Lent 3A: Exodus 17:1-7, John 4:5-42 “Let’s Revisit that Well”
What a pleasure it is this morning to stand before you and rescue yet another woman from the trash heaps of Christian history! As many of you are aware, since the publication of The Da Vinci Code, careful reading of scripture refutes the notion that Mary Magdelene was ever a prostitute.
She became one through the misogyny of early church fathers. I have spent part of the past week reading some of their treatises on women, and those treatises are vile and disgusting.
Today, the object of our inquiry is the famous “woman at the well.” How many of you have been taught that this woman was somehow sinful or tainted based on Jesus’ reference to her multiple husbands? Somehow, like Mary, she has been painted as this lowly sinner who turns to the great rabbi for a good scrubbing and cleansing of her moral fiber. Please take a moment to reflect upon how this view of womankind has shaped the perceptions of women throughout the history of Christianity, right through to modernity. Oh, sisters, how we have been maligned!
My primary source for this message is Bonnie Thurston, Professor of New Testament at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She is a scholar and an ordained minister. She begins her exposition of the woman at the well by recounting the story as it has historically been interpreted. On a journey between destinations, Jesus stops midday at a well in Samaria. Recall that Samaritans were descended from intermarriage of Jews from the Northern Kingdom with their Assyrian conquerors. Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman who has come to draw water in the heat of the day, which is unusual. Misogynist history tells us that this is because she is tainted and wants to avoid contact with other women who generally go to the well in the morning or evening.
Jesus surprises her with a request for a drink. But Jewish men did not speak to women in public, particularly those like the Samaritans whom they viewed as perpetually unclean. Jesus starts a discussion with the woman about living water and about husbands. Again, misogynist history tells us that she’s had many husbands because she’s of questionable morals. Please note that as the discussion progresses, the woman asks astute theological questions and responds intelligently. She then returns to her village, sharing her experience and converting many Samaritans to believe in Jesus. In this regard, she is the first apostle or evangelist!
Let us take a deeper look at the idea that this woman was conversant in Samaritan theology. This is actually not surprising since, unlike Jews, Samaritans educated both male and female children in religious matters. Jesus takes this woman and her questions as seriously as he took Nicodemus’ questions in last week’s gospel passage. Nicodemus, who was a temple leader. I cannot underscore enough the willingness of Jesus to throw aside taboos in order to share his message with those who could hear it. I believe that in the “Kingdom of God” there are no unclean people. I believe that all people are invited to the table of reconciliation and grace.
Now, let’s put on our detective hats and pursue some more clues to determine if history has maligned this woman. Sad, isn’t it, that she hasn’t been given a name. Perhaps her name was “Everywoman.” Let’s scout out whether or not she was a woman of loose morals. If she had been such a woman, would people have listened to her when she returned to her village to share her new-found knowledge of Jesus? I think not. It is doubtful that the Samaritans would have “taken seriously the witness of a strumpet.” (p. 84).
Thurston also calls us to revisit the theme pertaining to the time of day the woman visited the well. In that the Patriarchs felt free to suppose that it was because she was avoiding other women out of shame for her downcast state, I’d like to posit a suggestion of my own. She was thirsty. Simple thought, is it not. And remember that the words thirst and thirsty carry great significance in the New Testament. We all thirst for knowledge of a loving God. Jesus cried out, “I thirst” from the cross. Interestingly enough, this very phrase became the centerpiece of the entire ministry of Mother Teresa. “I thirst.” Based on the questions the woman asked, it is fair to say that the woman at the well thirsted for knowledge of the presence and beneficence of God.
The most interesting clues I gained from Bonnie Thurston were about the word “husband.” First of all, it is certain that Jesus and the woman conversed in Aramaic, but we are given Greek with which to wrestle. Nonetheless, the word for “husband” in Greek transfers into Aramaic as “husband” or “owner.” Thurston posits that Jesus is not speaking to her about relationships with men, but relationships with that which has owned her, meaning the false gods she has claimed. We all claim false gods. We all seek power, security and affection. What if Jesus was really saying, “You have been owned by five false gods, and the one you have now is not your real owner.”? Actually, a close look at verses 18, 19 and 20 show Jesus allegedly talking about “husbands” and the woman responding about places of worship. “But her comment is not disjointed or inappropriate if the subject is a discussion about false gods.”
Have I made a case here, with Thurston’s help? Can we rescue this woman from the trash heap of Christian history? Can we quit thinking that all cultures contemporary to Jesus treated women badly? Can we quit believing the rants of some of the early church fathers about the essential evil entailed in being a woman?
The first disciples were asked to leave their nets. Nicodemus was asked to leave his literal thinking and come to believe in the power of things unseen, such as the Holy Spirit. The Gospel of John is moving us from a state of disbelief to partial belief to full belief. The Jews in chapter 2 are skeptical of Jesus, Nicodemus does not fully understand him, but the Samaritan woman comes to understand that he is the Messiah, and she serves a real missionary function in sharing her knowledge (Thurston p.85). God is spirit, Jesus told her, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.
The testimony of this woman led many to go experience Jesus for themselves. Like the disciples, they came to learn about a kind of food that they did not yet know about. Our closing hymn speaks of that food. Would you stand and join me in singing the hymn that is printed on your bulletin insert, “Fill My Cup, Lord.”
This sermon is based primarily on the work of Bonnie Thurston in her book Women in the New Testament: Questions and Commentary. Copyright1998. The Crossroad Publishing Company, NY, NY
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