The Woman at the Well

The Woman at the Well

Many churches will not have services this week.  In the case of churches continuing to hold services, many people will opt not to attend for health concerns.  As a way to support the spiritual journey of Christians during this Lenten Season, for the remaining Sundays of Lent, I will post reflections on the gospel readings assigned in the New Common Lectionary for that day.   

One of the unique stories found only in the gospel of John is the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman he met at the well.  Throughout Christian history, the account of the conversation with an unnamed woman has been a source of reflection and comment because of the multiple layers of insight and meaning it provides to the lives of people of faith.  This story is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 4 verses 5- 42.  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+4%3A5-42&version=NRSV

1.  The History and Context

Very early in his ministry, John tells us that Jesus was becoming very popular among the people.  His popularity was not shared by the Pharisees.  Feeling misunderstood by the religious leaders of his day, Jesus gets ready to go back home.

            In order to get from the southern area known as Judea to Galilee in the north, Jesus had to pass through Samaria.  Traveling through Samaria wasn’t something good Jews wanted to do.  Many would go far out of their way to go around the territory.

            Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies.  Historically, when the Assyrians invaded the country in 590 BC, Jewish leaders were taken to Babylon and put under house arrest.  The common folk were permitted to stay behind.  Assyrians settled in the land and intermarried with the Jews not taken hostage.  This mixed-race of people became known as the Samaritans.

            Jews saw Samaritans as traitors; Samaritans saw themselves as survivors.  Over time, tension and division increased.  In 300 BC, the Samaritans built a temple on Mt. Gerizim because they weren’t welcome in the temple at Jerusalem.  The Samaritan temple was destroyed by Jewish troops in 128 BC.

            A temple wasn’t just a place of worship.  A temple was the place where believers had direct contact with God.  Because God was found in the temple, the temple was seen as the center of the universe.  By establishing a temple, the Samaritans were saying that God wasn’t in Jerusalem nor was Jerusalem the center of the universe.

            In addition, the Samaritans had a different “bible” than the Jews.  Samaritans only recognized the Torah while the Jews recognized historic and prophetic books as scripture.  In other words, there were many heated issues about religion and theology dividing these people.

            Under their law, Jews were not permitted contact with Samaritans.  Even conversation with a Samaritan could make a Jew unclean.  There were many harsh, prejudicial rumors and racial myths in the Jewish nation about Samaritans.  For their part, Samaritans didn’t hold the Jews in positive regard either.

            It’s interesting that when Jesus was feeling particularly misunderstood by the Pharisees, he went to Samaria, a nation of people who were misunderstood.  In making this trip, Jesus moves from official Judaism to the primary rival of the Jewish tradition of his day.

1.  Jesus Meets the Woman at the Well

            The sun was high in the sky and the heat was intense.  Jesus had the good sense to rest from his trip during the heat of the day.

            Surprisingly, a woman came to the well to draw water.  True, women from town often drew water at this well.  But the time to draw water was in the early morning or the evening.  The presence of this woman at noon was odd and peculiar.  What caused her to go to the well at that time of day?  Why didn’t she draw water when the other women of the town were doing so?  After all, drawing water was almost a social event for women.   It was a time when they could gather away from the men, visit, talk, and share.  Why was this woman not participating in the normal routine?  Was it that she just happened to run out of water?  Or was she not welcome with the other women?

            As the story progresses, we will discover that she had been misunderstood and considered unfortunate by her neighbors and society.  Just as Jesus left Judea because he was misunderstood, and traveled through a country founded on one big cultural misunderstanding, so he encountered a woman who was misunderstood, who didn’t fit in with the rest of her society.

            Her way of avoiding people, by coming to the well at noon, had worked for her in the past.  Much to her surprise, that day was different. 

            In considering this early part of the story, spiritual writer Adrian van Kaam says this about the woman in his book, Woman at the Well, (Dimension Books, 1976, p. 22):

            Slightly bored, the woman makes her daily routine to the well.  She notices a weary traveler sitting there dressed like a Jew.  He surely will not talk to her.  He will pretend not even to see her.  Jews avoid Samaritans like one avoids a dreadful disease.

