Preached by Rev. Henley on February 24, 2008
To tell the story of the woman at the well, we must tell, not only what John writes of her and Jesus, but we must tell of things he doesn’t write in the Gospel. We must tell of the culture, the context, and the religion of that day.
In our story from John today, it was the sixth hour, which would be six hours after sunrise, in the middle of the day. Most people who have to go to a village well or even the river for their daily supply of water go in the morning, before it gets too hot. Why would a woman go to the well during the middle of the day? We must presume, that it was to avoid the crowded morning-well.
Scholars tell us, it could have something to do with the woman’s marital status. Although, there could be any number of reasons why, a woman would want to avoid the morning crowd. In that time and culture, women had no value as people. They were someone’s daughter and then someone’s wife. Generally, women were of no more value than the sheep and goats, a servant, or any other property. And, if they did not “fit” into an “acceptable” category, they were regarded with pity sometimes, but mostly were treated with disrespect or contempt, by their neighbors. That would be a good reason for a woman who did not “fit” to avoid the morning-well.
This woman at the well had had five husbands, and was then living with a man who wasn’t her husband. We will not explore “why,” because what is critical here is that Jesus does not judge her. He knows, but he does not judge.
A Hebrew man—Jesus—initiates a conversation with an unknown woman at a well in a strange village. A teacher of the Torah engages in public conversation with a woman; both of these acts are completely against convention and culture. And furthermore, it is a conversation of serious theological consequence in a time where women were not believed to be capable of discussing religion outside their homes.
Both the Samaritans and the Hebrews claimed lineage from the tribes of the Kings of Israel and Judah, but there had been hostility between the two tribes since about 700 before the Common Era. Around 200 before the Common Era, the Samaritans built a shrine on Mount Gerizim and claimed that this was the proper place to worship Yahweh; the Hebrews claimed the temple worship should be in Jerusalem. Historians tell us they were “enemies,” although I have yet to read of any kind of war between them. If someone knows different, please let me know.
Jacob’s well is a site in Palestine about which there is no dispute. It was supposedly dug by the patriarch Jacob and is on the "parcel of ground" which he purchased from the sons of Hamor in the story of Genesis chapter 33. Experts tell us that the well is fed by underground springs, and its water is fresh and cool. Because the water is moving and not from a cistern, the people of Sychar called it "living water." This is probably why John tells this story; the well of the living waters becomes a metaphor for Jesus.
By the way, this well still exists today, and Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Samaritans all agree that it is Jacob’s well from the Gospel of John.
We find “the woman at the well” only in the Gospel of John.
Jesus asks for water, "Will you give me a drink?" The Samaritan woman astonished asks “You ask me for a drink?"
Jesus responds, if you only knew who I was, you’d ask me for a drink from my living waters.
"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? And then asks, “Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself…?"
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
The woman at first doesn’t understand and thinks Jesus is talking about magical water which when drank keeps her from coming back to the well again and again to fill her heavy clay jug. "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here…"
Then Jesus, in order to assault her sensibilities, in order to claim another kind of miracle, changes the conversation to make a point. He tells her to go get her husband; which leads the woman to confession. Confession, as we know, opens us up to new possibilities and the ability to create new stories for ourselves.
When she recognizes that Jesus knows her life, she is sure he there is something different about this man, but she is not certain what it is, not yet. She has questions.
…"I can see that you are a prophet, but she reminds him of their religious differences; we worship on Mount Gerizim, you in Jerusalem.
And next is Jesus’ revelation, prophecy of the future.
There is a time coming when “true worshipers” will worship in spirit and truth. In truth, Jesus then says, that time is now. God is spirit and his worshipers should worship in spirit and truth. The woman then says, the Messiah could tell us this truth, and Jesus replied I am in the Messiah.
It dawns on her; he is speaking a truth, he must be the Messiah, and she runs back to the village and tells everyone, “Come, there’s a man at the well who knew all about me, but he doesn’t even know me. Come, you need to come meet him, I think he must be the Messiah.”
Because of this woman’s sudden belief, the villagers followed her back to the well.
The disciples return with food, but Jesus says I have food, and they think someone else fed him, but Jesus tries to tell them, he is the food that the hungry soul needs; and he uses the metaphor of the harvest. The harvest, which symbolizes completion or fulfillment, is his way of trying to help them understand that he is the Messiah and he came to feed their spirit.
In the other Gospels, there are parables and miracles. In John, we have stories, images, and metaphor. John is the most lyrical and creative of the Gospel writers. In this Gospel, we have a Jesus that is more mature, more confident in his mission, and more willing to share what he believes is God’s purpose. He is more willing to call himself the Son of Man, the Messiah, the Living Waters.
It is by accident or is it literary genius, but everything that Jesus taught is encapsulated in this story. If not explicitly spoken, then implied, or in images.
Everything that Jesus taught is encapsulated in this story.
