Bible Study With The Bishops: Bantering By The Well

Reading Plan Text for March 7: John 4:10-19

Since Jesus has broken "the rules" and seems intent on conversing with a Samaritan, and a woman at that, the Samaritan woman gives as good as she gets. She chides him for telling her that he'll give her living water (in other words, running water) from a well (still water), not to mention the fact that he has not even a traveler's bucket to draw water from the well.

As the conversation continues she begins to realize that Jesus isn't talking about literal water but something more. She asks to receive what he is offering, and Jesus surprises her still further. He tell her to go and return with her husband, which of course, she cannot do as she has had five husbands (was she widowed or divorced?) and is living with a man who is not her husband. Even though they have just met, Jesus tells her this piece of her history. She is astounded, and calls Jesus a prophet.

Given her bantering with Jesus up to this point, even though she has realized that there is a deeper conversation going on here, I can see this last declaration as almost as a sarcastic retort. Who do you think you are making judgements about me? You who breaks conventions left and right talking to me alone here in the heart of Samaria?

Yet I don't think Jesus is making a judgement, merely stating a fact of the woman's existence. What he is doing is laying the groundwork for transformation--lives will be changed this day in Samaria.

Like the Syrophonecian Woman in Mark and Matthew, I admire this woman. She is not afraid to speak her mind. She is not afraid to challenge and to engage Jesus. And if we can't engage in conversation, how are we to learn and grow? How are we to share stories? How are we live in community? Jesus, like any good teacher, knows that questions are necessary for learning, and learning is necessary for transformation.

Peace,
Jeffri