John 4:5-42 Lent 3 March 8, 2026
Today
is International Women’s Day –
A day commemorating women’s fight
for equality—
so it’s appropriate that we have
this reading.
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| Jesus and the Samaritan Woman Jorge Coco Santangelo |
Many
people have made a lot of assumptions
about this woman at the well.
We read a lot into this scripture.
A popular assumption, which I’ve
made myself,
is that since she was alone at the
well,
and she’s there at noon instead of
in the morning
then she was ostracized by her
community.
That
may or may not be true,
but we assume that and call it
truth.
But most of the assumptions people make come from
one line where Jesus reveals that the woman
has had five husbands. He doesn’t dwell on that
for very long at all, but a lot of preachers over
the years
have heaped their judgment on her for that too.
Some have said she was a hopeless romantic,
Some
have used the words “loose”, or a “seductress”.
One modern,
Christian preacher actually called her a
“a worldly, sensually-minded, unspiritual harlot from Samaria”
That’s
some projecting there.
That
probably holds more information about the preacher
than
about this woman at the well.
Lots
of Christians have taken the opportunity
of
this interaction to indirectly scold and shame
other women
for their sexuality.
The truth is, there is no evidence that this woman was
promiscuous either from what she or Jesus or the
scripture says.
And
from what we know about these things during Jesus time,
Women
didn’t have many choices when it came to marriage.
And
marriage choices had little to do with romance, love
or
sexual impulse – at least for women.
It’s
actually doubtful that a woman would have had
much
choice in the matter.
The most likely reason might have been that her husbands
had
died and she bore no heirs to carry on the man’s lineage.
In
that case, she would have been passed on to her
husband’s
brother, and another brother,
until
she had a child, then it would be called the
child
of the first husband. It was called a Levirate Marriage,
it was
practiced in many patriarchic societies and
it is outlined
for
Jews and Samaritans in the book of Deuteronomy.
At the
very least, a woman who was single at the time
had
very little options, so marriage was a means for survival.
A story about a woman who
has five husbands at that time,
is most likely a story
about a woman who has
been mercilessly shuffled
around by the system.
But
people still try and make this out to be a story about
an
impetuous woman who can’t control herself
or
hold together a relationship. Even if that was the case,
It
doesn’t seem like the gospel writer presented this character
just
so we can heap more judgement on her than already existed.
And,
living in that culture, Jesus would have
understood
her situation.
And
we see that he doesn’t shame or criticize her.
He
just mentions it. That it.
What this story does say plainly - so we don’t have to
make
any assumptions about - is that this is
a
woman and that this woman is a Samaritan.
And
it says that the disciples were astonished
that
Jesus was talking to a woman,
and
that Jews didn’t share things with Samaritans.
So
there were two reasons why Jesus wouldn’t
be
talking to this woman.
With
or without her marriage situation.
But Jesus still comes to talk to her.
I think that when we read a
lot of these stories
and talk about women’s
situations in that time,
we kind of count
ourselves fortunate that we
don’t live in those times with
such oppressive customs,
and we feel lucky to live now
where women have individual rights.
We feel like we’ve come very
far,
and we might feel secure with
the rights we have.
But we have to remember
that women
have only had the right to
vote in the US for 100 years,
women weren’t allowed to
wear pants in public until 1923.
And women only gained the
right to open their own bank
account without a male
co-signer in 1974.
Even though we feel we’ve
come a long way,
these rights are new,
they’re fragile and they’re easily lost.
And even now, the version of Christianity that has so much
power in our government at the moment,
is attempting to take us
back a vision of “biblical womanhood.”
This version is influenced
by modern,
“purity culture” which
started in certain
Christian churches in the
1990’s and has taken
over certain facets of
Christianity today.
They overtly want to return
to a time
of rigid gender stereotypes,
when men had
dominion over women and where
women
are seen almost like possessions
of men
rather than as individuals with
their own rights.
Where the only place for women
is
in the house, producing and
caring for children
and supporting their
husbands.
Which can be fine choice,
if that’s what a woman chooses
to do.
But in this type of
Christianity wants all women
to be seen as “vessels” for
bearing children
and for serving men in
various ways.
This “purity culture” ties a
woman’s
worth with their purity or
virginity
before marriage.
It also stresses modesty
for women insinuating
that men have no control
over their urges
and that women are
responsible for them.
