I am so excited to be sharing my stage today with Neil Rees. After nearly 30 years as in Christian missions in Spain Neil returned to the UK last year and now leads CLM church in Ormskirk. He is passionate about making Christianity real – whatever culture we live in – a subject that is the focus of his blog at eatingwithsinners.
Jesus had the habit of ignoring people’s expectations of him. Always more concerned with deeply touching a person’s life than keeping the traditions that governed Jewish society, he just would not obey the rules.
John chapter 4 finds him at it again. When he stopped by the well at the entrance to that Samaritan village, he must have known that she – the unnamed woman – was on her way. The one who read the thoughts of religous teachers surely knew what was coming next, but even his own disciples still didn’t really get what he was about. Maybe that’s why he sent them off into the town to get food – they would only have got in the way if he’d let them hang around.
“Will you give me a drink, please?”
Hello?! Jewish men just don’t do that – talk to Samaritan women like me, I mean. Period. This is not strange behaviour, it is simply unheard of. Better keep my distance…
“If you knew who I was, you’d be asking me for a drink – a drink of living water.”
What?! He hasn’t even got a bucket, never mind “living” water, whatever that might be. But it sounds kinda inviting…
“Are you thirsty for something different? This goes all the way to eternity…”
Now that really is what I need.
“Better go and get your husband then.”
Ah…
It’s at this point that we need to lay aside our own prejudices and years of sermons and approach the text afresh. You see, we all “know” she’s a woman of ill repute – who else comes to draw water at midday? She’s trying to avoid the other women because they only point fingers at her and mutter stuff she’d probably rather not hear, or so we’ve been told. And she’s had five husbands, and is living with yet another now – a woman of the night, no doubt about it.
Or is she?
Whether dealing with Arab traders today or the first century Middle Easterners we find in Scripture, it’s remarkable how our own cultural experience can blind us to what is in fact going on. This woman is no prostitute. More than likely she is sterile, an unhappy childless victim of a male dominated society that valued women as bearers of their children rather than persons in their own right.
When negotiating a marriage, a man paid a bride price for a “fertile field” into which he could plant his seed with the hope of reaping an abundant crop. (Pardon the graphic imagery, but it is the most appropriate.) And if the field remained barren, he would get rid of it and acquire another. For this particular woman, one certificate of divorce followed another as five husbands had had their way with this woman, still to no avail, until finally no man was prepared to wed her – what for if she was not going to produce a child?
A son would have cared for her, but she had no such fortune. Left to her fate, the shame she bore stuck to her like her shadow as she flirted with destitute poverty. And this is where her current partner comes on the scene. Not even prepared to give her the dignity of marriage, he offers her food and a roof over her head in return for sexual favours and some basic housekeeping. Yes, this keeps her body alive, but slowly kills her soul. So she avoids the other women, not on account of sexual vice and sin but because of the pain and shame she bears. That’s where Jesus meets her, as a victim – both of physical affliction and societal prejudice and oppression – not as a perpetrator of immorality.
Jesus’ main act of healing with this woman was social. We are not told if she was ever able to have children, but she was restored to a valued place in her community.
And so, what may appear to us as a strange way to introduce himself to that village begins to make sense. The need of salvation for all did not obscure from Jesus’ gaze the healing and wholeness that this one woman longed for – restoration of worth in the eyes of the community which she belonged to.
Little has changed today. Those who are different, who don’t fit into our neat social boxes, those to whom life has dealt a difficult hand or who have taken wrong choices in life – all of us need to belong, to be respected, to know our worth. I have no doubt that Jesus is ready to meet people on that level today. Are we?
Neil,
Loved the line, “Little has changed today. Those who are different, who don’t fit into our neat social boxes, those to whom life has dealt a difficult hand or who have taken wrong choices in life – all of us need to belong, to be respected, to know our worth. I have no doubt that Jesus is ready to meet people on that level today.”
And you never know what button someone may push which will trigger those feelings of not fitting in.
On behalf of someone who doesn’t fit the norm, thank you. It is so excruciating at times to feel “outside the circle.” And yet, to know that no matter who you are that you are excepted by God. That is a drink of water from Him.
It’s a good word and part of why I struggle so much with church, which often ends up being a pretty exclusive club of like minded people.
I wish I had said what Anne said. Again.
I agree. Anne’s comment is spot on!
Loved this insight into the story and the woman. I relate to her in so many ways! Thanks for sharing this.
This is good! Thanks for posting Chris!
