John 4:5-42
The Gospel lessons that I want us to look at today, and next Sunday, are longer sections than we usually look at. Both of them are from the Gospel according to John. Today’s lesson is the story of Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman by a well. It is found in John 4:5-42. In this lesson no one is named, except Jesus. It could be a story to teach a point that the disciples learned from Jesus, not giving names to the people, only people in general.
In this part of John, Jesus and his disciples are traveling from Galilee to Judah. In between Galilee and Judah was Samaria. The Jews did not have dealings with the Samaritans. They were looked at as an inferior group of people. Most Jews would not eat with, travel with, talk with Samaritans. Many would even avoid going through the land of the Samaritans. If you picture going from here to Winnipeg, and not wanting to touch foot in Pembina county, you would not take the direct route of I-29, but you would have to go around. Jesus did not do that. He did not avoid Samaria. He did not go around it. He went through it.
So, here we have Jesus and his disciples coming to the Samaritan village of Sychar. We have the image of a community well that all drew water from, and the well was just outside of town. Jesus sits down by the well to rest while the disciples go into town to get some food. It is about noon.
It was a lot of work to carry all the water needed for a day. Water for drinking, washing, cooking and anything else. This was a hot and dry climate. Hauling water was the work of the women. So, to avoid the heat of the day, the women generally would come to the well early in the morning. The temperatures were cooler, and then they had the water that they needed for the day. It was a social time for the women, as they visited while doing their work of carrying water.
Jesus comes to this well about noon. It is the heat of the day. He is just passing through. This Samaritan woman is coming to well in the heat of the day, to draw water, as though she was unwelcome to come when the other women came. So, we have Jesus visiting with a Samaritan, and a woman, and a woman that is excluded even by the other Samaritan women. This woman has at least three strikes against her. Jesus stops her to talk to her.
Jesus responds without hesitation or condemnation of this woman. He asks her for a drink. She does not catch on that the living water is Jesus, so she pictures the time and labor saving of Jesus giving her water. Think of how often we do that, respond to our own personal need, just with a surface reaction. Rather than catching on to a much deeper meaning.
When the disciples return, they are astonished that Jesus was talking with a woman, to say nothing about a Samaritan woman. When Jesus sends the woman back into town, she is so excited that she forgets to take her water jar along. She literally forgets what she is doing. She is still going to have to get water, but the visit with Jesus has taken priority. Sometimes we see Jesus telling people to come and follow him, like when he called the disciples. Jesus does not call the Samaritan woman to follow him on his journey, but he meets this woman on hers.
She goes back into town and tells others about Jesus. She becomes one of the first to proclaim the Good News of Jesus, as she brings the community she now reclaims back to Jesus and they are transformed. We have a miracle of this woman being restored to her community, going from ostracized to one who is listened to and believed. Her credibility is so much restored, that the townsfolk proclaim, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.” Many believed because of the woman’s testimony.
This story is typically told as a revelation of Christ’s divinity, “He told me everything that I had ever done.” But it also speaks of so many other things. It has Jesus responding to being tired, a very physical response, so he sits down by the well. It has response to prejudice and exclusion as Jesus refuses to avoid Samaria, or an ostracized Samaritan woman. It has people being drawn to water, first from the well, then living water.
Think of water. Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall. It does not resist when you enter it. Water goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that our bodies are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, then go around it. Water does.
This woman has very little understanding of Jesus. Yet, she is excited about anticipation a divine connection that she does not understand, and which is inevitable. May we all be so open to God, and to those around us, so as to accept each other, and even accept God when we don’t understand. Amen.
- Neil Lindorff