WOMAN, WELL, WATER: GLORY REVEALED!!!
EX. 17:1-7; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:1-42
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
Jesus took the direct route from Judea to Galilee through Samaria, a 70 mile walk, 5-7 days. Normally, Jews went the much longer route east of the Jordan River through the region of Peraea, for they hated the Samaritans. (There is a map at the very beginning of the New Testament in your pew Bible, page zero, that shows the whole territory.)
Who are these people worthy of hate? Descendants of the northern kingdom of Israel who married foreigners after the fall of Samaria, which was then the capital, in 722 BC. They were no longer considered to be truly Jewish, therefore worthy of hate. The Samaritans still claimed their Jewish heritage, but restricted their Scripture only to Torah, the first 5 books of our Bible. Their temple mount was built on Mount Gerizim - they believed this was the place of the altar where Abraham laid Isaac down. The temple was destroyed in 128 BC, but Samaritans continue to revere this mount, sacrificing lambs there at Passover to this day.
Let’s name her Miriam, she has no recorded name in our narrative today. Small sign of respect for her brave words and actions in an encounter fraught with possibility of degradation, rejection, maybe even violence. Jesus engages her in an act that disrupts the rules and, as we all know, it always costs a woman more when this happens.
Woman, Well, Water…
The Samaritan Hills are made of limestone, a porous rock where water seeps through easily, making ground water scarce, but deep wells a real possibility. Jacob is the son of Isaac & Rebekah, grandson of Abraham & Sarah, the father and mother of all nations. The well is reported to actually be built by Joseph, Jacob’s son, named to honor his father, and became a pilgrimage site for Christians in 330 AD, due to the record of this very story, one that breaks the rules of religion, ethnicity and gender.
Miriam is truly an outsider, a woman in a man’s world, patriarchal rules that control her body, her movements, even her mind. “Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand and sends her out of the house; She then leaves the house and goes off to become another man’s wife.” Deut. 24:1-4
5 husbands, her sin, right? Promiscuous at least, Prostitute maybe, right? Woman caught in adultery, right? Our modern morality that understands sin as behavior rather than the status of total depravity of humanity and rejection of Jesus as Lord and God. This is overlayed on Jesus’ beautiful theological conversation with a woman from across the tracks.
Look again at the story. Jesus does not say one word about Miriam’s sin, whatever that may be, He simply names the truth of her life. Whereas Nicodemus lasted 9 verses in conversation, Miriam goes the whole way, 42 verses, the record of her experience of revealed glory. These stories are twined, set up as contrast - Nic comes in the night, Miriam the height of the day; Nic is a man, a leader, powerful, named; Miriam is a woman after all, no name, carrying a bucket - need I say more?
Yet she immediately engages in theological conversation with Jesus, after their very pedestrian introduction. Jesus plops himself down by Jacob’s Well - first signal to His listening audience, all Jews. He demands a drink and she’s like, ‘what? You are a Jew, a man, how come you are asking me, a woman, Samaritan? We don’t even talk to each other, remember? Bold ?’s follow.
You have no bucket, are you greater than Jacob? What about this living water - give me some, I’d love not to be thirsty again. We worship on this mountain like our ancestors have done for 1,000 years. You say the temple mount is in Jerusalem. So, what’s the answer? Where does God reside?
Woman, Well, Water…
Remember, Jesus stops in Sychar for a theological purpose soon revealed; sends the disciples off to get food in the Samaritan village, Jews every single one of them. We don’t know what kind of chats they had with the villagers. In this conversation, Jesus enacts John 3:16: God loved the world in this way… A new witness is born again to His glory revealed; this incredible woman, Miriam, is the narrative agent to her community - she witnesses to the gospel and many in her home town believe. God loves the world in this way. Her powerful question - where DOES God reside? - and in the first showing of His truth in this gospel, Jesus says, ‘I Am’. When Moses asks God for His name to tell the people before the actual exodus, God says, “tell them, I Am.” Now God has chosen to dwell, to tabernacle with us - and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
‘I Am’ Jesus says, the very presence of God before a woman, different faith, different ethnicity, different culture, yet called as witness, a disciple of the living Lord. Stunning!!! Absolutely Stunning!!! Woman, Well, Water…
“You’ve told the truth. So let me tell you something even more profound. The time is coming when true worship of God will happen not just in Jerusalem, not just on the holy mountain of Samaria. But where 2 or 3 are gathered in My Name, I AM, I’ll be right there.” (SLOW!) This is serious, this conversation. It opens up an alternative worldview. Sacred space is now expanded beyond the confines of tradition, religion and practices.
Miriam is not intimated though. She stays with the conversation until she understands. “I know the Messiah is coming and when he comes he will only speak truth and reveal everything.” She is a faithful believer and she knows her theology. (Pause)
“I am the one.”
Of course, this lovely conversation of deep faith and respect is disrupted. By the appearance of the disciples, who like us, just don’t get Jesus sometimes. “What is He doing now? Talking with a Samaritan, a woman, as if she matters. We are tired, hungry, thirsty, we’ve been traveling for weeks it seems like and He stops off for a chat and a sip of water from her jar. What in the world? Everything is falling apart. Nothing stays the same with Him.”
The problem?, Once again, Jesus enacts John 3.16 & 17: ‘For God loves the world in this way...’ a samaritan woman came to believe. And her village. Jesus and the disciples stay with them for a few days. Just imagine that! This verb means to abide with them, to build a tent with them, to tabernacle with them like God did with the Israelites on their way to the promised land. These hated outsiders, these disagreeable, mixed race Jews, these ones who don’t look like us, act like us, talk like us, think like us or believe like us. This is where Jesus stays. (pause)
Its really challenging, isn’t it? We all have our lists.
Who is your outsider? (Pause)
There is a radical newness present in Jesus. Our religious understanding, our categories of judgment, everything is called into question, over and over and over again.
Who needs you to offer a cup of water? What stranger might benefit if you reached out your hand? Miriam went home and with simple words said, ‘Come & see, I think I’ve found the Messiah.’ She doesn’t say anything fancy, she just admits to the truth of her own life. Her life, that her village would know quite well and make their severe judgments known too. Its why she is at Jacob’s Well in the middle of the day rather than in the cool of the morning when all the other women gather. “I just cannot take their shade today, I’m tired of it,” Miriam says.
The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world disrupts our way of thinking, just like he did with Miriam. Throughout the gospel, more and more outsiders are brought in. A simple cup of water challenges our comfortable categories and changes the landscape of salvation’s journey.
In this season of Lent, let me give you an image to hold onto as you receive the free gift of grace found in Jesus Christ.
God is digging his well with us. (say twice)
We don’t have to manufacture, we don’t have to build a pipeline to receive it.
As God in the Holy Spirit digs away, He creates a space for the living water to well up in us. From Jacob’s well, 100 feet deep. It gushes all the way to eternity. We are becoming the people God wants us to be. Woman, Well, Water: Glory Revealed!!! Amen.