Living Water

The Samaritan Woman at the Well

John 4:5-42   Exodus 17:1-7                                      Rev. Todd B. Freeman

Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas                                           February 27, 2005

Water! It’s among the most crucial components on earth when it comes to sustaining life. Chances are that all of us, at one time or another, has frantically declared how we were “dying of thirst”. Yet I doubt if any of us have really been that desperate. And unless you’ve ever lived in a truly desert climate, most of us don’t quite realize the extent of the relationship between the earth and life-giving water. Most of us just take it for granted that it will be there when we need it.

Ancient Palestine however, like much of the Middle East, always has had to live with a scarcity of water. Water, therefore, both literally and figuratively, is one of the primary images used by authors throughout the writings of both the Old and New Testaments – from the Creation Story in Genesis when the Spirit first swept over the face of the waters, to the parting of the sea to help the Israelites escape the pursuing Egyptians, to Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan.

Water is also the dominant image in the scripture lessons for this Third Sunday in Lent. These two stories, to put it most simply, are a reflection upon human need and divine grace.

The lectionary moves us from literal thirst and physical water, in a story about Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness, to a lesson about a spiritual thirst and the need for living water that brings eternal life.

The story of the Samaritan woman at the well, from the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John, much like the Moses story in Exodus, reveals our dependence on God – from both a physical and spiritual standpoint. At issue is how to tap into this never-ending, life-giving source. And when we do, what are the results and expectations?

There are so many interesting tidbits about this very long story that it would take hours to look at them all. No one sermon could ever cover the number of important themes presented. But here are a few, in this admittedly longer than usual Bible study type sermon.

Interestingly, this story is the longest recorded dialogue between Jesus and anyone else in the Bible – a conversation between a Jewish male religious leader and an unnamed marginalized woman from an enemy people, the Samaritans. We miss, unfortunately, the extent of what an incredibly scandalous story this was. The first, original readers of John’s gospel, however, would have been very aware and deeply shocked. And while powerful enough on a literal, surface level, the author of John has filled this story with many deeper spiritual meanings and references.

Ultimately, this text is about transformations, particularly how Jesus transforms traditional social conventions and expectations, and challenges the status quo. First of all, Jesus’ request of “Give me a drink,” was a violation of social customs. Jews would not drink out of a Samaritan cup, since they considered all Samaritans unclean, and anything they touched would be unclean. Secondly, it was improper for a man (especially a rabbi) to talk to a woman in public. This is supported in the story itself by the “astonishment” of the disciples when they returned later and saw that Jesus had been speaking with a woman.

We must not underestimate the impact of the first few verses in this story. For the status quo is severely challenged by Jesus. He acts intentionally to break down the traditional, socially acceptable dividing walls between males and females, and between people of opposing nationalities – enemies, no less. So before we even get to the issue of living water and what that means, we as Christians and as the church are challenged to consider what customs and traditions of our day need to be transformed, even overturned.

What current socially acceptable barriers and dividing walls that alienate people are we, as people of God, called to break through and tear down, regardless of the shock and disgust of those in our church and culture who hold on so tight and fast to such prejudices? Is that not part of our mission as a congregation? In what ways do you already see us fulfilling that mission and ministry? I’ll leave that for you to answer since there are still 34 more verses of this 37-verse story to get through.

A brief comment needs to be made on why we believe this woman was marginalized, even among her own people. We’re told that she came to the well at the sixth hour, which means about noon. Usually, women drew water earlier or later in the day to avoid the heat. And we know that they did this task together as an important act of social contact and interaction. The fact that this particular woman came in the heat of the day, and all by herself, indicates that for some reason (for which we are not told) she was seen as an outcast. This point, as we will see, only enhances the act of God’s inclusive grace.

I also want to briefly explain this rift between Jews and Samaritans. Many hundreds of years earlier, the Assyrians defeated the Samaritan people, who were Jews living in the old Northern Kingdom of Israel (in the area south of the region of Galilee). Many were taken into captivity, and we are not told if they ever returned. But those who remained in Samaria intermarried with non-Jewish people who were brought in from five different countries to inhabit the land. The result was that the Samaritans lost their exclusive Jewish ethnicity and much of their religious identity. That’s because other religions were also imported along with these foreign people.

Somewhat later, the Babylonians defeated Judea, the old Southern Kingdom (which included Jerusalem), and took many of them into captivity. They, however, maintained their strictly Jewish ethnicity and religious identity. When they were finally allowed to return to Judea, they rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem.

The Samaritans, considered half-breeds at best, were detested and ostracized, and were even considered enemies of the Jews – for they were not “pure”. When the Samaritans built their temple on Mount Gerizim, near to where this water well of Jacob in today’s story is located, a huge controversy with the Jews ensued as to which was the proper place to worship God. The Samaritan woman brings up this issue for Jesus’ opinion later on in this story, and I’ll address that in just a moment.

For first, Jesus speaks to the woman about “living water.” She, like Nicodemus when he was told about being born again, misunderstands, hearing Jesus’ words only on a literal level. The phrase, “living water,” can mean on a literal level “running water”, as in a stream, or from an upwelling spring. Its water is fresh, easily accessible, and always available. This kind of water, on a physical level, is meant to contrast with the kind of water that is found in a well, which is still and confined, and it takes a lot of effort to get it.

