The Woman At The Well
I confess that over the years of my ministry, I have avoided preaching on this particular gospel passage (John 4:5-42), primarily because there is so much in it to unpack. It seemed a rather daunting task for a 13-minute homily. However, in this newsletter, I have the space to tackle it, if you have the time, because three things Eleanor and I learned from our tour of Israel five years ago enlighten the story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.
The plight of women was precarious in that patriarchal society. Perhaps a couple of her husbands died a natural death, she may have become the second wife of a deceased husband’s brother, as was custom; divorce was the prerogative of men, easily accomplished; there is no reference to children, perhaps she is infertile, therefore deemed useless goods, not worthy of a marriage dowry.
First of all, Jacob’s well was our last stop on the ten-day tour. Jacob’s well is still there! The OT story about Jacob is written in the 6th or 7th century BCE, but Jacob’s history would have been a good thousand years before that. So Jacob’s well reflects approximately 4,000 years of religious and racial history. Think of the history and the mythology that grew up about it—Jacob bought the land and created the well, made up with his brother Esau at the well, courted his wife Rebecca there, his son Joseph was sold into slavery from this place. So much pain and agony, compassion and reconciliation within these very human stories. And the writer of the gospel story is at pains to set the scene at Jacob’s well, evoking all its historical, social and religious context.
Second: the expression, “living waters,” used by Jesus in the story. As our tour group stood on Tel Dan beside the Dan river, a glacier-fed, rushing stream that feeds the Jordan, we learned that the Dan never runs dry, unlike so many of the other streams and rivers in Israel, a country which is without rain 8 months of the year. Every place we toured, we saw the elaborate techniques created by the ancient peoples to collect water into cisterns to sustain them during the dry periods, or worse, a years-long siege by enemies. Rushing year-long streams like the Dan are known as Living Waters. And the OT prophets Jeremiah and Zachariah, used this geological, natural feature of the landscape as a metaphor for Yahweh, for the Holy Spirit. Water is Life. Living Water creates a garden in the wilderness. We’ve seen it, that narrow strip of fertile well- irrigated fields along the Jordan valley. Now think metaphorically, as the Bible writers intend, Living Water, ie God’s Spirit, flows through us and around us and can make a garden in our wilderness, the wilderness within us and the wilderness outside us. All of this applies to the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.
Third: we visited Samaria and the Samaritans that are left (about 800), we were on Mt. Gerizim and learned its importance as a worship site for them, and this holy place of worship comes out in the gospel passage. “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,” says the woman to Jesus, “but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Enmity between Samaritans and Jews is very much part of this story’s background, as it is in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Jacob’s well and Living Waters and Mt. Gerizim, these geographical, natural sites, with their rich religious associations, all pertain to Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus comes breaking down barriers. As a devout Jewish male he is not supposed to be alone with a woman, let alone talk with her, or share a common cup. “Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans,” the gospel narrator states. The Samaritan woman has a history, five husbands and her current partner is not her husband. She has been painted by Biblical commentators over the centuries as a loose woman, an adulteress, a prostitute, but there’s nothing in the passage that says that nor condemns her, Jesus certainly doesn’t, and note that when she returns to her village she is listened to and followed by the townspeople. No tainted woman of ill repute in that social world would command such attention and respect.
The plight of women was precarious in that patriarchal society. Perhaps a couple of her husbands died a natural death, she may have become the second wife of a deceased husband’s brother, as was custom; divorce was the prerogative of men, easily accomplished; there is no reference to children, perhaps she is infertile, therefore deemed useless goods, not worthy of a marriage dowry. Maybe the current
partner is an old man needing care, not willing to pay the marriage dowry for a woman who is barren. Rather than censure, this woman deserves compassion, for there is a lot of pain suggested in her history. She must long for belonging and connection. Jesus speaks directly to that pain by using the metaphor of Living Water, assuring her that even in the midst of the troubles of life, God is there, flowing through her, able to bring about new life, to create a garden in her wilderness. She and Jesus have an educated, theological discussion which she initiates. She returns to her community to spread the word. A female evangelist, and not the first recorded in scripture.
“The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth . . .God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” God, the kingdom of God, the compassion of God, is not limited by man- made rules about where and when to worship, “neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem,” nor in that church or that synagogue or that mosque. Worship in spirit and truth goes beyond place. “Jesus answers a seeker’s questions of whether or not she can worship. And he said yes.” What a message for our day: “I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Christ is not Jesus’ last name. As Richard Rohr puts is, “Christ is the name for everything in all its fullness. Christ is everywhere. In Christ every kind of life has a meaning and a connection.” There’s no right place, right time, right person, right words for worship. There is just worship—Living waters, the Christ Spirit flowing through us, breaking barriers between peoples and genders, creating gardens in the wilderness. Worship is anytime, anywhere, all the time.