Eastern European Jews in the early 1900s had a very ordered society that was not so different from the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day. Their attitudes toward women were very similar. For them, the world of sacred and scholarly learning belonged only to men. In the movie Yentl, a young, unmarried woman named Yentl (Barbara Streisand) has an insatiable appetite for learning and sacred wisdom. But there is only one way that seems possible to obtain the kind of learning she desires. She leaves home, changes her name, masquerades as an older boy, and gets accepted into a Talmudic academy.
In the beginning of the movie, before she pretends to be a boy, Yentl is in a Jewish outdoor market selecting a book from a book wagon. The bookseller finishes with another customer, then turns to Yentl and says, “You’re in the wrong place, miss. Books for women are over here.” “I’d like to buy this one, please,” Yentl says. The bookseller takes the book from her, saying, “Sacred books are for men!” “Why?” she asks. “It’s the law, that’s why.”
“Where’s it written?” “Never mind where. It’s a law.” “Well, if it’s a law, it must be written somewhere. Maybe in here. I’ll take it.” Yentl grabs for the book, but the bookseller immediately grabs it back. “Miss, do me a favor. Do yourself a favor. Oh, here, a nice picture book. Girls like picture books.” Yentl asks, “What if I told you it’s for my father?” “Why didn’t you say?” responds the bookseller, selling her the book she wanted.
In a later scene, over a game of chess, Yentl tells her father that she envies students of the Talmud. They discuss life and the mysteries of the universe while “I’m learning to tell a herring from a carp!” He tells her that men and women have different obligations “and don’t ask why,” but he finally gives in to Yentl’s requests for another study session. Yentl is happy as she gets a large book from a well-stocked bookshelf. The father tells her to close the shutters. As she’s closing them she asks, “If you don’t have to hide studying from God, then why from the neighbors?” “Why? Because I trust God will understand. I’m not so sure about the neighbors.”
In the Scripture we are looking at today, we have another woman who has an interest in knowing about spiritual things. And she too is living in a culture that does not place a high value on women — especially the kind of woman she was. She has had several failed marriages, and now she is living with a man. She is also of a race and culture which was despised by Jews. She is not only scorned by Jews, as a woman and a Samaritan, she is despised by her own people. She is an outcast in a society of outcasts.
Jesus scandalizes his disciples time and again in this story. First, John tells us that unlike all other Jews, Jesus is willing to travel through Samaria. Any good Jew would consider themselves to be contaminated just by entering the outer territory of Samaria. So instead of taking the short route to and from Jerusalem, they would take the longer and more arduous road which went around Samaria. They would have to go through a ritual of spiritual purification if they went into Samaria, or even entered a non-Jewish home. But Jesus travels into Samaria and sits by a well, after he tells his disciples to go to the nearest village and buy something to eat. This must have been a disgusting task to them. They actually had to interact with Gentiles, non-Jews — people they considered to be spiritual dogs. And to eat food that Samaritans had prepared, or merely touched, would have been repulsive. And then, Jesus talks to a woman, and not just any woman, a sinful woman — a woman whose own people did not want to be around her. If the religious leaders of Jerusalem had known about this, they would have had gone into spasms.
It is about noon, the hot part of the day when Samaritans did not work or do things like carry water. It is unusual for a woman to come and draw water at this time of day. But it is intentional. The other women of the village despise her and attack her verbally when they see her, so she comes when she thinks no one else will be around. Jesus begins the conversation politely: “Please give me a drink.” He has nothing with which he can draw water from the well on his own. The woman is amazed that anyone would speak to her, let alone in a kind way, especially a Jew. And, because the disciples have gone to buy food, the two of them are alone, which adds to the scandal and tension of the moment. The woman was surprised, for Jews refused to have anything to do with Samaritans. So she said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” A religious Jew would never drink from the same vessel as a Samaritan, no matter how thirsty they were. The whole scenario was beyond the woman’s comprehension. Jesus had broken every rule of conduct that either of their cultures went by.
The woman’s curiosity is piqued and now Jesus introduces a thought that has never occurred to the woman in her life. He said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” She had never heard of living water and had no idea what he was talking about. She, like Nicodemus, interprets Jesus’ meaning literally and misses the point. She reminds him that he has neither rope nor water jar with which to draw any water. She wonders if he is going to dig a new and better well than this one which Jacob dug. Jesus continues by saying, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Again she takes his meaning literally and says, “Oh, you’re talking about a spring instead of a well. And you’re talking about magical water that permanently takes away thirst. Show me where I can get this water so I won’t have to come here and draw any more. If I knew of another place to get water, believe me, I would go there so I wouldn’t have to face the neighbors.”
But here the story takes a turn. How kind of Jesus not to mock her or condemn her. It is more than obvious that she has a problem, a moral problem which has caused her many social problems, but Jesus does not call her a bad name or tell her that she is going to hell if she doesn’t change her ways. She knew what her sins were. He simply says, “Go and get your husband.” Now, it is obvious that he knows she does not have a husband, for when she said, “I have no husband,” Jesus said, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” He compliments her honesty and transparency. Honesty and transparency are important, because it is the first step in our journey to God. But the conversation is just a little too real for the moment, and she hopes to divert his attention by presenting a religious question: “Hey, I get it, you’re a prophet. You know we have this religious discussion all the time. Which mountain do you think we should worship on, this one here, or the one in Jerusalem?”
