“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship
in spirit and truth.” (John
4:24)
I
love the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well which is the gospel
lesson in the RCL for Lent 3, Year A (John 4:5-42). Jesus’ chat with this gal
is actually the longest conversation he has with anyone in the Bible. And, like
so many of his interactions with folks, he always confuses the bejeezes out of
them—and maybe out of us, too.
There
are some important “woman at the well” stories in the Hebrew scriptures[i]. Back in the day, that’s
where a guy could go to cruise chicks because fetching the water was always
women’s work. In fact, in much of the developing world today it still is. There
is a scene in the 2016 film Whiskey Tango Foxtrot[ii]
about Afghani women who must walk a mile from their village every day to
draw water from a well. The US Army Corp of Engineers digs a well for the women
in their own village so they need not make this grueling daily journey.
Mysteriously, however, this well keeps getting destroyed. The soldiers blame
the Taliban or other insurgents, but a clever woman reporter realizes the women
have sabotaged the well themselves. Walking that mile to the well every day is
the only chance they have for some girl time away from the men.
You’ll
notice the well in our gospel lesson is located outside of the village so the
Samaritan women would have a bit of a hike to get to it. I think it’s
significant that in the gospel story the woman at the well is alone.
She’s come at noon, not in the morning, possibly to avoid the other ladies who
might’ve shunned her, thinking she’s a skank for having hooked up with so many
dudes. Being by herself, there’s nobody around to give her guff for breaking
what must certainly have been a strict bit of cultural etiquette—she’s talking
to a strange man without a family member around. I’ll bet in the ancient world
a girl could get herself a reputation for doing something like that. If she
didn’t already have a reputation, that is.
None
of this cultural stuff seems to bother Jesus. He’s willing to strike up a
conversation with an unescorted lady—and a Samaritan at that. Note how
John the evangelist likes to point out that Jews and Samaritans aren’t exactly
kissing cousins. Nevertheless, Jesus is open to this encounter. He’s not afraid
of getting cooties by drinking from the same cup as a Samaritan. What really
freaks this lady out, however, is Jesus’ cryptic reference to the “Living
Water.”
In
the world of the text, “living water” may have referred to water flowing from a
stream or from a spring. Well water, in contrast, doesn’t seem to give off the
same vibe of freshness. It just sits there at the bottom of the well where the
cruddy micro-organisms hang out. I’m sure our unnamed heroine would much prefer
living water to whatever she has to pull up from the bottom of that well, but
there isn’t a stream or spring in the neighborhood. You can’t blame her for
being a little confused by what this strange Jew is telling her.
Obviously,
Jesus is peaking metaphorically as he often does. What’s “living water?” We
could say it’s the Holy Spirit. It’s God reassuring, revitalizing presence
within us. Maybe it’s just God’s grace. It’s unconditional love for us which
translates into our love for others. Maybe it’s a reference to Holy Baptism. I
kind of like that idea. What does baptism do? First, it forgives sins. Jesus
knows this gal’s been around the block a few times, but I don’t think he wants
to scold her for all the guys she’s been with. Rather, I think he wants her to
embrace a life that’s free from shame. Yes, she may have broken some
rules, but nobody should be defined by their sin or guilt. The other purpose of
baptism is to wash the baptized into the communion of saints. The water of
baptism gives us identity as God’s children and makes us a family. We are no
longer outcasts when we claim this living water.
I’m
sure our heroine must’ve been confused by what this strange Jew was saying to
her, but I hope she recognized Jesus’ cultural sensitivity when he suggests
they continue the conversation in the presence of her husband. She confesses
she’s not married, and Jesus tells her he knows the guy she’s shacked up with
isn’t her husband. Rather than being offended (face it, Jesus was
telling the truth), the woman realizes she’s talking to a pretty holy guy and
starts to ask him some religious questions. I wonder if she’d been puzzling
over this question about where to worship for a long time but was just afraid
to ask anyone about it. Sometimes we keep our mouths shut and our questions to
ourselves out of fear of looking dumb or causing offense or rocking the boat
somehow.
That’s
a big take-away from this story. God doesn’t care about the form of our worship
or about any of the piddly little things which we fuss over and which divide us
as people. There is only one God, and we must worship God in spirit and in
truth. Part of this worship is learning to love our neighbors in spite of our
differences and past histories.
There
are two other things which always pop out at me in this story. The first is
that we have a female evangelist. This woman on the outside of society rallies folks
on the inside to come to Jesus. That’s pretty cool. The other thing I love is
Jesus’ apparent joy over this encounter. When the woman is moved and moves
others to come to him, the Son of God feels great satisfaction. When his
buddies come back from town with the take-out order, Jesus isn’t hungry. He’s
been fed and refreshed by doing the work of the Father.
We
should all take our nourishment in that way. Amen?
May
God bless you and keep you safe and well during this Lenten season and straight
through the joy of Easter. Please drop me a comment and come and visit again.
[i]
Abraham’s servant finds a wife for Isaac at a well (Genesis24:15-27), Jacob met
Rchel at a well (Genesis 29:10-11), and Moses met Zipporah at a well (Exodus
2:15-22).
[ii]
The movie was based on journalist Kim Barker’s 2011 book The Taliban
Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,
if you catch the significance, rather accurately expresses American foreign
policy as it still is today.