This is a really challenging interpretation of an event we think we know. It’s too easy to dismiss familiar stories, and miss their fullest meaning. The emphasis on a Jesus who seeks out the outcast stirs my heart to action
A really thought-provoking post that challenges our assumptions both of the biblical passage and how we may treat those who (me included) cannot easily be fitted into society’s boxes. I love how the deeper cultural meanings have been explored here. And it’s so heartening that Jesus calls misfits to be ambassadors for Him, vessels in which His grace can run free and spill out in offering to other wounded, broken people.
Thanks Joy. For me, understanding the culture that lies behind Scripture is sooooo important. Because we are dealing with people who live in a different time and place, their world can be as foreign to us as if we had just parachuted into a lost tribe in the Papuan jungle. We can so easily miss what was plain obvious to them. Really glad this blessed you 🙂 Neil
Glad you enjoyed it 🙂 Neil
Absolutely. We all “know” that Jesus was like this, but this story helps me see how much Jesus lived what he preached. Our western gospel is so individualistic, we often miss the social aspects of Jesus’ ministry – I don’t think we can begin to imagine what it must have meant to this woman to be the one who introduced Jesus to her community… 🙂 Neil
I think all of us can feel the stigma of rejection, albeit to differing degrees, and can find the same surprise of total acceptance by Christ. Glad that this has touched you 🙂
Indeed. I think of Zacchaeus who had to climb a tree to see Jesus – so often it is church that obscures Jesus from people’s view. As church we need constantly bringing back to what we are called to, following in the footsteps of Jesus and loving people as he did. That’s an ongoing challenge and I think we’ll always live with that tension. Jesus certainly felt it too, so you’re in good company! 🙂 Neil
Drink deeply! The water of being loved and accepted by God is abundant and pure. We are never outside his circle. 🙂 Neil
Welcome to the “church of Jesus Christ of latter-day misfits”, lol. Must say, I feel very at home there too… 🙂 Neil
Yes, you’re right. God has accepted us and given us freely all things to enjoy. But most importantly, Jesus.
And you’re right, Neil, we ARE NEVER outside his circle. The enemy would have us believe we are. But we all know what a liar he is.
Yes, we are all misfits. I think that’s what they called Jesus as well.
Oh, I love this phrase here: “Jesus calls misfits to be ambassadors for Him”. So right!
I never even considered the social implications of her being the one to introduce Him. Wow!
I remember being a nasty, sarcastic teenager and being loved into the kingdom by a group of my peers who ignored the nasty and loved the best in me. One of the best expressions of this aspect of Jesus’ ministries I’ve ever found.
It can be so difficult to be someone who doesn’t drink accept the community beliefs carte blanche, but questions and toys with and wonders about things deeply. Often this type of wondering is seen negatively. And yet, we see a Jesus who stretched social expectations, never healed someone the same way twice, and went out of His way to demonstrate care and concern to those the world so often overlooks. What a challenge
Anne, this is my key takeaway and encouragement from Neil’s words: We are NEVER outside Jesus’ circle. Ah, the peace that brings, but how easy it is for me to forget
Great post! It’s easy to accept the fact that Jesus loves everyone; it’s much more difficult to put into practice when ‘everyone’ is distilled down to a person with a name and face that is much different than ours. Thanks for challenging us to embrace those who don’t fit into our ‘neat social boxes.’ God bless~
Yes, it is easy to forget when we hear Satan point out our differences, the very thing God wove into us.
As Jesus said, anyone can love their friends. It’s loving those who are different that is the challenge. And as you say, when that challenge is personified in someone not quite like us, that’s when the rubber hits the road. God bless you as put this into practice 🙂 Neil
I’ve know for years that this woman is much more likely to be a victim than a sinner. But male fantasy gets off on the idea of the ‘reformed prostitute’ – just as it does with Mary Magdalen, who was a woman with severe mental illness.
Awesome. A different perspective on this oft-read passage. Thanks for peeling the scales off my eyes Neil
Well, I guess she was still a sinner! But just not the sort of sinner that we think of… Once an interpretation gets rooted into our collective Christian consciousness, if I can put it that way, we seem unable to see things any other way. Like Zacchaeus, I imagine that true repentance followed hard on the heels of her meeting with Jesus. But Jesus’ first approach with her was not to shame her for her sin but to restore her dignity. The rest, living in all that it means to embrace the Kingdom of God, would follow naturally. 🙂 Neil
Well done for being willing to allow traditional interpretations to be challenged too. As the Puritan John Robinson said, “I am verily persuaded the Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of His Holy Word.” We do well to keep our eyes open for that truth 🙂 Neil