Jesus and the Woman at the Well

Jesus and the Woman at the Well

John 4:5-26, (29-38), 39-42

Link to John 4

 March 19, 2017

Today is the Third Sunday in Lent and for those of us in the Anglican tradition we are in Year A of the three-year liturgical cycle in the Lectionary.

This is the Sunday when we read about what many call “The Woman at the Well.” I prefer “Jesus and the Woman at the Well.” It is a very interesting story, a story that can be taught or preached from many points of view. Indeed, today I preached from an historical perspective, and in another church this morning my youngest son preached from a person-to-person perspective. 

Preachers use many resources in preparation for a homily of ten to fifteen minutes or sermons from twenty to forty minutes. Yes, even in some Anglican parishes we have clergy who preach for forty, even fifty minutes. But with a story like “Jesus and the Woman and the Well” it simply must be preached regardless of sermon length. The story is about an encounter. 

Today I preached for 21 minutes, my son for nine. Hear the Nine Minute Sermon, an eloquent presentation.

STORY-TELLING PERSPECTIVES

Both sermons provide a touch of biblical history, something necessary to place the gospel reading into perspective. The longer sermon’s perspective was one of "God seeking us." The shorter homily’s perspective examined personal prejudices that we all hold, prejudices similar to those held by the Woman at the Well and even Jesus’ own disciples.

HISTORY

We read of Creation in Genesis 1 and in John 1. And God made man(kind) in His image. So from the beginning of time God is seeking humankind, seeking us to live in Him and to follow Him. Later God created the Israelites and brought them out of slavery so that they would be His earthly vessel carrying and proclaiming His Word to the rest of the world. The Israelites were “chosen” for this purpose. But over the centuries this broke and Israel split into two kingdoms. By the time of Jesus the "northern" kingdom consisted mostly of Samaritans. The "southern" kingdom was Judah. They were distant cousins who deeply disliked each other.

AT THE WELL

“Give me drink,” Jesus said to the Samaritan woman. Shock. Given the vitriolic history between the Jews and the Samaritans, why would the Jew Jesus even talk to her. More shocking, Jesus was talking to a woman. The disciples upon their return to Jesus with food after leaving him alone at the well wondered why he was talking to a woman, but they would not ask. They remained silent on the obvious breach.

The Samaritan woman came to draw water at the noon hour. That was an unusual time of day to draw water. It was hot at noon. After all, they were in the desert. She was alone, too. Drawing water was usually a community affair in the cooler mornings or evenings. Community women would come as a group. Several different conclusions could be drawn from these circumstances.

INTERPRETATION

One interpretation concludes that the woman was a public sinner. How so? Jesus was offering her "living water" and she became interested. Jesus then invited her to bring her husband. She told Jesus that she had no husband. Jesus then told the woman that she was right because she has had five husbands and the man she lives with now was not her husband. That insight of Jesus was enough for the woman to take pause and notice of who Jesus might be. He knew too much about her. Now the dialogue was beginning to get sensitive or touchy. That is one interpretation.

Another interpretation of this Bible passage examines what is not known or what the passage actually does not report. The nine-minute sermon mentioned above poses questions about other possible reasons for the woman’s multiple marriages. Was she widowed (even more than one time); did her husband(s) leave her; was she deliberately made destitute? This homily focuses on the person, a perspective which drives home a question about making assumptions about the woman or any other person’s situation in life.

How do we treat one another? Are our actions or attitudes about other people based on faulty information? Are our actions toward others based upon assumptions or about what we might have overheard? 

Jesus, in this reading, does not dwell on the Samaritan woman’s circumstances. Jesus is SEEKING her. Her life can be transformed regardless of circumstances. His is the eternal “living water” and not the finite water in the well. 

Though the language in this passage seems cryptic, it expresses the eternal love of God through His Son Jesus to the Samaritan Woman and to us. The Samaritan woman and we must respond to Jesus' calling appropriately by surrendering our old lives and taking on the new. We drink forever the "living water" of the New Reality.

THE NEW REALITY

The timing of the story about Jesus and the Woman at the Well occurs only days prior to the cosmic redefinition of reality. In other words, Jesus’ death on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter Sunday fundamentally changed reality - the core of the Gospel. Jesus became the fulfillment of Israel – Jesus indeed became/was/is Israel. At the encounter by the Well this was not yet known. But a glimpse of the new reality emerged.

God the Holy Trinity is THE seeker of human hearts. Nothing short of a transformation of each individual human heart will bring us to Him when He seeks us. Our transformation is a turning around – a metanoia – of our lives into living within the heart and light of God.