This has led to the
normalization and
justification for rape and
sexual assault,
which leads victim blaming,
trauma,
shame for normal sexual feelings,
and a warped view of sex
and relationships.
This is where the
motivation comes from for the
people who try to shame the
woman in this story.
And this culture does not
just effect the people
who choose it, it has
implications for everyone.
In the Heritage
Foundation’s project 2025 –
a political plan by a
conglomeration of
conservative Christian
groups which is being
enacted by our current
administration –
laid out their objectives for
reviving the traditional patriarchal family
and adopting purity culture
by effecting legislation like:
·
reducing
reproductive rights for women,
·
removing
inclusive language from government web sites,
·
removing
protections for workplace harassment,
·
intimidating
companies to do away with equal hiring practices,
·
removing
funding for family planning and contraception,
·
removing
funding for childcare and education for children of single parents,
·
and
promoting laws that limit women’s access to voting.
Many of which have already
been enacted, or attempted to be enacted, in just the last year.
The vision of many of these
groups is to return to a patriarchal
society where men have
power and dominion.
To support this, certain
Christians have shared a
distorted picture of
hyper-masculine image of Jesus.
Jesus has become this
warrior-like character who
advocates by dominance,
aggression and control.
And Christian men are
supposed to emulate this
in relation to the world
and in their relation to women.
But that’s a false
characterization of Jesus.
We don’t find that in any
of the stories we read
in the gospels. Jesus
doesn’t achieve anything by
dominance, aggression, or
control.
And the idea is that Jesus wants us to return to this idea of women
who
are subservient to men is preposterous
because it’s Jesus who did
so much in his ministry to counter that.
And this story is a good
example of that.
Jesus approaches the woman
at the well.
He doesn’t need to talk
with her.
As it said, the disciples
were surprised
that he was talking to the
woman
and Jews didn’t share with Samaritans.
But Jesus does anyway. And this
conversation is the longest
that Jesus has with anyone,
man or woman,
that is recorded in all of the
scriptures. With a woman.
And he starts by asking her
for water.
Jesus puts himself in a position
of humility.
He needs something she has.
He doesn’t demand it from
her
as if she’s compelled to
serve him.
When Jesus does mention
that she’s had five husbands,
Jesus doesn’t tell her to
repent or be reborn,
like he does Nicodemus. He
doesn’t
demand that she change
anything at all.
He doesn’t shame her for
this fact,
or question her purity or
call her a harlot,
like some seem to want to
call her.
He just tells her that he
knows about her life.
And then when she changes
the subject he lets her,
she throws out a
theological question,
and Jesus actually engages
in some
theological banter with her.
And when she says she’s
waiting for the
Messiah, Jesus says, “I am he” Jesus reveals himself to be the Messiah.
This woman is the first one who Jesus
trusts
this information with in this
gospel.
And then she becomes the
first evangelist,
spreading the word about
Jesus to
other people in Samaria and
it says
they believed because of
her.
And when the disciples come back,
Jesus is still talking to
this woman.
He doesn’t stop like it’s a
mistake.
And they don’t dare ask
him.
Neither Jesus or the author
of the story,
shame this woman or
belittle her.
Jesus doesn’t tell her that
she needs to repent
or change her ways. On the
contrary,
he treats her as an equal
disciple,
he affirms her, he trusts
her, and he empowers her.
Jesus is showing his
disciples how to treat other women.
And Jesus shows us the
way women should be
treated and should expect
to be treated.
And most importantly,
Jesus shows us the way that
the church
should be treating women.
Not as submissive and subservient
or as possessions
not just called to bear
children and serve others,
but to serve God in
whatever way they feel called.
It seems ridiculous that a
female pastor should
need to stand here in the
21st century and
remind us all of this, but these
are strange times.
After Jesus asks this woman
for
for water from her well,
Jesus offers her living
water.
We know the living water
that Jesus talks about
is the water of rebirth and
the water of eternal
and abundant life in Jesus.
That is what Jesus has
given this world
through his life and death
and resurrection.
And the way we can share
this living water
with others is not only by
sharing faith in Jesus,
but by sharing the stories
of Jesus
and living according to his
example.
We share living water with the world by
healing shame and exclusion
like Jesus did,
By empowering people like
Jesus did.
We share living water by
standing up
for the rights of women
like Jesus did.
We share living water with
the world by sharing
Jesus unconditional love, grace,
and hope
across all cultures, races,
and genders.
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