It was one of the most outrageous encounters in the New Testament. Between the woman who was an outcast and the Man who was God. Bold, intelligent, theologically astute, and quick witted, this woman lived on the edges of society. Until one day, in the scorching heat of the noon-day sun, beside a deserted well, her life was transformed by an unexpected encounter with Christ.
The 8th of March was “International Women’s Day.” So, it is wonderful that this Sunday we read of this remarkable encounter between Jesus and a woman. As in our reading today, Jesus always treated women as intellectual, emotional and spiritual equals. He respected them. Women joined his band of disciples, travelled with him, and even supported him financially. Jesus’ radical recognition and empowerment of women of his time is perhaps even more revolutionary than we realise.
John’s is the most dramatic of the four gospels. Written in the style of a Classical Greek drama, it starts with a prologue that sets the themes for the entire gospel. The stories are theatrical, with dialogue, scene changes, entrances and exits, and climaxes. Today’s story is no exception, and the theme it picks up from the prologue is: “to all who receive him, he gave the right to become children of God.”
As the first scene opens, Jesus is seated by a well. He has walked 15 miles from Judea to Sychar. The scorching heat has made him weary and thirsty.
Enter the woman. Alone. Why is she alone? And why is she fetching water in the noon-day heat? In hot countries, you don’t venture out at noon. As Noel Coward sang:
“Mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun
The Japanese don’t care to
The Chinese wouldn’t dare to
Hindoos and Argentines
sleep firmly from twelve to one.”
As children, when we ventured out at noon, an adult would say “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in this heat!” So in the Middle East, as in Sri Lankan villages, water is fetched in the early mornings and evenings, in the cool of the day. The well was the social media spot of its day, where friends gossiped and talked about stuff. As in Sri Lanka, you also needed others to help you lift jars full of water up onto your head. A lone woman at midday suggested she was avoiding people and was alienated.
As the woman approaches the well, social norms dictated that Jesus should move at least 20 feet away, leaving her to draw from the well. But Jesus does not move.
Then four simple words are spoken – “Give me a drink.”
These words shattered
- 5 centuries of hostility between Jews and Samaritans;
- The prohibition of interaction between men and women outside the family.
- The taboo on sharing vessels with “unclean” people.
Kenneth Bailey, who spent forty years in the Middle East, knew the culture well. A strange man could never, he said, converse with a lone woman in a public space. In his book, Jesus Through Mediterranean Eyes, he also describes a Gentile entertaining a Samaritan High Priest. Hospitality demanded they offer him something to eat or drink, but purity rules meant he could not eat what Gentiles had touched. So they brought him an orange on a plate. The priest peeled the fruit with his own undefiled knife, dropped the defiled skin on the defiled plate, and ate the undefiled inside of the fruit. But he couldn’t drink, because all the vessels were defiled.
The woman is aware that of these conventions. Shocked, she asks Jesus, “How are you, a Jew, asking for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” Later, when the disciples return, we find them marvelling, amazed to see Jesus and the woman talking – alone.
In answer to her question Jesus offers her a spring of living water that will gush forth from within her – to eternal life. Intrigued, though not understanding, she accepts. The conversation moves back and forth. The woman knows her theology, and Jesus engages seriously with her, as an equal. It is interesting that this is Jesus’ longest recorded conversation. And it is with an outcast woman, not with a man, a scribe, a teacher, a theologian, or a powerful leader.
Then the conversation turns personal. Jesus asks her to bring her husband – the woman says she has none. Jesus’ next words shock her. He tells her she has had five husbands and the man she is with is not her husband. To us this looks like condemnation because we, the Church, are used to passing judgment. But, here Jesus is telling her he knows her life – revealing his power to her. Amazed by his knowledge, the woman assumes he’s a prophet. And so she begins to challenge Jewish beliefs on temples and worship. Jesus undercuts generations of Jewish and Samaritan theological quibbles to get to the core – worshipping God in Spirit and Truth matters more than whose Holy Place is best.
The conversation culminates as she talks of the Messiah. Jesus tells her. “I am he.” The Greek form of these words is “I AM is speaking to you.” As a Samaritan, she knew the Old Testament. She would have recognised this as the name that God declared to Moses at the burning bush: I AM who I AM. The woman had gone from seeing Jesus as a thirsty man, to a Jew, a Rabbi, a Prophet, and finally the Christ. She leaves her jar and rushes back to the town.
She had experienced acceptance and respect:
Because where we see immorality, Jesus sees need;
Where we extend judgement, Jesus extends love and respect;
Where we look down on an outcast, Jesus gives immense value;
Where we denigrate, Jesus elevates.
And what a transformation that brings.
This ostracised woman became the first evangelist – the first Apostle! She brings the people of her town to Jesus. What made those who had excluded her, to listen to her testimony? Her encounter with Christ had caused the Living Water to gush forth. She must have been compelling and radiant.
Rowan Williams, in Holy Living, writes that knowing Christ brings us into restored relationship with others. The woman’s broken relationships were being restored when she returns to the town.
“The fields are ripe for harvest,” Jesus later tells his disciples. He is talking about the Samaritans coming to meet him, the crop that grew through the seeds that the woman had sown. And as Jesus stays two days with the people of Sychar, the community is transformed.
In the Western Church, this woman remains unknown, and unnamed. Perhaps the men of her time didn’t value her enough to know her name, and pass it on to the Gospel writer. And perhaps, like people of her time, we have viewed her with judgemental eyes.
So let me close by telling you her name!
The Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches know her as Photini, “the Luminous One,” An appropriate name! Photini was regularly mentioned in sermons between the 4th and 14th century, and honoured, surpassing all the apostles. There are many stories of her – in one, she confronts the cruel Roman Emperor, Nero. She is still commemorated on the 26th of February.
The fearless woman of God. Photini. The First Evangelist, who brought a town to Jesus through the transforming power of an encounter with Christ and the Living Water he gave.
Christ offers us this spring of Living water that will refresh and transform us. That will keep our hearts purified. I am reminded of the spring in the Lagan meadows, that bubbles out at Lester’s dam. It forms a crystal clear pool that runs under a little bridge. We often take our muddy dog, Luna, to the pool to wash her. She lies in it and muddies it. But a moment later, the spring refreshes the pool; it is clear again. Pure water always bubbles out.
Living water in us will gush forth. It will bless our world. It will touch the lives of others.
Like Photini – the Samaritan woman at the Well.