Woman at the Well iii
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Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he? They left the city and were on their way to meet him. John 4:28-30 NRS
Read John 4:5-42
Several
years ago I hosted a party for a family member who asked that I include certain
friends on the guest list. It was set up to be quite an informal event and I’m
a pretty casual person so I was quite anxious to realize that there was a
“prestigious” family on the list. They lived at the country club, came from
“old money” and were the founding family of a national retail chain. I had been
to their hometown and seen the mansion that this family had called home decades
before. To say I was intimidated is an understatement. I began to second guess
every detail of the party for fear I would embarrass the family member who I
was intending to honor by seeming so “common” in front of this wealthy family.
The
truth is, I could second-guess all I wanted I couldn’t afford to change
anything about the party because I wasn’t wealthy. So the venue remained an old
church fellowship hall, and by old I mean it was no longer used as a primary
kitchen and therefore sat empty quite often. The wealthy family arrived and
much to my surprise seemed quite normal. They didn’t show up in furs and
diamonds; they were engaging and easy to talk to but I still remained on edge.
When it came time to cut the cake the father of the family stood leaned against
the kitchen counter which held the knife I would need so I asked him to hand it
to me. As he took the knife out I worried – I hadn’t checked that drawer – this
was an old kitchen in an old fellowship hall – what if there were mice
droppings? – When was the last time this was washed? – What will he think if I
use this knife! So, as he handed me the knife I sheepishly replied, “I might
should go wash this first,” to which he proceeded to place the knife in the
armpit of his shirt, wipe it off and say, “Na, it’ll do just fine.”
Sometimes
the adage is true, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” especially when your
own imagination designed the cover.
I
wonder if we have done the same misfortune to the woman at the well as I did to
our family friends in assuming she is something that she is not. I am sure that at one point in our lives we
have all heard this story of the woman at the well and concluded some
unpleasant things about her. We need only know two things to lead us down the
rabbit trail of assumption: She goes to the well in the middle of the day, thus
avoiding the “normal” time and so we assume she is avoiding the other women
because she is hated and cast out; And she is said to have five husbands and
the man she is currently living with isn’t one of them so we assume she is
morally loose and promiscuous which is why the other women of the town must
shun her.
We make
these assumptions and then we rejoice that Jesus came to save her from her life
of sin and she takes on a new life of piety. There is only one problem with
this assumption – the rest of the story doesn’t support it. There is no mention
of sin, repentance, or wrongful living: there is simply a thirsty savior and a thirsty
woman willing to cast aside all of their own assumptions and cultural norms and
sit down to have a meaningful conversation about life and faith.
If
we strip away the book cover we have designed for this scripture we might find
an altogether different story than the one we assumed.
What
are some things we learn about her? She is a Samaritan of great faith. She
thinks theologically and responds to Jesus with thoughtful questions. She is a
risk-taker, boldly taking the initiative to hold a deep conversation with a
Jewish Rabbi, something unheard of in their day. She is curious and desires to
know the proper place to worship, even if it means her tradition has been
wrong. She faithfully awaits the coming of a Messiah and believes that with the
coming of that savior the world will be changed. And yes, we learn that she has
indeed had five husbands and the man she is currently with is not one of them,
but lets stop for a moment and think about this.
In
this ancient time we must remember that women were often no more than property.
A woman was forced to rely on a man for a sense of identity and was subjected,
in a sense, to being “owned” by her husband or her father or brother. A woman
had little power in the marital relationship. The husband could divorce a woman
for being barren, for example and she had no recourse. Or, if her husband died
and had no heir, there was a law that stated she would be given to her
husband’s brother, so that she would bear a child by him in her dead husband’s
name. Sometimes that brother wouldn’t even marry her but she would still be
considered to belong to him. Yes, we are told she had five husbands but we are
not told why. It is very likely that this fact was something she had no control
over – that there wasn’t an issue of morality but of legality that left her
trapped in an isolating circumstance.
Perhaps
this is why there is no mention of sin or a need to repent because she had done
nothing wrong. Perhaps she came to the well in the middle of the day not
because she was an outcast but simply because she was thirsty, or perhaps
because the Spirit nudged her to do so, or because she tried to avoid the pity of
the women who felt sorry for her. I think it explains a few things about the
rest of the story. If the woman were truly morally questionable would the people
have rushed out to see Jesus simply because this woman said she believed him?
It would seem to me if a morally loose woman ran into town claiming she met a
new man everyone would have rolled their eyes and said, “here she goes again.”
Instead, they rush out to see if she has indeed found the Messiah she and the
others have long waited for.
My
point is this: Whatever the reason she has five husbands, Jesus doesn’t seem to
care. He is about to tell her that he is the Messiah she yearns for; he simply
wants to compassionately tell her first that he knows of her situation and it
is not a hindrance to the water of life he is about to offer her.
Isn’t
this really what all of us want from Jesus? Don’t we all desire that he might
know our story, understand the places where we feel trapped and stagnant in
simply existing in our pain and offer us an opportunity for things to change? When
we are stuck in our circumstances and feel there is no way out we simply begin
to live life by default – going through the normal routines with little passion
or excitement; or maybe we go from place to place, relationship to
relationship, with cup outstretched begging others to fill the thirsty places
within us.
Maybe,
like the woman, we don’t always understand at first what Jesus is really
offering us. We think his offer is all about some future day of salvation, or a
thirst to be quenched when we all get to heaven. We are perched on the edge of a well saying,
“someday Messiah will come and all this will get better,” and Jesus leans in
and whispers, “I am he, and I am here right now, and you don’t have to wait for
someday.”
The
woman’s encounter with Jesus didn’t miraculously change her situation: she
still went home to the man who wouldn’t marry her. However, her encounter did
change everything about how she lived. Whereas the story begins with her
solitude and painful awareness of the ways she was powerless over her own life,
it ends with her becoming the city’s first Evangelist. Once she avoided people,
suddenly she was seeking them out to save them. Once she was wondering around
at noon looking to get water, suddenly she left her water jar in the dust and was
out telling everyone who would listen that there was life-giving water that
could end thirst now.
Her
situation didn’t change but how she lived it sure did. This is the promise of
Christ, the living water, a life transformed NOW in purpose, joy, and fulfillment.
Thanks
be to God.
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