|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| Exodus 17:1–7
|
Psalm
96 |
Romans 5:1–11 |
John
4:5–42
|
The Samaritans were the long lost descendants of the ten northern tribes of Israel whose territory had been conquered by the Assyrians in 721 B.C. Unfortunately, the northern tribes didn’t have the leadership and the luck of circumstances to retain a distinct cultural identity like the two surviving tribes in the south who held on to Jerusalem. The majority of the people from Northern Israel were broken into small groups and scattered all over the Assyrian empire. The remnant that remained in the land or somehow managed to find their way back, intermarried with other foreign deportees that had been moved into Northern Israel. While the Samaritans retained unmistakable Jewish roots, their culture and religion were definitely a syncretism. Hence, the Samaritans were looked down upon as half-breeds and semi-pagans by the Jews. As a casualty of history, they seemed condemned to a frustrating search for respectability.
The story of the woman at the well is one of the longest single stories found in any of the Gospels. John used Jesus's ministry in Samaria as a poet would, in emphasizing that the Good News becomes a sign to people despised, to those who sit in darkness, and to those who are seeking. Behind the encounter of Jesus and the woman at the well is an important message of the church’s mission of invitation and welcome.
By Jesus time, Jews and Samaritans carried on commercial trade together, but purely social interaction was limited. First, for a Jewish rabbi to ask something of any woman who was a stranger, much less a Samaritan, was a significant break from custom. Secondly, for Jews to eat and drink with non-Jews was also taboo. It is no wonder that the Samaritan woman was suspicious of Jesus’ motives. John also mentions that the woman came alone to the well around noon. When women came to draw water at the community well, they would usually come in groups, and in the morning. That the woman came alone when she knew no one else would be there is also an indication of the awkwardness of the situation.
The water in the ancient well of Jacob needed a long rope and bucket to reach and in dry seasons very likely ran slow. The Gospel contrasts the old well water with what most translations describe as “living water,” but the sense of the expression is that the living water that Jesus is offering is like a fountain, squirting up above the surface, and that you don't need a bucket and a long rope to get it. In all seasons, it is always available and plentiful. The image is of a geyser, with all nations and peoples coming to quench their thirst.
Some commentators suggest that conversation about the woman's five husbands is much more than a commentary of the woman’s personal situation and is also part of the Gospel theme of welcome to outsiders. Samaritans allowed a polyglot of gods in their worship. Perhaps Jesus was observing that a society that worshipped a combination of gods was like an individual trying to be faithful to several spouses at once. Jesus also seems to be demonstrating that the living fountain of grace from God, does not pit one race against the other or male against female, but creates and loves us all.
In the presence of Jesus, the woman has a conversion experience. She drops her water jug, along with all her pretenses. She is able to face herself. The result is liberating and she discovers strength to face life with dignity, hope and purpose. She postpones her errand to get water, and first rushes to tell others of the Good News. Come and see this rabbi who touched me with God's grace, who reached out and offered me a new life.
The community in which John compiled his Gospel probably consisted of a modest number of formerly sectarian Jews, like the Essenes, who had strongly opposed Jewish officials in power in Jerusalem. John knew that sectarian power struggles could turn people viciously inward and suspicious of outsiders. He knew it was important for his community to realize that the Gospel was meant to reach outwards, and for it to be shared, it had to go beyond the walls, not only of sectarian Judaism, but also of Jewish culture.
Today in our very secular society, the primary way the Good News will be communicated is outside these church walls. Today, many people are not closely identified as being Presbyterians, Episcopalians or Baptists, per se. They are seekers, seekers like the woman at the well, seekers open to being invited and drawn in. I do not think it is mere chance that in the larger community we are known more as the church that feeds the hungry, the church that hosts Loaves and Fishes, more for a ministry that reaches outside our walls than for our liturgy or our interior parish life among one another. Of course whether we deserve all the credit for this reputation is an open question, but nevertheless a reality. Let it be said today, we welcome any of you who may consider yourself a seeker. If any of you feel so moved, please come and join us around God's table today. The story of the woman at the well is telling us that God is not afraid to take a risk on seekers, indeed that is what a community called by faith is suppose to do.
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
