The Samaritan Woman at the Well John 4: 1-42 - Sister Christine Vladimiroff
/The Samaritan Woman at the Well
John 4: 1-42
by Sister Christine Vladimiroff
Source : Written that You May Believe, Revised and Expanded: Encountering Jesus in the Fourth Gospel By Sandra M. Schneiders (especially Chapter 8).
Sister Christine Vladimiroff, OSB (January 12, 1940 – September 25, 2014)
From the Desert of Temptation, on the first Sunday of Lent we traveled to the Mount of Transfiguration. We made life-changing choices in the desert. God is to be the center of our lives. We will look to God for protection and for the bread of each day’s nourishment. We came out of the desert resolute to live into our calling as daughters and sons of God.
We stood on the mountain and saw God’s glory last Sunday. Yet another temptation—we wanted to stay there and to pitch our tents. Discipleship is more about going down the mountain to the suffering below than standing on the peak surveying the horizon. Our work is to bring God’s reign to the here and the now of our lives and to those with whom we share life at the foot of the mountain.
Today begins a trilogy of the stories that teaches us what it is to come to faith in Jesus. This Sunday we will sit at the well with the Samaritan woman and Jesus. We will speak of living water. Next Sunday it will be the man born blind and the themes of light and darkness and finally, the following Sunday, Martha mourns the death of Lazarus. The evangelist clearly teaches us through these narratives that the new life in Jesus is a life of hope and confidence, a life that brings with it a deep and abiding peace. The three stories present us with a locus of salvific encounter with God. In them we, too, can encounter God and come to believe, as persons and as Church, in Jesus.
Today’s gospel is very dense in meaning; it is highly symbolic; it conceals more than it reveals at times. We need to sit with it and read it at a deeper level to uncover the significance of the dialog between the Samaritan Woman and Jesus. Unfortunately, past exegesis that only dealt with the surface mislead us. Let us open it up in a fresh way as feminist biblical scholars lead us through the text.
My comments with cluster around three points:
the self-revelation of Jesus to the woman;
the woman’s role as witness; and
the discomfort of the male disciples of Jesus with what occurred.
The Samaritan Woman at the Well is not simply a foil, feeding Jesus cue lines. She is a genuine theological dialogue partner gradually experiencing Jesus’ self-revelation even as she reveals herself to him. It is a revelation of Jesus astonishing and shocking inclusiveness. A model for the Christian worshiping community we call Church.
We know the author of this fourth gospel was reading back into the public ministry of Jesus the Johannine community’s post-resurrection experience of the Samaritan mission and the influence of the Samaritan converts within the community of the Fourth Gospel. The basic purpose of the story of the Samaritan Woman is to establish the full equality in the community between Samaritan Christians and Jewish Christians. It contains a powerful lesson for us today about inclusiveness in our Church and about the role of women as disciples and theologians.
We have a “type story,” a narrative that follows a recognized biblical pattern. The story recounts the meeting at a well. It is in the pattern of Abraham’s servant finding Rebekah, the future wife of Isaac at the well of Nahor; Jacob meeting Rachel at the well of Haran and Moses receiving Zipporah as wife at the well in Midian. All were persons who would play a role in salvation history. Jesus meets the woman in today’s gospel at the most famous well of all, Jacob’s well in Samaria. This scripture passage we read tonight is placed between the two Cana stories in John’s gospel. There is a marital theme to the conversation and the symbolism of fertility and fecundity. Some scholars say, Jesus is wooing Samaria.
This is a theological conversation. In it Jesus identifies himself with the lineage of the patriarchs giving, not a well from which to draw water, but living water. A spring that will give water and we will never thirst again. Next, Jesus makes a connection with Samaria’s past. In the theological context, it is not the woman who had five husbands. Historically, it was implausible for anyone in the Samaritan culture or the Jewish culture, to have five successive marriages. The conversation is symbolic and religious. The husbands refer to Samaria’s infidelity following the return of the remnants of the northern tribes from Assyrian captivity. They accepted the worship of the false gods of five foreign tribes. Jesus, the prophet, uses the familiar adultery/idolatry metaphor of the prophetic tradition to call Samaria to embrace the worship of the one God in spirit and truth.
Jesus identifies himself as prophet. Jesus reveals for the first time that God is spirit and neither the mount in Samaria nor the temple in Jerusalem is where the future is for those who worship in spirit and truth. More importantly, he reveals himself to be the messiah long awaited by both the Jews and the Samaritans. The Samaritan women said to Jesus: “ I know there is a messiah coming” and Jesus entrusts her with his reply—“I am he”.
