Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42
Today’s passage from the Gospel according to John is a long and winding road of past, present, and future history. Let’s unpack some of what’s going on.
Jesus and his disciples wander through the outskirts of a city that was once a great jewel in the crown of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Shechem. Before the split of the Northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel after king Solomon, this area was filled with the history of the great patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
When the Northern and Southern kingdoms separated, with Israel to the north and Judah to the south, competing temple cults sprung up. The Northern kingdom’s holy site was near Shechem of Samaria, the Southern kingdom’s holy site was in Jerusalem of Judah. This situation existed for centuries, with separate cultures incubating in the north and the south.
When the Northern kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrians in 720 BC, the culture and religious writings of the Northern kingdom were almost completely obliterated. Were it not for refugees fleeing the sacking of the Northern kingdom and seeking refuge in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, the entire history of the Northern kingdom would have utterly vanished.
Why is this important? For one thing it sets up context for the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. We’ll talk more about that in a moment.
For another thing this understanding about the melding of Northern and Southern scriptural traditions gives biblical interpreters some answers as to why similar stories are told more than once in some books of the Old Testament. What this tells biblical interpreters is that the Northern and Southern kingdoms kept common scripture that differed slightly in details. As the Kingdoms grew apart, their stories diverged into their own perspective on history. When the Northern kingdom is destroyed and some of its scripture journeys back into the Southern kingdom after hundreds of years of separation, at some point an attempt was made to merge these common stories back into one form. But this is just a sidebar to the story from John today.
Jesus the Judean sits at a well that belonged to his ancestor Jacob. A Samaritan woman sits at the same well that belonged to her common ancestor Jacob.
As was custom, when a woman is drawing water from a well a man will ask her for a drink, which Jesus does. What makes this seemingly simple exchange remarkable is the context of Jesus and the Samaritan woman’s background. Jews did not ask Samaritans for anything, and vice versa. These two families from common ancestors had centuries of bad blood between them.
Just for an example, are there any baseball fans here today? Are there any Boston Red Sox fans? Are there any Yankees fans? This scene at the well is like a Red Sox fan and a Yankees fan drinking out of the same cup. And if you’re not a baseball fan just think of a hated enemy and then picture drinking from the same cup.
‘The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” Jesus answers her back, “If you knew who I am, a gift from God, and didn’t just see a Jew asking you for a drink, you would have asked this question of the gift from God and he would have given you water that brings true life.”
The woman said to him, “Well, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Am I to assume that you are claiming to be greater than our ancestor Jacob, who tradition says brought a spring of water right up to the top of the well and overflowing the sides, enough to water his entire family and all his flocks without needing a bucket?”
Jesus says, “The water from this well will only quench your thirst for so long. The water that I give will quench a person’s thirst forever. When they drink this water that I give, just like Jacob’s water overflowed the well and quenched many thirsts, my water will become a spring that wells up in them and bring them eternal life.”
The woman, who is still thinking literally, responds, “I want you to give me this water so that I’ll never have to quench my thirst or come back to this well to draw water.”
Jesus rethinks the conversation. “Woman, go find your husband and come back.” The woman now gives a response that reveals great vulnerability, especially in the face of a foreigner – an unmarried woman at a well. “I have no husband,” she admits.
Jesus is taken by her risky honesty. “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. You actually told me the truth!”
The woman is now taken with Jesus’ wisdom. “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.” Now she wants an answer to why the Jews won’t honor nearby Mount Horeb in Samaria as the most holy place for Israelites. “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, it was good enough for them. But you Jews say that all people of the Covenant must worship at the temple in Jerusalem only. Why?”
Jesus looks beyond the age old squabble and offers his prophecy. “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor at the temple in Jerusalem. But I am here to tell you that both Samaritans and Jews are incorrectly worshiping the father in physical places, and I’m telling you that God who is Spirit is not bound to physical places. Salvation is from the Jews, but only because I and my disciples are Jews. But the time has arrived when those who truly worship the Father will do so in Spirit and truth, and that’s not just limited to the Jews. As I’ve said God is Spirit, and so we must worship him in Spirit and truth, not in the old ways.”
The woman said, “I’m aware of the prophecy that the Messiah is coming. When he comes he will explain everything we need to know about salvation.”
Jesus said to her, “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, I am the He.”
The Disciples return and are chastising Jesus for speaking with the Samaritan woman, who hurries off so fast in excitement to share her conversation with others in the city that she leaves her water jar behind. She runs into the city and shares her excitement with others, urging them to come back to the well with her, which they do.
Now the disciples are interpreting what Jesus is saying literally as they discuss eating, and whether or not Jesus has eaten anything. Jesus redirects their literal conversation about food into a metaphorical conversation about salvation.
“What will bring me fullness is to complete the work I have been given to do. And the work I have been given to do is to bring salvation, to harvest souls. And there’s no waiting to be done. Look at the Samaritans right here who are coming to us now. They are already just now ripe! While you were off taking care of your business the reaper, me, is already doing his job of harvesting souls, and both me and God, the sower, are rejoicing. And now it’s time for you to join me in reaping God’s fruits, for you and I didn’t sow these souls, God did, but you are privileged to join in the reaping with me; my gift to you. And not just me, because others before us have been reaping God’s fruit long before you and I started.
The Samaritan woman is responsible for bringing many souls from her city to Christ, to salvation. And she was skeptical at first, falling into a literal understanding of what Jesus was trying to tell her. She even called Jesus on the discord between her religious tradition and his. But in the end her risky honesty with Jesus, with God, was what opened her eyes to salvation.
And here’s the good news for us, Brothers and Sisters. Just like the Samaritan woman’s testimony brought many to salvation, our testimony can do the same. We too can participate in the harvest, which began long ago. We too as reapers can rejoice with the heavenly sower. God is calling us to help, to be ourselves but also to be called out of ourselves, to be an icon pointing others toward the God of salvation. We are God’s ministers bringing the Good News of salvation into a tired and violent world. May God bless us with the harvest!
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