            How little she suspects what is going to happen.  A few moments and this trip to the spring will be an immortal event to be recounted by people of many tongues, cultures and generations.  She had come to draw water; instead she will draw the attention of the Eternal and of countless people all over the earth.

            The setting is simple:  a man resting by a well; a woman approaching to draw water.  Yet, in this very simple, commonplace scene, something startlingly new will shatter the ordinariness of the day.

III.  Going Deeper into the Story

The woman Jesus met was not like many other people in John’s gospel.  She’s definitely not like Nicodemus who wanted Jesus to solve life’s mysteries for him.  Nor was she like the royal official who begged Jesus to heal his son.  This woman was bold and direct.  She expected that Jesus should explain himself and his actions.

            From the woman’s perspective, it’s unthinkable that Jesus should address her.  Good Jewish men didn’t greet women in public.  And she was a Samaritan.  Speaking to her was doubly unclean.  Further, asking to drink from a Samaritan cup was totally outrageous and inconceivable.  To make it worse, he talked to her in riddles.  From this woman’s perspective, Jesus must have appeared mad.

            Looking back at this event after almost 2,000 years, we can see certain things rather clearly that the woman couldn’t even have a glimpse of in her time.  Through this scandalous conversation, Jesus was breaking down barriers that continue to plague human experience.  He cut through issues of gender and sexuality while also shattering boundaries of nationality and allegiance.  Jesus offered an unnamed female member of the enemy people the same treasure which he tried to offer the respected religious leaders of his own people. 

            In this brief conversation, Jesus used the simple act of asking for a drink of water to break social barriers that have divided people for all ages.  This conversation was a revolutionary act with the power to impact every generation.  Who would have thought so much could happen while resting in the heat of the day beside an age old well?

IV.   The Woman and Her Story

            The woman had five husbands and then lived with a man she didn’t marry.  Today’s popular portrait of this woman is that she had questionable morals and was divorced repeatedly.  This is one possible interpretation of the text.

            It is also just as valid to see the woman as a victim of the custom of levirate marriage as were Tamar in Genesis 38 or Ruth and Naomi in the book of Ruth.  The legal code proscribed that if a woman’s husband died, the husband’s brother was to marry the widow.  If the brother failed to do so, then the duty would fall to the next closest male relative.  All of the men in this woman’s family could have refused to marry her.  Rather than being left without any support, another man might have taken her into his home.

            The text us unclear as to whether the woman at the well was a woman of ill-repute or a victim of the marriage system.  In either case, she was at least very unlucky and would have been seen as cursed.  No wonder she went to the well at noon when no one else would be around.  She was probably trying to avoid ridicule.

            The act of Jesus telling the woman her life story caused the woman to consider Jesus from a different perspective.  Demonstrating his ability to see past superficial appearances, the woman sensed that Jesus was a prophet.  And so she asked about the issue which separated the Samaritans from the Jews, the issue that caused a bitter invasion and electrified much of the present hostility:  the place of proper worship.

            Jesus once again broke through the barriers erected by hate and hostility.  He made a profound and radical statement:  worshipping God isn’t dependent on where you are but is rooted in one’s attitude.  The theology of the day couldn’t comprehend such a statement.  And neither could the woman.

            In one brief conversation, Jesus ruptured the woman’s vision of both her life and the world and also offered a radical way of seeing.

V.  Why is this Story Important for Us?

            It was true in Jesus’ time and culture just as it’s true today:  people are marginalized as groups and as individuals.  Samaritans were the marginalized people in the Jewish culture.  Today, in our cultures, we have long lists of people who are marginalized.  Further, this woman was marginalized and ostracized for having had five husbands.   Again, the story doesn’t tell us why she has five husbands but clearly, she was ridiculed for this.  Jesus steps out of the cultural norms and community gossip and encounters the woman as she is.  They make a deep human connection that reaches beyond all that divides them.

            The question for us is simple:  can we be followers of Jesus?  Can we step out of cultural and social norms to meet people where they are?  When we do, we begin to drink from the living water of which Jesus spoke in this story.

Photo source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/closeup-photo-of-water-drop-932320/   Photographer: Daniel Kux