The Samaritan woman …stands in stark contrast to Nicodemus. … [The] Samaritan woman comes to the well in full daylight. She engages in a careful theological scrutiny of Jesus. She questioned Jesus on virtually every significant tenet of Samaritan theology… This woman is a fully drawn person by the author of the gospel. She is not simply a foil, feeding Jesus cue lines. She is a genuine theological dialogue partner gradually experiencing Jesus’ self-revelation even as she reveals herself to him. It is a revelation of Jesus astonishing and shocking inclusiveness. A model for the Christian worshiping community we call Church.
The Samaritan woman in our gospel stands in stark contrast to Nicodemus. Nicodemus comes under the cover of darkness; quickly he disengages from the conversation with Jesus and finally slinks off into the night, confused. He did not come to believe in Jesus. Now our Samaritan woman comes to the well in full daylight. She engages in a careful theological scrutiny of Jesus. She questioned Jesus on virtually every significant tenet of Samaritan theology. In response we have Jesus’ self-identification as descendant of the patriarchs, prophetic Messiah and Mosaic “I am”. This woman is a fully drawn person by the author of the gospel. She is not simply a foil, feeding Jesus cue lines. She is a genuine theological dialogue partner gradually experiencing Jesus’ self-revelation even as she reveals herself to him. It is a revelation of Jesus astonishing and shocking inclusiveness. A model for the Christian worshiping community we call Church.
It is no secret that women portrayed in writings tend to be marginalized, reduced to sexuality, demonized and trivialized. It all happens with this text as with others in Scripture. We have heard the interpretation that our woman in the gospel was a loose woman and had to come to the well at noon when the other women were not around. We were told stories of her life of sin and, yes, her five husbands. Past interpretations simply come from a limited cultural blindness that overlay our categories on scripture. The heretofore exegesis of this text and others shows our inability to hold the truth of the change that is demanded in our thinking and the change that should take place in our lives if we accept Jesus. He shatters what has been acceptable and calls for something new.
It is no secret that women portrayed in writings tend to be marginalized, reduced to sexuality, demonized and trivialized. It all happens with this text as with others in Scripture. We have heard the interpretation that our woman in the gospel was a loose woman and had to come to the well at noon when the other women were not around. We were told stories of her life of sin and, yes, her five husbands. Past interpretations simply come from a limited cultural blindness that overlay our categories on scripture. The heretofore exegesis of this text and others shows our inability to hold the truth of the change that is demanded in our thinking and the change that should take place in our lives if we accept Jesus. He shatters what has been acceptable and calls for something new.
If we render women textually invisible in sacred writing and , we can then cite this as a factor in keeping them socially and ecclesially invisible. Our gospel today tells us that women existed in the early Church. They participated actively as apostles and were highly significant in Christian history from its first moments. The Samaritan woman left her water jar at the well; just as the other apostles left their fishing nets or tax stalls to announce the good news of Jesus to the village. She was on a par with them. All were converted in the village “because of the word of the woman who testified.” Jesus stayed there two days to teach them. A person who experienced exclusion, a woman, was sent to the “other”, the Samaritans, to invite them in to the community. The Samaritan woman was sent, as was Mary of Magdala, to tell others of Jesus.
If we render women textually invisible in sacred writing and , we can then cite this as a factor in keeping them socially and ecclesially invisible. Our gospel today tells us that women existed in the early Church. They participated actively as apostles and were… significant in Christian history from its first moments. The Samaritan woman left her water jar at the well; just as the other apostles left their fishing nets or tax stalls to announce the good news of Jesus to the village. She was on a par with them.
What past biblical exegesis did not see was not lost on the male disciples when they returned with the food for Jesus. It was profoundly unsettling to them to see Jesus talking with a woman in a public place. They who considered themselves privileged associates of Jesus did not accept a woman to be included in that inner circle. Jesus tells them that he has no need for the food they brought because his hunger had been satisfied by his dialogue with the woman. To their astonishment, the Samaritan mission, the preaching of Jesus and the invitation to believe, was in the hands of the woman. Jesus tells the men: “One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work.” The men would not initiate this mission nor was it under their control.
