great deal of uncovering where she should have covered, now is uncovered where in fact she should be uncovered. Her veiled lifestyle of noonday water-drawings is now unveiled by our Lord's veiled command. She is honest now, because Jesus bluffed.