John 4:5-42
Today, many states have “Good Samaritan” laws that make it easier for citizens to help others without incurring unnecessary liability. The words “Good” and “Samaritan” are tied together for most of us. Anybody who goes out of their way to help another person is often called a “Good Samaritan.” The Bible contains a parable of a ‘good Samaritan’ (Luke 10:25-37). The message is simple: care for one another.
But “Samaritan” has not always meant “Good.” In Jesus’ time, in first-century Judea, the word “Samaritan” did not dennote anyone good or well-regarded.
I have read this scripture section many times and generally focused on the words of Jesus introducing salvation to a Samaritan woman at a well. It is a beautiful story, but my previous casual reading of this text made me miss critical points in these ancient words.
To understand the text, we have to get a clearer picture of the historical context, specifically the racial realities of Biblical times. When Jesus was walking on this earth, there was already a centuries-old feud between Samaritans and Jews. This feud fueled racist attitudes.
The Jews and Samaritans were related. In 722 BC, the Assyrians invaded the Jewish territory and took the brightest and strongest back to Babylon; only the poor remained. Those taken to Babylon remained strict in Jewish practices; they only married each other. Those left behind intermarried with people of the surrounding nations and were later known as Samaritans.
A hundred years later, the observant Jews returned to Judea. This group of full-blooded Jews and their descendants came to despise the Samaritans. The Jews hated the Samaritans more than they even hated the gentiles. They resented that the Samaritans were now racially and religiously intermixed; Samaritans were mongrels in the eyes of Jews.
The hate ran deep. The most “religious” Jews hated Samaritans so much that if they needed to travel between Judea in the south and Galilee in the north, they would travel west into Perea, allowing them to bypass Samaria. Considering that travel time by foot was about two and a half days from Judea to Galilee, a detour of that magnitude was very taxing.
Another common belief by Jewish religious leaders at the time was that anything a Samaritan touched was ‘unclean.’ That meant drinking out of the same vessel would have been unthinkable. The prejudices against the Samaritans were good old-fashioned ‘racism.’ as in the American segregation era, African-Americans could not drink from the same water fountains as whites.
Racism is rampant in the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. We often miss racism in the Scriptures because we do not see our modern words in the text. However, by taking a closer look at the historical context, we will see that this is indeed a story of racism and how Jesus broke through those racial barriers.
Racism is rooted in ideas of racial supremacy, purity, or systemic power, denying individuals or groups their inherent, God-given dignity to live in their customs. That Critical Race Theorists and Social Justice Warriors who seek dominance over those they regard as abusively dominant still qualifies as racism.
Enter Jesus and the Samaritan woman 700-plus years later. Jesus was a rabbi, and rabbinical standards of that time dictated that any “good” Jew would not go near a Samaritan.
But what does Jesus, the rabbi, do? He didn’t take the long route through Perea to get from Galilee to Judea.
he needed to go through Samaria (John 4:4)
He had a divine appointment, even if the Samaritan woman had no idea what awaited her.
Jesus broke the racism barrier when He engaged the Samaritan woman in conversation; he also broke the social norm about women.
In Jewish culture, Rabbis did not speak to women in public, not even their female relatives, including their wives, sisters, and daughters. They took this so seriously that they would close their eyes when a woman approached them. For a man to speak to a woman in public was unthinkable. Women belonged to their husbands like property; for another man to tamper with that property invited scorn and suspicion.
Jesus tore down the barriers against women by talking to the Samaritan woman. He was talking to her without anyone else being around! Jesus did these things throughout his ministry to free women from societal norms and expectations that did not fully allow them to serve God.
When he reached the Samaritan city of Sychar, he sat at the well and asked the Samaritan woman for a drink. With these simple words,
“Give me a drink” (John 4:7)
Jesus broke down centuries of cultural, social, and racial biases. Why? By asking the woman for a drink, He was saying,
“I am willing to drink out of the same vessel as you because you are not unclean but worthy.”
The Samaritan woman found it strange that Jesus, a Jew, asked her for something to drink when she came to draw water from Jacob’s well. He demanded a drink from her, another sign that she was a Samaritan and an even lower-class woman!
Jesus’ request of this poor woman could have endangered her life should she be accused of adultery. But it is not only the issue of gender that makes this scene scandalous.
During their conversation, Jesus told her past and foretold her future, offering her water that wouldn’t make her thirst again. Excitedly, she returned to her town and told the people about Jesus. Many believed in Him because of her testimony; although she was an outcast in the village. She was excited to share her good news with everyone, telling them:
“I know that Messiah is coming.” (John 4:25)
For Jesus to be close to a Samaritan, to drink from her bucket, would have meant he would become ‘unclean.’ But that is not all; there is still more scandal to come.
Unlike the obvious cultural boundaries of gender and religion, Jesus creates a personal scandal. The woman had come to the well at noon, the hottest and least ideal time to fetch water. All the other women would have come to the well early in the morning and again late at night. But this woman had chosen to go in the middle of the day, probably to be alone. And it is scandalous for the woman that Jesus interrupts her quest for solitude.
The actions of Jesus are a good reminder to all of us that we must check our prejudices and biases at the door when interacting with others. There is no room for racism in Christianity. Christianity is about love, love for even those we consider our enemies.
We can learn several lessons from Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman.
When Jesus meets the woman and asks for a drink, all these social conventions prevent the woman from hearing what Jesus said. Like Nicodemus, this woman wasn’t hearing Jesus because of all the other noise, social status, and identities the world has given her.
We can learn two lessons from Jesus and the Samaritan woman.
LESSON #1: Interact with People That Are Different
This lesson stems from what the woman told Jesus when he asked her for a drink.
