Yes, even she gets it!

 

John 4:1-42

 Jesus was passing through Samaria, at the city of Sychar, at which is Jacob’s well.  The rivalry had run long and deep between the Israelites and Samaritans.  At best they were rivals, but really they were enemies in many ways for generations.  A whole lot of de-humanizing had gone on between them for a long time.

 The Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus came to the well at Noon.  I have read in the past that she must have been ostracized by other women, because she was at the well alone at Noon, long after the others would have come to draw their daily water together because of the heat of the day.  Was this woman marginalized within her own community?  Perhaps.  She was certainly on the margins for an Israelite like Jesus and His disciples, even though He was in her backyard.

 Women had no agency.  Their only power was in association with a man.  She had to have a man in order to survive.

 The disciples were gone and Jesus was thirsty.  He commanded her to get Him a drink, though perhaps the norm would have been for the man to do the lifting.  Was this an expression of her disenfranchisement by an Israelite in her own town?

 She was stunned that a Jewish man would ask of her a drink or talk to her.  Jewish Rabbi’s would not talk with a woman in public, and would certainly not speak to a Samaritan woman.  The banter that took place was a bit cute, clever and teasing.  My New Testament professor called it “light flirting.”  She held her ground with Jesus, claiming Jacob as her ancestor, teasing that it would be hard for Him to draw living water (perhaps she thought He meant flowing water) from the bottom of a well without a bucket.  But then it got serious.  Jesus was serious in offering her living water.  She asked Jesus for it.

 Jesus then put her in her place once again, telling her to go get her husband (in order to make this proper, perhaps), knowing all too well that she did not have a husband, but had indeed had five and was now living with a man.  We do not know what happened to the other five.  Whatever it was, she was powerless without a man.  If they had died or divorced her (because only a man could do that), her life prospects were tentative at best, especially since the man she was with was not her husband.  She acknowledged Jesus as a prophet.  She asked Jesus the controversial question – about which worship tradition was legitimate.  Jesus responded that neither was, inherently legitimate.  The only legitimate worship is that of Spirit and Truth, regardless of what mountain you may worship on or in which Temple you worship.  Traditions do not guarantee true worship.  Genuine spiritual connection with God happens beyond traditions and locations, in truth, when our spirits connect with God.  Jesus ten told her that He was the Messiah, and as the disciples returned, she left to tell other Samaritans about her encounter with the Messiah of God. 

 The disciples voiced their astonishment that Jesus was speaking with a Samaritan woman at all.  She went and told other Samaritans and they came to encounter Jesus, who stayed there for two days instead of passing through.

 Jesus met people where they were, acknowledged differences and built bridges.  Jesus represented the Kingdom of God, and He introduced it to those who were not accepted by those who had traditionally see themselves as the faithful of God.  Jesus reached across boundaries to include the marginalized, powerless and de-humanized ones that His own people rejected. 

 The followers of Jesus would do well to follow suit.  If Jesus sees within the least likely persons worthiness for His encountering and enlightening them, should not the church that bears Jesus’ name see it?  If Jesus engages with people who are ostracized, marginalized and disenfranchised by society and does not condemn them but rather offers them eternal life in Him, should not the ones who claim to follow Jesus do the same?

 Empire divides, de-humanizes and disenfranchises people because of its devotion to greed, lust for power over others and desire for status above others.  Empire portrays itself and its adherence falsely as being superior and therefore justified in its ruthlessness exploitation and destruction of others’ lives.  Jesus, who represents the Kingdom of God and faithfulness to God, unites, sanctifies and restores Shalom to the lives of people not like Him, giving up Glory in humility, sharing generously in compassion, empowering out of empathy and serving “the least” among us in agaph.  Instead of being astonished that Jesus is drawn to them, should we not be drawn to them as well, by His example? 

 How are we doing at following Jesus in this part of God’s Kingdom, here and now?