Jesus taught inclusion.
Did the shepherd rest before all 100 sheep were safe?
Was everyone invited to the banquet?
In this story a woman is included.
Jesus taught that we are all called to help each other.
Aren’t we all supposed to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, heal the sick, and visit the imprisoned?
In this story, the woman runs off to share the hope of the living waters with the entire village.
Jesus taught that worship is more about what is in the heart than it is about the Law.
Didn’t he say the first commandment is to love God and then love neighbor.
In this story he said true worship will be with spirit and truth.
He taught us to love our enemies.
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you [Luke 6]
In this story he offered his living water to his enemies and stayed with them two days!
He taught us to refrain from judging others.
“Judge not, that you be judged not.” Matt. 7:1-5
In this story did he judge this woman who obviously had an unconventional life?
He taught that God answered prayer.
“And I tell you, ask and you will be given, seek and you will find.” Luke 11:9
In this story didn’t he said that he would give the waters of life, one only has to ask?
Let us for a moment try to imagine the life of this woman. What must her life been like? Was she any different than any other whose life is on the margin? Life was hard for her.
She, like us, had to live through situations and relationships of all kinds, some of them possibly not very affirming. She like every other human being can never be prepared for the worst life has to offer.
As you imagine yourself as a Samaritan woman of the first century, would the words of Jesus at the well give you hope when you had forgotten what hope is?
The woman at the well accepted the water Jesus offered and became a disciple. She dropped everything when Jesus spoke to her, just like Peter did when he was fishing and Jesus called him. She left her jar and ran to the village to witness to the spiritual food that Jesus offered. She brought them back with her to the well.
Historians tell us that in Jesus’ time there were countless prophets and religious rebels, many religious factions led by charismatic leaders.
Of all the religious groups, of all the religious prophets and rebels, why Jesus?
Why and how did his words become stories which were written down and circulated which were then gathered and eventually became the Christian New Testament?
Why and how did his followers tell and re-tell the stories to each other, in the synagogues in Jerusalem, the catacombs of Rome, and houses throughout the Empire?
Why and how of all the possibilities did Jesus’ ministry and teachings become a religion?
This story gives us a clue; it is about hope. The woman at the well ran back to Sychar with the news of the hope of Jesus’ living water. The hope that everyone can drink of that water; that everyone, no matter how inadequate, no matter how feeble, no matter how challenged, no matter how marginalized, there is hope that we, too, will be included.
In the reading from Pilgrim’s Progress Mr. Great-Heart said, I have it in commission to comfort the feeble-minded, and to support the weak. You must needs go along with us; we will wait for you; we will lend you our help; we will deny ourselves of some things … for your sake… we will be made all things to you, rather than you shall be left behind.
What do we have in us that is like the woman at the well?
What do we have in us that is like Jesus?
Do we need hope—yes.
Can we give hope to others—yes.
My prayer today is that we learn from the woman at the well. That we learn from Jesus. It is in what Jesus taught as the living waters that will save us, that will give us hope.
The Readings
READING I – An excerpt from Pilgrim's Progress:
In this except Mr. Great-Heart represents the Christian spirit.
"Now Mr. Feeble-mind, when they were going out of the door, made as if he intended to linger. … Mr. Great-Heart …said, Come, Mr. Feeble-mind, pray do you go along with us: I will be your conductor, and you shall fare as the rest. Alas! You are all lusty and strong, but I, as you see, am weak; I choose, therefore, rather to come behind, lest, by reason of my many infirmities, I should be both a burden to myself and to you. I am, as I said, a man of a weak and feeble mind, and shall be offended and made weak at that which others can bear. . . . I do not yet know all the truth: I am a very ignorant Christian.
"But, brother, said Mr. Great-Heart, I have it in commission to comfort the feeble-minded, and to support the weak. You must needs go along with us; we will wait for you; we will lend you our help; we will deny ourselves of some things, both opinionative and practical, for your sake: we will not enter into doubtful disputations before you; we will be made all things to you, rather than you shall be left behind."
READING II
JOHN 4:1-26 Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a]) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
Antiphonal Reading before the Sermon Adapted from John 4:27-42 “The Woman at the Well”
Voice 1: The disciples returned and found Jesus talking with a woman at the well. They were surprised, but no one thought to ask any questions.
Voice 2: Suddenly, the woman leaves her jar, runs into the village and says, “Come, there’s a man at the well who knew all about me, but he doesn’t even know me. Come, you need to come meet him, I think he must be the Messiah.”
Voice 1: Because of this woman’s sudden belief, the villagers followed her back to the well.
Voice 2: Meanwhile, the disciples return with food and urge Jesus to eat. But Jesus tells them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"
Voice 1: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me. I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages; even now he harvests the crop.
Voice 2: So the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
Voice 1: Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.
Voice 2: And because of his words many more became believers. They said “At first we believed because of the woman at the well; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Messiah."