John 4:5-42 (The Woman at the Well)
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%204%3A5-42&version=NRSVUE
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Instead of presenting the whole passage here, below are comments on selected verses from James Alison's video "Homily for Third Sunday in Lent 2023 A" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CxyCdRf0tM)
~v 10: 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.”
JA: "Now this word gift, [...] it's the only time this word appears in this Gospel, in fact in any of the Gospels. The only other times this word appears in the New Testament [is] in the Acts of the Apostles and in some of Paul's Epistles, and there it almost invariably means the gift of the Holy Spirit. In other words, he's not talking about a passive gift at the same level as a drink of water might be. [...] He's talking about the gift of God, which of course she could not possibly have known about, and the gift of God is the self-giving of us, that which turns us into people who are capable of giving ourselves away, which is how we receive who we really are. And it's that which is this *making utterly alive of us* which is then brought out in the discussion about the well, but it's the notion that the gift of God is something which turns us into gifts that's what the gift of God is about.
"I think it's really quite important to remember that one of the moments when 'the gift of God' becomes, I feel, a matter of controversy is in the Acts of the Apostles, precisely when [...] Simon the Magician tries to buy the gift of God, and it's understood that really that is the ultimate way that you cannot have it. The gift of God is that which by nature turns you into giving yourself away, which is the richest thing you could possibly have, because as you give yourself away you're on the inside of God's self-giving, which means that you're held by the Creator and turned into an endless source of generosity for others. And this is what Jesus is attempting to offer, “If you knew the gift of God,” in other words, what it's like to be turned into this self-giving. And who it is who's asking you for this gift, precisely giving you the chance [of] getting involved in this self-giving of yourself away - you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. In other words I'm inducting you into a conversation which is going to end in you being able to give yourself away with living water."
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vv. 17-18: The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”
JA: "Why did Jesus say that? Well, the easy answer is to say, well he's detected that she had a, let's say, an interesting matrimonial history: one. Or two, that he's making reference to the fact that Samaria was considered a place that had been under the rule of five idolatrous kings, and was now under the rule of someone who was also an idolatrous king, so he's referring to Samaria's prophetic history, the history which would have been well known, and this would be a Jewish way of referring to Samaria and its past under the rule of these idolatrous kings, that's part of the history which you get in the in the Hebrew scriptures.
"But it appears to be a mixture of the two, so he's referring to her marital status which, let's remember, almost certainly means that she is a greatly mistreated woman, that if she is a person of unstable marital life it's almost certainly because she has been passed amongst people for their own advantage. So the notion that she's particularly bad a person makes no sense at all, she's a particularly vulnerable person which is why he's able to speak with her. He's speaking to a vulnerable bearer of her city's idolatry. As has been pointed out this makes her rather like the Gerasene demoniac who was clearly living out in himself the violences of his entirely pagan city. But here the woman is rational, she knows what's going on, she understands why she has to live in this precarious and humiliating situation. But she also understands that Jesus is not trying to get at her, he's talking about her town as well."
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vv 23-24: “But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
JA: "So it's going to be this strange relationship between people in which we are enabled to turn each other into gifts by bearing witness to the gift that we are receiving that is going to make all the difference from here on out."
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vv. 28-29: Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”
JA: "So something about how she has felt spoken to that didn't shame her and that put her in the same place as the inhabitants of the city enabled her to talk to people without shame, and because of that she develops quite a power of invitation. She convokes other people of the Spirit, the gift has started to work itself out in her, she's being able to give herself away in the midst of others."
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v. 42: They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.”
JA: "Her witness - she's been able to give herself away, she's not in control of it, she's been able to give herself away, and because of that it's become a multiplied and a fruitful thing. The gift that Jesus is bearing witness to, enabling others to bear witness to, and which is able to spread especially amongst the humiliated, the apparent heretics, those who are not caught up in bizarre discussions about laws and things like that [as in Jerusalem], that is where it flows easily. And the disciples need to be shown this to be able to learn that this is the way that the Lord enjoys sharing the harvest with reapers and laborers."
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"The encounter is an interesting parallel to the story of Eve. In Genesis, the devil tempts the woman to eat forbidden fruit to gain divine knowledge. At the well, Jesus invites this Samaritan woman to drink God's water to gain spiritual wisdom. The entire story is a reversal of the one recounting the origin of sin; here, Jesus and the woman re-enact Eden with a different result. The woman's eyes are opened; she understands. Yet, instead of being run out of the garden by an angry god, she runs and tells her friends that she has met the One who is Living Water. She is not cursed. Rather, the woman is blessed and offers blessing. Water is present at creation, and it is here also, at the world's re-creation through Jesus."
- Diana Butler Bass, Grounded, pg. 76
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"In John 4, Jesus meets a woman at a well. The conversation quickly turns to the question of Jesus's identity when she asks, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask of drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (4:9). Jesus speaks of water, wells, and worship, and then springs it on her that he is the Messiah. How does the woman respond? She drops her water jar, runs back to town, and tells everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!” (4:29). In this story, questions of Jesus's identity and her identity thread together in mutual revelation. Knowing who Jesus is leads her to know who she is - and, instead of feeling shame about her mistakes, she feels new freedom to tell her story.
"And so it goes throughout the Gospels. Almost everyone leaves Jesus's company saying: “He made me whole!” “I have been healed!” “I'm not a prostitute, a sinner, an outcast, or a leper. I now know who I really am!” “I may be a Samaritan, but I can still know God.” “I am loved!” “I am accepted as I am!” Being “in” Jesus, in his presence or in conversation with him, pushes the other person beyond social roles and masks to deeper awareness of “Who am I?” transforming the question from an external one to a relational one that might be better rendered “Whose am I?”
"Thus, the biblical query “Who am I in God?” is a starting point of Christian spirituality. Why do Christians pray? Christians do not pray to have wishes granted; rather, Christians pray to find themselves in God and that they might be more aware of their motives and actions. Why do Christians worship? Christians do not worship to be entertained; rather, Christians listen to sermons, sing, and partake of bread and wine in community to be in Jesus's presence and come to know themselves better. Why do Christians serve others? Christians do not act charitably to earn heavenly credit; rather, Christians find Jesus in their neighbors and such proximity enables greater insight to live fully in the world. Christians practice seeking Jesus in their lives because when they find themselves in God, pretence slips away to reveal the truest dimensions of selfhood and gives individuals the power to act in transforming ways."
- Diana Butler Bass, Christianity After Religion, pp. 186-87
[Source of Diana Butler Bass quotes, and for analysis and discussion on all the lectionary texts for Lent 3A, see: https://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-a/lent3a/]
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