“Jesus and the pariah woman”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Wednesday, August 10, 2022

John 4:1-26 (Forward, p. 12) CEV p. 1104

Scholars and Biblical experts have had a field day with this passage over the centuries. For one thing, they aren’t quite sure just where it belongs in terms of placement within the Biblical canon. You see, in the various early manuscripts it ‘shows up’ in at least different locations. So, it is quite evident that the compilers agreed that it did belong but weren’t sure just where. (I, for one, am most glad that it did ‘make it’, for reveals what is for me a most critical encounter, a most important episode in Jesus’ life.

But that is just one debate about this passage. The other main one has to do with the character of the woman featured as one of the main characters in the passage. Historically, she has been depicted as a disreputable sort, a flawed character at least. After all, she had already been married five times and the man she was now living with was not her husband.

However, some more modern commentators feel that this is an ill-founded and unnecessary allegation about her character. They postulate that her previous husbands all died either by accident or natural causes, meaning that there was no divorce. Or, that perhaps, she had left those men because of abuse of some sort on their parts. They further speculate that the present partner, given the past history of the men in her life, was more than a bit leery to tie the knot.

However, I am inclined to go more with the traditional understanding. She is out at the well located outside of Sychar in Samaria in the heat of the day—and alone at that--which we learn from elsewhere in the Scriptures (see Genesis 24:11), was most unusual. Usually the women of the village would go to the well together—perhaps for their mutual company and protection—and that, only later on in the day when the heat had dissipated somewhat. And, it would certainly appear that Jesus immediately picked up on the vibes that there was something unusual about her. So, that is why I referred to her as a pariah, an outcast, in my title.

But all this aside, there is a further reason I have referred to her in this way. It was because of how the Jews, especially the males, viewed people like her. Firstly, the Samaritans as a group, as a nationality or nation, were considered beyond the pale. They were considered outcasts, heretics, deviants from the one true faith and generally, when not up in arms against them, would have nothing to do with them. So, for Jesus to have amicable relations with one of ‘their sort’ was most unusual. And then, there was the general attitude of Jewish men about women in general, which was to avoid any encounter with them in public. This certainly accounts for the disciples’ surprise at finding Jesus talking with a woman, as is mentioned in verse 27.

For me, all of this provides a wonderfully ‘lush’ background to the tale of what happened that day. Here Jesus takes the initiative to reach out beyond the normal stereotypes, beyond the normal Jewish hesitancies, and befriend someone that most Jews would have nothing to do with. He takes the initiative—something that she would never have even ‘dared’ to do—and asks her for help. What a great way to begin to forge a bond, to put yourself at someone else’s disposal, at someone else’s debt, by asking for and receiving their help. In a sense, Jesus lowered Himself, at least in the usual sense of superiority maintained by Jewish males towards people like her.

But then, Jesus doesn’t leave it just there. He piques her curiosity, and desire too, by then speaking of living water, water that have to be drawn day after day and that quenches eternally. Naturally, not having to come to this well and not having to thereby deal with the public disapproval and hostility—and find something lasting and soul-quenching instead—would be most desirable.

Jesus then blows her little world apart, by asking her to bring her husband, and then revealing what He already knows about her dismal, sorry life. Understandably alarmed and put off by this revelation by Jesus, she seeks to change the subject from herself and her questionable ‘state’ by focusing on what was then a matter of considerable debate between Samaritans and Jews, namely where and how to worship God. But, just as Jesus did not allow Himself to be ‘put off’ by either her nationality or her gendre, He did not allow Himself to be derailed here either, and He managed to keep the focus on herself, which meant, eventually that she came to faith, and actually wanted to introduce Him to others as well. And all that, from someone that most everyone would have considered a pariah!

All of this poses what, for me at least, is a very serious and important question, namely are there people in our society, people who we might know or see, people who might even show up at church, that we might also avoid, that we might consider to be something of a pariah. Perhaps it is someone who is unkept or disheveled, or perhaps sporting a weird coloured hairdo or tattoos of various sorts, or perhaps dressed in that dark depressing Gothic style with piercings and dark clothing. Are there any people that we might ‘write-off’ or avoid or simply not give as much time or attention to? We see that Jesus did none of the above, but rather went to the one person that pretty well everyone else would have nothing to do with. Perhaps, then, we should do exactly the same. Here, then, is something to think about, pray about, and then, with God’s help and direction, to act upon. Amen.

Forward notes: “Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water’” (verse 10).

“Whenever I take a nearby shortcut, I pass a man in torn jeans sitting on the curb. He holds a sign that says, ‘I am hungry.’ I have given him sandwiches, directions to the soup kitchen, and dollar bills. Rain or shine, he is there.

“Perhaps he is a veteran who has seen too much conflict; maybe he is on drugs or has a medical condition. I wish he could drink of the living water that Jesus embodies and have a taste of something far better than the soda I hand him as I pass.

“As Jesus promises the Samaritan woman, ‘those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again.’ More than a waterfall, more than a river, this water is ‘gushing up to eternal life.’ We are like that woman, like that homeless man. Our past does not matter; what counts is that we reach out with beggars’ hands and accept the living Christ as spirit and truth.”

Moving Forward: “How does the living water change the way you care for others?”