Our Gospel reading from John 4: 5-42 is dominated by the conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman he meets at the well.
As in our reading of Lent 2, both Nicodemus and this Samaritan woman are struggling to understand Jesus’ teachings about “spiritual” things.
But this woman is everything Nicodemus is not – she is a woman living in a society where she has no standing and no voice, despised as a Samaritan, morally suspect and isolated from her community. Why else would she be alone at the well at the hottest time of day?
This is a story about how a woman’s voice changed a community; a community which has shunned her. She is alone rather than with the safety of other women, seeking water in the most dangerous part of the day.
She is in the wilderness, even though she is familiar with the terrain.
Jesus broke Jewish tradition to engage her in conversation. The woman was interested, initially confused and defensive, but, unlike Nicodemus, she felt she had nothing to lose by engaging with Jesus.
Perhaps it was this fact that allowed her to finally “see” past her physical needs to the spiritual truths that Jesus was teaching her. While the woman needs physical water for her body, it is the spiritual water, the living water of Jesus, that gives her a voice others will hear.
In verse 49, the woman asks a bold question of her community, “He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” She testifies to her community that “he told me everything I have ever done” and uses her voice to tell the truth about her encounter. There is a realization that her voice can effect change. The candour with which this woman had an open and honest conversation with Jesus leads to change. For herself and for her community.
This story speaks to those times when we ourselves may have felt shunned, on the outside, unworthy and yearning for a word of acceptance, a sign of respect, a show of welcome.
This story goes to the heart of what it means to be in a Christian community – an inclusive, intercultural, radically hospitable congregation where absolute welcome is both given and received.
Yes, water is necessary for human life; within the faith community it is we who must make the connection – as Jesus did – that God is the necessity for our daily living.
Like the woman at the well, we can use our voices to quarrel with God, to ask big questions, and to speak the truth. We can use our voices to change our communities and praise God. As we thirst for new life, we find refreshment in the water offered by God in the desert places.
Our Prayer for Lent 3
God of all life, sometimes we think our voices don’t matter.
We have important things to say and wonder if anyone will listen.
We offer a different perspective from the world and it is rejected.
Give us big voices, Holy One.
Give us voices that are loud enough to claim that you are the one who
provided water in the desert, living water at a well, and that in you we find resurrection and claim it for ourselves. Amen.
In peace
Pastor Beryl, DLM
These thought and words are a compilation of reflections I have done over the years, and are also based upon exegesis gleaned from Seasons of the Spirit.