I was supposed to preach this at the Cathedral of St. Paul on March 15, 2020 however the Covid-19 pandemic had other plans.
+I was a lucky and blessed kid . Strong and independent women surrounded me throughout childhood. And the men in my life were not at all chauvinistic. I was raised to believe that I could be whomever and whatever I wanted. For a kid growing up in 1960’s Chicago, that was something.
If only our Samaritan Woman at the Well had such an experience. For generations biblical scholars labeled her either a harlot or lazy. Even the modern-day commentators who laud her as the evangelist she truly was—after all she converted an entire Samaritan city---still make reference to her being immoral, dim-witted, and unworthy. Her village shunned and mocked her. The truth is, we don’t know what led her to her difficult circumstance, we just know she’d been married 5 times was currently unmarried and was being cared for by some man, probably her deceased husband’s brother. We know that things were bad enough for her that she’d traveled to the well in the blistering heat of mid-day, no doubt to avoid the stares and whispers of the other villagers. Hers was not an easy life.
Jesus is traveling just after his encounter with Nicodemus—the man who came to see Jesus in the dead of night, not because he had insomnia, but because he, like so many of us when we are exploring new beliefs, wandering into uncharted waters, trying something altogether new—-Nicodemus was afraid of being seen—by his friends, by Temple officials, probably even by Jesus. The shortest route to Galilee goes through Samaritan territory so respectable Jews took the longer route, in order to avoid this area. Generations earlier the Jews of Samaria—yes they were Jewish--had dared to contaminate themselves through inter-marriage with Gentiles. In the Jewish world of Jesus’ day, a Samaritan was as ritually unclean as they get.
But Jesus, maybe because he was in a hurry, maybe because he never met a boundary or a bigotry or a hatred he could let stand, walked smack dab into the Samaritan territory. Tired, he stops to rest at the iconic Jacob’s well—a place of great significance in the Hebrew scriptural tradition--- while the others went off in search of food.
John wants to makes sure we get the significance of it being noon—when no one in their right mind would be trekking to the well to draw water—high noon, where the lack of shadows leaves no place to hide, no shroud under which one may keep from being seen. John wants us to see this juxtaposition between Nicodemus and The Woman at the Well who has no need to hide in the dark, for everyone knows who she is and what her circumstance is. She needs water and so off she goes, in the heat of the mid-day bucket in hand…maybe so she would be less likely to encounter others, maybe as an act of defiance against those who ridiculed and reviled her. We don’t know.
As he encounters her, Jesus engages her in conversation and, astonishing for that day and age and circumstance, the Samaritan Woman at the Well answers….questions…and debates!
Amazing as this may seem, it’s not the most incredible part of the story.
The most incredible, astonishing and miraculous thing in this story is that this woman, in a New York minute, gets it. She listens to Jesus and she hears. She watches Jesus and she sees. She allows herself to be transformed by Jesus and ---dropping her water jug much like Andrew and Peter did their fishing nets --the Samaritan woman heads back to her village proclaiming that she’s just encountered The Messiah.
Now remember, this woman has been shunned by everyone— yet her transformation, her rebirth—- is so evident that the villagers listen to her, and then seek out Jesus because they too are thirsty.
Much like those heroes of Hebrew scripture, Miriam, Ruth, Esther and Judith and like Mary, the mother of Jesus, our Woman at the Well was a prophet, apostle, evangelist and preacher.
She proved a worthy sparring partner for Jesus as she questioned the wisdom of he who desired a drink yet had no cup, he who claimed to be holy, yet trod on the unclean soil of Samaria and he who, against all common sense, good breeding and religious observance, engaged in a lengthy dialogue with her, a woman of difficult circumstance, not because she needed to be healed, saved or rebuked, but because she was willing to be transformed.
She was willing—eager-- to fill herself with all that Jesus promised, drinking his Sacred Water, eating his Holy food —absorbing his very being until she overflowed with truth and light.
During what feels like a desert time in our world, our country and our own region… aren’t we thirsty? Don’t we long for transformation? Don’t we hunger for a way forward that is in and of Love? I think we , as professed followers of Jesus Christ, can learn so much from the Woman at the Well: to be open, to be willing, to question and then listen, to wonder and then believe, to thirst, to drink, to be transformed and then, just like this hero of the faith, go to those who thirst in our midst, those who hunger in our midst, those who struggle in our midst and say, “we have found the truth, we have found the light and we have found the way…it’s living water, it’s sacred trust, it’s Love in all things and at all times. Let us share it with you, now and always,. Amen+