The woman asks for this living water, misunderstanding it to mean nothing more than the equivalent of a faucet in her kitchen, so that she won’t have to keep coming back to the well. Yet, even though she does not understand what Jesus has to offer, she understands that he offers something that she needs. She becomes a seeker!

We live in a time, as well, in which countless numbers of people are seeking something to enhance their lives. And though many are leery about organized religion (and understandably so), they somehow know that God has something to offer that they need. How do we reach these seekers?

The conversation then takes an abrupt turn when Jesus asks the woman about her husband. When she states that she has no husband Jesus confirms that what she says is true, and adds that he knows she has had 5 husbands, and the one she has now is not her husband.

An important word of caution: this passage has been misinterpreted throughout the ages as indicating that this woman is anything from sexually immoral to a prostitute. Nowhere, however, does the story suggest this. There are many other possible reasons, from deaths of previous husbands, to divorce, or other reasons, for her multiple husbands. Some scholars suggest that the author of John may even be symbolically referring to those people brought into Samaria from those five other countries as her “five husbands”. The one she is with now, but not married to, as Judaism.

At any rate, Jesus does not pass moral judgment on the woman because of her marital history and status – so neither should we. All such judgments are erroneously imported into the text by interpreters. Any attempt to portray her as some kind of tramp is simply a reflection of their own prejudices against women, not the views of the text. For when reading this story on its own terms, one sees that the conversation about the woman’s husbands serves a higher purpose, illustrating two things: 1) Jesus’ ability to know all things (an important theme in John); and 2) a way to allow the woman to see Jesus as a prophet. This exchange, then, acts to show the woman’s growing faith.

It is then that she stays in conversation with Jesus and asks him about the most pressing theological question that stands between Jews and Samaritans: Where is the proper place to worship God? The answer is almost as profound today as it was then. God is not constrained by geography, so the endless conflict between Mt. Gerizim and Jerusalem (or anywhere else for that matter) becomes irrelevant.

Yet don’t we still have our favorite “places” of worship – Presbyterian churches, Baptist churches, Unitarian churches, Catholic churches, progressive churches, traditional churches, evangelical churches, and on and on. Some Christian traditions have even claimed that they are the most legitimate form of Christianity. But whether we all agree or not, it is still the same God that we all worship, and that can happen at any time, in any place! Recognizing this should help lead us all into a greater sense of unity, despite our liturgical, stylistic, and theological differences.

Jesus responds to the woman’s question with, “the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship God in spirit and truth.” Both Jews and Samaritans awaited the Messiah, although their understanding of Messiah differed. The point being made is that the moment for which they had both waited is now here! The author then says that Jesus reveals to the woman that he is indeed the awaited Messiah. Many biblical scholars believe that this revelation is a reflection by the author of the gospel, and not from Jesus himself.

At this point in the story the disciples return after getting some food, and seeing Jesus talking to a woman, they have a conniption. The woman leaves, leaving her water jar behind, to alert the town of Jesus’ presence, and to share what she has experienced. The disciples try to get Jesus to eat something. Jesus tells them that he has food that they don’t know about. Just as the woman misunderstood about living water, so the disciples misunderstand about food, thinking Jesus is referring to some kind of physical food. No, Jesus says that his food is to do the will and work of the One who sent him, namely God.

He then refers to sowing and reaping and the time for harvest – another very loaded metaphor. Telling the disciples that they will reap a harvest they did not sow, and that they will sow a harvest that another will reap is an important lesson for the church today. With churches’ emphasis on numbers and growth, our work and ministry is not so much like a Wall Street investor who hopes to see immediate dividends, but more like that of a gardener. Patience, vision and faith are required. We might never see the fruits of our spiritual work, but we can be assured that the Spirit of God works behind the scenes when we are truly engaged in the work and ministry to which God has called us. And while we continue to sow seeds, is there not already a plentiful harvest of seekers just outside these sanctuary walls for us to reap?

This story ends, as will I, with a powerful lesson about evangelism. Biblical commentator Brian Stoffregen puts it this way:

If the harvest is plentiful and ripe as Jesus says, and if our population is continually increasing, then why are the numbers decreasing in so many congregations? Perhaps we haven’t been willing to look around and see what is right outside our doors. Perhaps we haven’t been willing to put forth the labor and share the labors to bring in the harvest.

Whatever the reasons, the one Samaritan woman who has just met Jesus, who misunderstands what he says, who has questions about his identity, brings more people to Jesus than the disciples do… It’s not just what we believe, but what difference it makes that we believe.

The Samaritan woman is far from an ideal candidate for evangelism, yet she is very effective. Perhaps we can be, as well. Her effectiveness comes because she sticks to what she knows by personal experience. She tells the people what Jesus has done for her. Now I’m aware that personal testimony is suspect in many places, because it is often used to manipulate emotions rather than to reveal the God that Jesus came to reveal. And even though the woman worked from a marginalized status, she is transformed and the townspeople listen and respond to her. She performs an important ministry to the community.

Herein lies our challenge: Will we allow ourselves to do the same, to witness to what we know and understand, to reveal to others how we have been transformed, and to invite them to “come and see” for themselves? Do we dare wait for someone else sitting on another pew to do this?

We are filled with “living water,” water that isn’t meant to be kept confined and stagnant, like well water, but rather like spring water – water that flows out freely, is easily accessible and is never ending. So may our faith, and testimony, flow out freely!

Amen.