Jesus legitimates female participation in the Church’s mission. He does not see this announcing of God’s presence as a role that belongs to men, though appropriated by them organizationally. It is a kind of reverse psychology of exclusion that the apostles experience in tonight’s gospel.
Jesus legitimates female participation in the Church’s mission. He does not see this announcing of God’s presence as a role that belongs to men, though appropriated by them organizationally. It is a kind of reverse psychology of exclusion that the apostles experience in tonight’s gospel.
As is so often true, what is written in the gospels is a reflection of the struggle going on in the early church communities. One commentator believes that a woman evangelist wrote this narrative. Only a woman would be sensitive to the dynamic that took place and the reaction of the male disciples.. Also, a male author would not point out this weakness of fellow apostles that is apparent in this account and get away with it.
What does this have to do with me and with you as we continue our Lenten journey?
First, this passage projects what inclusion means and how to recognize the evil that undermines the reign of God. We cannot exclude others from our lives or from our love. Jesus reaches out to the Samaritans, not only enemies of the Jews, but former Jews who had been unfaithful to the covenant and who had fallen into idolatry. If our love is not universal it is not the love of Jesus that motivates. This universal love, however, must demonstrate itself in very particular and unique situations that touch our lives. Where in my life am I called to the ministry of inclusion? Can we show that Muslims, those of Middle Eastern descent, are included in our love? How do I live so as to authentically preach to the Church and society that no one is outside the scope of our love?
Secondly, as a woman I must claim my capacity to answer the call to discipleship. Jesus has not excluded me. Gender does not diminish the power of baptism in the Church of the Jesus who sat at the well with the woman. How can I move the Church to hear more clearly the message in of Jesus: In Christ there are neither Jew nor Gentile, neither free nor slave, neither male nor female—all are one in Christ.
As a woman I must claim my capacity to answer the call to discipleship. Jesus has not excluded me. Gender does not diminish the power of baptism in the Church of the Jesus who sat at the well with the woman. How can I move the Church to hear more clearly the message in of Jesus: In Christ there are neither Jew nor Gentile, neither free nor slave, neither male nor female—all are one in Christ.
Scripture texts function as a locus and mediator of transformative encounters with the living God. Lectio is engagement with God’s word. I must search to see myself in the stories of salvation with fresh eyes, not relying exclusively on old interpretations. I call myself to study and prayer. Feminist biblical scholars have opened new ways into the meaning of our spiritual journey, our place in the Church and the absolute necessity of our taking responsibility for speaking from our insights and competencies.
You have heard me use this definition before. Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote: “Repentance is an absolute, spiritual decision made in truthfulness. Its motivations are remorse for the past and responsibility for the future.”
I regret a past that has excluded others and my complicity with it. I will assume, with God’s grace, responsibility for a future that will look different. You and I are sent as was the Samaritan Woman and Mary of Magdala to preach Jesus.
Christine Vladimiroff, OSB, Prioress
Benedictine Sisters of Erie
Source: Written that You May Believe, Revised and Expanded: Encountering Jesus in the Fourth Gospel By Sandra M. Schneiders (especially Chapter 8)
- Sister Christine Vladimiroff, OSB (January 12, 1940 – September 25, 2014) was the prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie from 1998 to 2010. As of 2004 she was also President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, USA.
In 2001, when Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister made international news for refusing to obey a Vatican order forbidding her to speak at Women’s Ordination Worldwide Ordination of Women (WOW) international conference in Dublin, the Prioress of her monastery, Christine Vladimiroff made headlines along with her. In the face of Vatican threats of "grave penalties," which could have ranged from excommunication to Chittister's expulsion from her monastery in Erie, Pennsylvania, Chittister attended the conference and spoke. Besides putting pressure on Chittister, the Vatican Congregation for Religious Life attempted to block Sister Joan's presentation by demanding that Vladimiroff issue the "precept of obedience" forbidding Chittister to speak, or face grave penalties herself. Vladimiroff refused. "I could not order something I was in total disagreement with, and that is silencing," shared Vladimiroff. Despite advanced age and infirmity, all but one of 128 active members of the Erie Benedictines co-signed Vladimiroff's letter to Rome. An additional letter of support came from nuns in twenty-two other Benedictine communities. The Vatican backed down.
A copy of Vladimiroff’s Statement about this is here. A copy of Joan Chittister’s address given at the conference is here: Keynote: Joan Chittister, osb: Discipleship for a Priestly People in a Priestless Period
