THE WOMAN AT THE WELL – AN ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Wilson SVD

3^rd Sunday of the Lent (A)

                    Ex 17: 3-7;    Rom 5: 1-2, 5-8;     Jn 4: 5-42

Jesus and the Samaritan woman. A memorable encounter in St. John’s Gospel. The story of the nameless Samaritan woman at the well, recorded only in the Gospel of John, is a revealing one, full of many truths, fraught with symbolism and powerful lessons for us today. We know from the historical sources the hatred that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans. At the time of Jesus, the animosity was predominantly religious yet it also had social repercussions. Jews utterly despised the Samaritans as having no claim on their God. The Samaritans did not observe all the regulations which the Jews did and so, they were suspected to be unclean and this uncleanness was also believed to be transmitted to the utensils they were using. As per the cultural norms, a man does not speak with a woman on the street, not even his own wife, and certainly not with another woman. Amidst such socio-religious ambience, Jesus has a fascinating dialogue with this unnamed Samaritan woman. 

It was noon, a hot day, Jesus was weary with travelling and so sat by the side of Jacob’s well, tired and exhausted and he knows pretty well that women come to the well to fetch water. The Samaritan woman comes there with a jar and Jesus makes a simple request, could you give me a drink? She turned in astonishment and said, “I am a Samaritan, you are a Jew, how is it that you ask a drink from me? She was astonished that Jesus was violating the Jewish cultural taboo. Now, the Jews were not supposed to speak to Samaritans and men were not permitted to talk to women in public places and further, it is unexpected of the Rabbis to converse with socially marginalized women. Jesus was willing to toss out the rules, break the barriers. Jesus was consciously crossing the boundary between the Jews and Samaritans, and between man and woman. The woman focused on law and Jesus focused on grace.

As their conversation progresses, the woman is under impression that Jesus is claiming to be greater than her ancestor Jacob. Jesus makes a break through, asks her to call her husband. And she responds that she has no husband and is living with a man to whom she is not married legally. Jesus acknowledges the truthfulness of her answer and reveals his knowledge of her entire life. This revelation by Jesus of the woman’s past has been the crux for the traditional exegesis and many commentators conclude that the woman is promiscuous and immoral. Some other exegetes prefer an allegorical interpretation; her five husbands are the five gods whom the Samaritans revere according to 2Kg 17: 24ff.

I prefer to read this story from an alternative perspective. Jesus exposes a deeper truth that she has had five husbands and now lives with someone who is not her husband. In my opinion, how the woman came to be married five times, or her moral life holds no significance for the story. The emphasis here, is on the woman as the person and the uncanny knowledge of Jesus.  Let the analysis not make her a victim of oppressive patriarchy. She does not deserve our opprobrium but a genuine understanding. If the woman was leading an immoral life, the men were also equally responsible and why not talk about that; Is it not possible that she had been married so many times because of economic and social reasons rather than lustful ones? In the first century Palestinian culture, could she survive by working for wages? In a society that granted no legal standing to women apart from their relationship with a man – father, husband, brother or son. Hence, she can be legitimately considered a marginalized person, subject to economic, social and legal exploitation. Here status is akin to that of a slave, probably therefore, she is not even given a name in this episode. She is type, not of a deplorable, degenerate woman but she is a symbol of Samaritanism, a personification of Samaritan community. Therefore, I derive two important lessons from this encounter.

 1. Lord meets us where we are

                                     2. The woman makes a difference

1. Lord meets us where we are

Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at the well, in fact, Jesus was waiting for her. The Lord meets the woman in her brokenness, in her poverty, in her social discrimination and exploitation. The story teaches that God loves us in spite of our bankrupt lives. Jesus meets this outcast woman in public and affirms her openly. She leaves her jug behind and runs to proclaim, in her newness she forgets her misery. She was longing to be accepted, cared for and loved and Jesus approached her, when everyone rejected her. God values us and actively seeks us. The Lord meets us wherever we are.

2. The woman makes a difference

She is an extraordinary woman. The crux of the story is; will you allow God to use you just as you are – with all the experiences, failures, success, flaws and all mess? Will you allow God to take his Word through you?

Many of us, may be familiar with this story; One day a man was walking along the beach and noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, the man asked curiously, what are you doing? The tiny boy replied, ‘throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf (waves) is up and the tide is going out. If I do not throw them back, they will die.’ The man smiled and said, ‘my son don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish and what difference can you make? Having listened politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the sea and then said confidently to the man, ‘ask that one because I just made a difference for him.’

Jesus meets the woman in her brokenness, he sees not what she is but what she is capable of becoming. The woman’s perspective changes, she gains insight into Jesus’ identity and a discriminated woman becomes a witness to the entire city of Sychar. A woman, going to win all the men of the city, to evangelize the entire city, to evangelize men, Jesus converts an outcaste woman into an evangelist. He demonstrates that there is no gender or any socio-cultural discrimination in the sight of God. She did make a difference, a great difference indeed and the entire city believed in Jesus through. She becomes an instrument of living water, she participates in the universal mission of Jesus.  Will I allow God to work through me?  Let us allow God to work through us and celebrate life for life is beautiful……