John 4:5-42
That story we just heard…of Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman at the well outside of Sychar…is a story full of wonder.
- Well then…it is a wonder that the conversation happens at all.
- The barriers are great.
- Jesus is a Jew…and the woman is a Samaritan.
- Between Samaritan and Jew there is a wall of separation.
- Just like what in our time separates the Israeli from the Palestinian.
The Jews and Samaritans are related peoples.
- Both are Hebrews.
- The Samaritans are from the old northern kingdom of Israel.
- The Jews are from the old southern kingdom of Judah.
To make a long story short…
- The Samaritans inter-married with non-Jewish peoples…
- And lost much of their ethnic identity.
- But the Jews maintained their ethnic purity.
Why? Because the Northern Kingdom of Israel was more geographically open and cosmopolitan.
- But the Southern Kingdom of Judah was geographically closed off by deserts and highlands and wilderness.
- Hence…they remained parochial and ethnically pure.
Each group ended up with their own temple:
- The Samaritans on Mount Gerizim.
- The Jews on Mount Zion…Jerusalem.
- And so…it is a wonder that Jesus chooses to travel through Samaritan territory.
- That he strikes up a conversation with a Samaritan is even more of a wonder.
There’s something additional that makes this conversation beside the well a wonder.
- In that place and time men and women are not to talk to one another in public.
- It is not considered proper.
- Especially so…when the man is a rabbi…a teacher…like Jesus.
- Someone looked up to as an example of propriety.
- That’s why the disciples…when they return…are wondering why Jesus is talking with a woman.
Still…another wonder…is that she has been rejected by her own people.
- She comes to the well to draw water at noon…and she comes alone.
- Noon is the hottest time of the day.
- Morning and evening are times to do the hard work of drawing water from the well…and hauling it home.
- And this is work that women do in company with one another.
- It is a chance for a chat…for some social contact.
- But this woman goes to the well at a time when she will be alone.
- She sees herself as a misfit.
- She avoids others in order not to be hurt yet again by their words.
- Their attitudes…their hard looks.
- So…it is a wonder that this conversation ever happened.
Jesus and the woman meet beside an ancient well that is more than a hundred feet deep and seven feet wide.
- The woman thinks Jesus is talking about some hidden stream he knows that is way better than this well.
- She wants a faucet in her kitchen…so she won’t have to haul buckets any more…and who can blame her?
- But what Jesus promises is a source of life in her heart.
- She is confused about what he offers.
- But she knows it is something she needs desperately.
It’s a wonder that Jesus knows the details of this stranger’s life.
- She has had a painful and unhappy time of it.
- We come to understand that this woman feels alone and exiled from her neighbors.
The woman wonders how Jesus knows the truth about her.
- She wonders even more that…knowing the truth…he accepts her.
- For her…this is an encounter with the holy.
- The man must be a prophet.
And then she wonders even more…and asks Jesus to resolve the long-standing question of who is right:
- Jews or Samaritans?
- Which is the correct temple:
- Gerizim or Jerusalem?
- And a wonderful surprise comes when Jesus says:
- True worship will no longer be based on location.
- But instead…will be a matter of spirit and truth.
The woman then confesses her faith in the messiah who is to come.
- And wonder of wonders:
- Jesus says that he is…THAT… messiah.
- REVEALING his identity.
- NOT to his very own disciples.
- NOT to his very own people.
- NOT to their very own religious leaders.
BUT…revealing his identity to THIS ONE…who is insignificant and…on the edge…three times over:
- She is a Samaritan.
- She is a woman.
- She is an exile among her own kind.
- We do not even know her name.
- YET!
- Jesus entrusts her.
- Jesus endows her.
- With his deepest secret.
- The truth of who he is.
The conversation ends.
- Because the disciples come back from their trip to buy food.
- But the wonders do not end.
- The woman leaves her expensive and valuable water jar there…at the well.
- It is heavy…and she wants to be free of it as she runs back into the city.
There in Sychar…she tells people to come and see Jesus.
- There in Sychar…she testifies:
- “He told me everything that I did!”
- And a crowd follows her back out to the well.
- So large is the crowd that Jesus compares it to fields ready to be harvested.
It’s a wonder that someone like this bears witness.
- After all…she is a reject…a woman with no name…no social standing.
- Her experience with Jesus is brief.
- She has no training.
- She has not been given a commission.
- It’s a wonder that people heed her.
- Yet they do…because her witness is:
- Compelling and authentic.
- She is…THE genuine article.
Oh…and one more wonder:
- She has had plenty of experience with the rough edges of life.
- Her understanding of Jesus is far from complete.
- Yet…she speaks of what she knows.
- Her focus is not on herself.
- Her focus is on Jesus.