Jesus and the Woman at the Well: A Deep Story I

The passage is too long here to reproduce in its entirety, though I will quote parts of it as I comb through the conversation between Jesus and the woman in this and the next essay.

The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman is suggestive and even compelling on a number of levels. First, it fits in nicely with the flow of John. In ch. 3 Jesus had been approached by a seeking, but ill-informed, believer in Jesus (Nicodemus). Now, in contrast, in ch. 4 Jesus approaches a woman who is considered only a half-believer among the Jews. Nicodemus seeks in ch. 3; the woman doesn't seek in ch. 4. Nicodemus, however, seems to go away confused in ch. 3 while the woman comes back to Jesus with understanding in ch. 4. The one who sought out Jesus becomes discomfited; she who didn't seek Jesus becomes blessed.

Second, the story touches rich historical and traditional motifs. We have a plot of ground which Jacob bequeathed to his son Joseph. We have Jews and Samaritans, the latter of whom traced their origin to the 10 tribes of Israel deported and scattered by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. The Samaritans, however, were even more radical, believing that a deviation from the true intention of Moses took place as early as the priest Eli a few generations after Moses. Like the Sunni and Shia in Islam, the Jews and Samaritans may ultimately share the same origin but their histories and traditions are so different as to be almost different religions. Indeed, the hostility is intensified precisely because they share the same ancestor. Mount Gerizim, the place where the Samaritan temple stood, was honored because that was the "Mount of Blessing" identified by Moses (Deut. 27:11) and Joshua (Josh. 8:33) as the mount where half of Israel would stand during a covenant renewal ceremony.

Third, the story is interesting because of the symbolism throughout. After the woman speaks with Jesus, she leaves her jug at the well while retrieving her countrymen (v. 28). What might that mean? When the townspeople come to Jesus, he remarks about the fields being ripe for harvest (v. 35). Is he referring to the color of the Samaritan clothes? Then, finally, there are the various levels of interaction in the conversation between the woman and Jesus. If one were to make a movie of this interaction, I could see it having about five scenes: (a) A brief one: Jesus' arrival and resting by the well; (b) The conversation between Jesus and the woman; (c) Jesus and the disciples; (d) Jesus and the townspeople; (e) Hanging around for a few more days (cf. v.40). Almost all of the scenes might be the occasion for humor, irony and serious discussion/reflection.

The Conversation Between Jesus and the Woman

The conversation which generates the townspeople's interest in Jesus consists of thirteen statements and answers of the woman and Jesus. Each of the statements invites consideration.

1. Jesus says: "Give me a drink," 4:7. It all starts with a request for water. The disciples are sent off for food, and Jesus is thirsty. Note that this story differs markedly from the one in ch. 3. There we had Nicodemus seek out Jesus for help; here it is Jesus asking the woman for help. We never learn whether she actually provided a drink for him, nor whether he was using this as a sort of "excuse" to turn the conversation to his desired direction.

2. She responds: "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" 4:9. As Dr. Ramsey Michaels points out, in interacting with the woman Jesus probes three liminal or boundary situations. First, he initiates a conversation with a woman. Second, the woman is, according to Jewish law, an adulteress (because of her five husbands). Finally, she is a member of a competing religious group. Even though Jesus asks a very human favor, he does so by seeming to ignore major "red flags" that should not permit this conversation to unfold. Is there a lesson here for us? How can we imitate Christ's reconciling work without ourselves being committed to breaking down the "walls" that divide (cf. Eph. 2:14)?

3. Jesus responds, "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," 4:10. Now Jesus pulls rank. In fact, the woman's response to Jesus was a sort of "power response," a means by which she could assert control of the conversation. Jesus fires back and doesn't allow the conversation to be wrested from him. Conversations are power-exchanges. Often people share the same comparative "rank" in the exchange and thus don't have the impression of it as a negotiation for position and power, but we gain an understanding into conversatin's true dynamics when we see two people interact who aren't culturally or naturally disposed to talk. Jesus "pulls rank" by spiritualizing his request, by referring to living water (the gift of the Spirit) when he had first only spoken of water from the well. The response is meant to match her grab for power, but Jesus raises it to a spiritual level rather than one of ethnicity or religious practice. He holds out the possibility of a gift to the woman--flowing or living water, a kind of fountain that never quits.

4. The woman responds, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" 4:11-12. Perhaps taken aback by Jesus' bold attempt to take back and redirect the conversation, the woman first avows only a practical or literal interest in what Jesus says. The only kind of water she knows is that from the well. If Jesus has some of it, how does he get it? But then she picks up on a point emphasizing tradition, which is the strong point of the Samaritans. Some people appeal to text in their argument; some to tradition. In law we have the same phenomenon. Before an appellate court some people argue from the language of the statute; others seek to clarify the issues by legislative history (tradition) or "policy" considerations. She response in the way that comforts her--appealing to the traditions of her people.

5. Jesus answers: "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life," 4:13-14. Jesus picks up what the woman gives him in her answer and takes it one step further. He ignores the implicit challenge to his authority in her statement and builds on the words he had spoken in statement 3 above. The distinction now is clear in his (and her) mind between the water that you draw and the water that gushes; the water from the well and the "living" water from someplace else. As readers we still don't know fully what Jesus is getting at, but he has succeeded in redirecting the conversation to the issue of eternal life.

The next essay finishes our consideration of the conversation.

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