“you are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:9).
She asked because Jews refused to have anything to do with Samaritans.
Jesus did what many of us avoid doing. He started a conversation with someone different. Not only was she a Samaritan, whom his people did not associate with, but she was also a woman. His disciples were surprised to find him talking to her (John 4:27).
At the end of the conversation, the woman returned to her town, telling people about Jesus. That conversion would not have happened if Jesus had avoided her because she was a Samaritan. Many of the Samaritans believed because of her testimony.
Learning from this, we should also interact with people different from us. Sometimes we judge based on how others look or what we hear about them, leading us to make false conclusions. Our prejudices judge people by outward appearance. We hear in 1 Samuel 16:7:
For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7).
We do not know what is in another’s heart.
Prejudice is just another word for ‘racism,’ which leads to overt or covert discrimination and segregation.
Because Samaria was not a ‘Jewish’ state, no self-respecting Jew would travel into Samaria or deal with a Samaritan.
But Jesus broke that tradition, just as He did when he dined with tax collectors or forgave the thief on the cross.
Whenever judgmental thoughts arise, and we find ourselves avoiding people because of it, remember the woman at the well and how Jesus ignored that she was a Samaritan and started a conversation with her. Many people came to Jesus after hearing her.
LESSON #2: Our Words Have Power
We must remember that our words have power; they can be affirming and uplifting or denigrating and cruel. When the woman at the well told the people in her town about Jesus, the Bible states that:
‘Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, (John 4:39).
Notice it was what the woman said that led the people to believe. Similarly, what Jesus told throughout the encounter not only changed the woman’s life but
“because of his words, many more became believers” (John 4:41).
The power of our words to change lives for the better can also change them for the worst if we say the wrong things. Proverbs 18:21 states that
“The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.”
Considering how powerful words can be, we should observe the ‘10-Second Rule’ before we speak. If you aren’t familiar with that rule of life, here are the fundamentals:
• Before responding, especially in a contentious conversation, take 10 seconds to gather your thoughts
• This unexpected pause is disarming and stops the negativity
• Refocus on the person you are talking to, not just the topic.
We must take every opportunity to tell people things that can change their lives for the better and avoid saying things that can bring people down.
Let’s accept this lesson Jesus teaches through his encounter with the woman at the well. Let’s collectively do God’s will for us and finish the work he assigned to us individually. We are most fulfilled when we are carrying out Jesus’ teachings.
I want to look at the bigotry and discrimination today in the United States with the story of the Samaritan woman. We have not come far from our ancestors and their degradation of those who are not ‘true Jews’ or are ‘not like us.’ We all have ingrained prejudices and stereotypes, whether we like to admit it or not, but we are ignorant of the biases that many people deal with daily.
In his book, Living Faith, former President Jimmy Carter discusses the barriers that divide people and give them a false sense of identity. Having grown up in the South during the time of racial segregation, he had many African-American friends. When his parents were away, he would stay with his black neighbors, Jack and Rachel Clark. He played with black friends, went fishing, plowed with mules side by side, and played on the same baseball team. But when he carried water to people working the field, it was unthinkable that black and white workers would drink from the same dipper.
Those who don’t look like us are “randomly” picked for extra security checks at the airport; people of color have experienced personal invasions and affronts. Every day we hear about black men and boys killed by police; every parent had ‘the talk’ with their sons, hoping they would come home safe every time they leave the house.
As people of faith, we know just how powerful those social conventions and inherited identities can be. We live with the fruits of them every day. We long for our congregations and communities to be complete and vibrant as they once were, but we are wary of those who aren’t like us, those who don’t fit in before they arrive, those who don’t know how things work around here. We live with this tension of wanting our communities to grow again while clinging to the arbitrary identities and societal rules that give us reasons to stay divided.
As human beings, we are good at finding reasons to build walls, to categorize and judge one another. The arbitrary and abstract social conventions of religion, gender, or race keep us from hearing one another; they keep us divided and alienate us from the rest of the world.
We put up walls we think will protect us, walls that we hope will keep us safe, and we build them to keep the bad folks out. But our walls only end up hurting us. The borders and boundaries can become oppressive structures that always keep in the dark, alone, and wary of others. They isolate us; they turn us away from our neighbors and communities.
From Lutherans and Catholics to Christians and Muslims and Jews, to conservatives and liberals, men and women, indigenous and non-indigenous, there are arbitrary reasons why we hold back from each other.
So as we meditate on this account of the woman at the well, let’s take some time to reflect on the stereotypes, biases, and even racial attitudes that we may have. I suggest taking some time to pray and find answers to the following questions.
1. How do these stereotypes, biases, and racist attitudes keep me from showing the love of Christ?
2. Do I associate mostly with people of my same socio-economic class? Race? Culture?
3. How can I expand my circle of friends to include people from other cultures, nations, and races?
4. What can I do to learn more about the struggles of different groups of people within my town, city, state, or country?
5. How can I use what I have learned about Jesus and the woman at the well on how I should interact with people different from me?
I leave you with one final note from Galatians 3:28.
“There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Let us pray:
Dear Jesus, they hardly knew what to say when the disciples saw you talking with the Samaritan woman. And when she turned out to be such an effective witness for you, they must have been more astonished. They had gone to the town in search of food. She had returned to the town to tell everyone about you. We confess that we are often more like the disciples, hardly knowing what to say. In prayer, in personal interactions, with people we know and those who are strangers, make us eager to share. Revive our curiosity, and renew our energy to witness you faithfully. Be our living water welling up in us. Amen.
Delivered at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, Columbus, OH; 12 March 2023