But Jesus is not diverted by religious arguments, he goes right to the point. I wonder what Jesus would say about the many arguments Christians have over non-essential matters today? I think he would dismiss them like he did in this story and go to the heart of the matter. Jesus said to her what he would say to us, “Believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. [It is not important where you worship, but how you worship.] A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
But again the woman tries to get him into another religious debate by talking about the coming of the Messiah, in whom both the Jews and the Samaritans believed, but had their own ideas about. Jesus’ simple statement is the climax of their conversation, “I who speak to you am he.” The woman is stunned. She doesn’t know what to say, so she drops her water jar and runs into the village. Maybe this juicy news would gain her new status in the community. The NIV says that went to the “people” and said, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” In the original Greek it says that she went to the men. She did not get along very well with women, but men she knew. Well, anyone who could tell everything this woman had done must be the Messiah, or something close, so they all came streaming out of the town to see the person the woman had told them about.
By this time the disciples have returned. It was very uncomfortable for them to be among Samaritans. Their mindset was that Samaritans were hopeless. Historically, Samaritans were part Jewish and part Gentile. The poorest Jews of the land, who were left after the wars, had intermarried with exiles from other countries. They were people without a country who were barely tolerated by other people. But as the Samaritans came toward Jesus and the disciples, Jesus said, “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” In the distance, a spiritual harvest was walking toward them — their robes looking like wheat blowing in the fields. Here were spiritually interested and hungry people whom everyone thought of as spiritually hopeless. While others see no hope for some people, Jesus sees infinite possibilities. So be encouraged; there is hope for you.
The Samaritans begin to talk with Jesus, and after awhile, they asked him to stay with them. This is amazing, because Jesus has not received this kind of reception anywhere else — certainly not in Jerusalem, the religious capitol of the Jews. The Jews, Jesus’ own people who claim to be followers of the one true God, have rejected Jesus and are trying to kill him. This may be part of the reason he is going through Samaria — to avoid them. The Jews considered the Samaritans worthless barbarians, but the Samaritans have welcomed Jesus with open arms. The Samaritans are so enamored with Jesus that they asked him to stay with them. Again, this is scandalous. For a Jew would never enter the home of a Samaritan, let alone stay the night with them. I wonder if the disciples were objecting to all of this, in the interest of being spiritually pure? But the Bible says, “And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world’” (John 4:41-42)
I think there are some important lessons to be learned here. First of all, it is not our job to decide who is going to hell. The Jews were certain the Samaritans were going to hell. Thank God that is not our decision. You don’t have to be the grand inquisitor or the judge of the universe. Everyone thought the Samaritan woman was on the fast track to hell — everyone but Jesus. Jesus did not condemn her or beat her over the head with her sins. He did gently confront her with who she was and what she had done. He wanted her to be free from her self-destructive behavior. But he talked to her in a way that made her know that he cared about her. If he had not, she would have simply left in a huff. But she not only places her faith in him, she tells others about him — others who eventually place their faith in him as well. Jesus did not make her feel hopeless, he made her feel hopeful. Jesus did not preach against her sin, he lifted up new possibilities for her life through him. And guess what, she responded.
It is important to hear the Bible when it says, “So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” (Romans 2:3-4). The Bible says that it is not God’s wrath, but God’s kindness that brings people to the place of repentance. Many people seem to think we need to be more condemning, as though it would wake people up. Normally, it only turns people off. The world has seen enough angry, judgmental and condemning Christians.
One day the Pharisees saw Jesus eating with some outcasts. They asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” (Matthew 9:11). On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13). Instead of being angry with sinners, he longs for them to come to him. Jesus’ desire is for all of us to come to him. The Bible says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He said about the sinners in Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37).
Part of what I was trying to say last week is: What if instead of looking at people as hopeless and quoting the Scripture to them about how sinful they are, we actually went to them and got to know them. The Pharisees condemned the Samaritans and would not think of getting next to them. Jesus went to them, got to know them, and saw them as part of the harvest of God. Instead of quoting the Scripture about who is right and wrong, he talked to them about their need and offered them eternal life. Because of his kind of caring and openness, they responded.
We never know who will respond to the love of God and Good News of Jesus Christ, and it is not our job to figure it out, only to keep reaching out to others and sharing the Good News. Mark Early tells the story of Gracia Burnham’s ordeal. She and her husband Martin were missionaries in the Philippines. They were on a much-needed, brief vacation near where they were serving in order to celebrate their wedding anniversary, when they were abducted by Abu Sayyaf rebels. Many of these rebels are mere children who had been taken from their homes and forced into guerilla warfare. Early writes, “For 377 days, Gracia Burnham, an American missionary, was held captive by Abu Sayyaf, a Filipino group associated with Al Qaeda. During that time, she experienced horrors we can’t even imagine. She also gained an insight to one of the world’s most pressing issues. I’m not talking about Islamic extremism, although Burnham obviously has some hard-earned insights into that phenomenon. I’m talking about the use of child soldiers. After being kidnaped, Gracia and her husband Martin, whose story is told in the June 4th issue of the New Republic, were starved and force-marched through the jungle. Along the way they saw other hostages beheaded and raped. Finally, she saw her husband Martin die after a botched rescue attempt. One of Burnham’s principal tormentors was a 14-year-old Abu Sayyaf soldier named Ahmed. Burnham admits to loathing him for ‘hoarding food when she had none, throwing stones at her while she bathed — fully clothed — in the river, and pushing her along the trail saying ‘faster, faster.’ And yet Burnham prayed for a way to love Ahmed. She got her chance after he was wounded in a firefight and soiled himself. When she saw that he was embarrassed, she thought of her own son and felt love for Ahmed. She washed Ahmed’s clothes in the river before he was taken into the jungle on a stretcher, bound, gagged and ‘stark raving mad.’ To this day, she has no idea what happened to him.”
I wonder if we are willing to go that far to reach out in love to those that many see as hopeless? The Bible says, “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion” (Numbers 14:18).
Rodney J. Buchanan
June 17, 2007
Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
