Woman at the Well
The woman walked out of the city carrying her water jar. Again. She had done this every day… sometimes many times a day. It was already noon. The sun was hot and she knew the jar was going to be a lot heavier on the way back.
“Will you give me a drink of water?” Surprised – she looked up. But the only person she was a Jewish man. She wondered out loud: “What was he – a Jewish man - doing, asking her - a Samaritan woman -- for a drink of water?”
It wasn’t a big request. She was standing right beside the well with a jar for water. But surely, he knew that culturally, politically, and socially, it was a big taboo for him to talk to her. And yet none of those barriers seemed to bother Jesus.
He even knew who she was – and that she had five husbands and that the one who she was living with was not her husband. He seemed to know her whole story – and yet he didn’t condemn her like other people did who assumed that there must be something wrong with her. Instead of shaming her, this man offers her life-giving water and reveals to her, that he is the Messiah, the Christ, the one that they have all been waiting for.
What a morning! What began as a routine walk to the well outside the city ended up transforming her life. The woman – we don’t even know her name - abandons her water jar and goes and tells the community about Jesus. And even though she doesn’t even know whether to believe it or not herself, she becomes the first evangelical preacher. Her message raises enough faithful curiosity in the community that they believe it too and want to hear more. So Jesus stays and teaches for two more days. And then the whole community believes.
The taboos that separated the Jewish-Samaritan people seem pretty foreign to us. Men couldn’t talk with women. Jews and Samaritans were distantly related – but there was bad family history – and so they couldn’t even talk with one another. Clergy – the rabbis -- couldn’t touch anyone who might be ritually unclean – and that could include any number of things so they would NEVER touch a woman who was of childbearing age… but then they wouldn’t touch a woman anyway…. So clearly there was no hugging the pastor. There were a lot of rules. There was a lot of division. And Jesus cut through it all with a simple request for a drink of water.
It’s easy for us to see the divisions between the Jewish and Samaritan people – but what about the divisions in our world, in our country, in our communities. As a country, we are divided politically; by who we trust to give us the news; by how we feel about a whole realm of social issues and even what words are acceptable to say. And yet… Jesus cuts through all of our divisions too.
A young man standing on the corner with a clipboard asked Sister Helen, “Hey would you be willing to write a letter to a man on death row?”
It was a simple request. Sister Helen had been an English major and enjoyed writing. So, it didn’t seem like too much trouble. So, she wrote a letter. She had become a nun before Vatican II and she had assumed that her whole life would simply be a life of prayer in the cloistered halls of the monastery. But all that had changed after Vatican II when the pope invited the nuns to come out of the monasteries and serve the poor. She figured prisoners were poor so by being a pen pal she would be serving the poor.
The man wrote back. He wrote that no one would visit him – and so she thought that wouldn’t be too much trouble either. The prison wasn’t far away. So, she visited him in the prison and he asked if she would be his spiritual advisor. She was a nun – and he clearly had no one else -- so she agreed. She didn’t know that meant that she would be the last person, the only person who wasn’t happy to see him dead, to be with him when he was executed. He was admittedly guilty and had done horrific things – and yet while he told her that she didn’t have to come – she told him that she wanted the last face for him to see to be a face of love and not a face of hatred. She wanted to be Jesus’ face for him.
Sister Helen Prejean tells her story and the story of Pat Sonnier,
in the book which became a movie, “Dead Man Walking.” Reflecting back, Sister Helen said she had no idea that when she agreed to write a letter to a man on death row, it would transform her life into becoming an advocate for eliminating the death penalty. This is the work, she said, of “sneaky Jesus.” 1
“Sneaky Jesus” cut through all the taboos of the Samaritans and Jewish people. “Sneaky Jesus” transformed Sr. Helen’s ministry of prayer to becoming an advocate of life and dignity for all people – even those who had killed another. And Jesus – “Sneaky Jesus” as Sr. Helen calls him-- is still at work in our world. For Jesus invites all of us – regardless of who we are, what burdens we carry, or what barriers and divisions we imagine separate us from others – to hear and share the Good News of Jesus. Thanks be to God!
Amy Starr Redwine,No Shame in That A Sermon for Every Sunday, Lent 3A https://asermonforeverysunday.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Amy-Starr-Redwine-Samaritan-Woman.pdf