John 4: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman -- Radical Reconciling, Restorative Action

Great chasms of seemingly insurmountable separation and division exist throughout modern society. We can see it everywhere -- it is so disheartening. Disunity, a problem in of itself, leads to other disorders that are parasitically linked – severe economic imbalances, global conflict, and social decay, for example. Endless efforts are deployed to combat the myriad social and economic disorders, only to find the very same problems rear their ugly head over and over and over again. The cracks in the social concrete wall are regularly given fresh mortar and a new coat, but the mirage of restoration quickly gives way to more economic and social cracking and decay. To be reconciled across a divide that once seemed unsurpassable is the foundation that brings sustained healing to communities, cities, countries, and the society of nations. The act of reconciliation, a truly remarkable event in of itself, leads to further remarkable economic and social restoration; the act of reconciliation solidifies foundations of communities, restoring economic cracking and social decay.

My interest in this blog entry is on the church, specifically the church in America and the communities it operates in. But the central message contained herein can just as easily be applied to divisions within families, countries, and the society of nations.

The Christian community does an extensive amount of talking on the topic of unity. It amounts to little more than talk. We call ourselves Reconciled – that is until Sunday. Still to this day, the most segregated hour of the week in America continues to be 11 am on Sunday. For far too long the church has established its unity on the basis of race, social standing, political affiliation, economic status, gender, or ethnicity. In most American cities, unity continues to be defined on the basis of race rather than grace and the church remains divided by the shackles of separation. You are far more likely to see black, brown and white people together on the gym floor or on the factory floor, on the football field or on the battlefield than in the church. What this means is that after all the talk, after all is said and done, the church in America has not been good at being the church. The gospel preached is really not much of a gospel. The church is failing its primary responsibility. The good news of our LORD Jesus Christ is one that first calls on reconciliation to God and to one another. Paul calls this as the church’s ministry, “the ministry of reconciliation.” Jesus describes this responsibility in joint commandments: “Love the Lord your God. And love your neighbor as yourself.” These two commandments, no matter how much one tries to separate them, are inseparable. One cannot love the Father of all peoples without loving all peoples. Likewise, one cannot love all peoples without loving the Father of all peoples. And sadly, the one community that should be setting the standard in this country is instead following the norm.

A passage in the book of John addresses this problem. The story comes from John chapter 4, Jesus and the Samaritan woman. In this passage, Christ reveals that true unity comes from drinking the right water and eating the right food; a sustaining diet of Spirit and Truth that reconciles us to God and to one another.

Turning to John 4:1. About this time Jesus is becoming very popular in Judea and the Pharisees want to enter into a debate with him concerning baptism. Jesus decides that He has greater work to tend to elsewhere and heads back to Galilee. Smack dab in the middle of Judea in the south and Galilee in the north is a land called Samaria. Samaria is the ‘other side of the railroad tracks.’ To the Jews of the day, this was the land of the untouchables. You wouldn’t pass through Samaria unless you absolutely had to, and if you had to, you made sure you crossed over as quickly as possible and after you made it to the other side, you would kick off that Samaritan dirt from your Jewish feet. In fact, even though Samaria was the quickest route to Galilee, most Jews would take the long way around. They’d rather walk 100 miles on the right side of town than 10 miles on the wrong side.

I recall a morning while walking in south Chicago and I received stares and comments from the black community residing there, as it was not customary for a white person to be in that part of town. Much like the land of Samaria to the Jews, there are neighborhoods in our American cities that are ‘the other side of the railroad tracks’ for white people. History books teach us that the resolution of the great war between the North and South dealt a final blow to the Mason-Dixon line. I submit to you that line, once a divider of the old North and old South, now functions to divide every modern American city, north, south, east, and west.

But verse 4 says that Jesus had to go through Samaria. Why did he have to go through Samaria? Why did he have to do what no other Jew of his day was willing to do? Perhaps it’s because he knew there would be a woman in Samaria with a spiritual and social need, and the needs of that woman and the demands of justice took precedence over cultural differences. And perhaps further, he knew that the healing of the relationship between he and the Samaritan woman, would be the catalyst to further healing of the relationships between his Jewish people and her Samaritan people – two lands, two peoples, separated by their own Mason-Dixon.

Verse 5: ‘So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about twelve noon.’ In this part of the story, ‘Jacob’s well’ is referred to three times in two verses, making it a point of emphasis. But why the emphasis on this ‘plot of ground’?

In Jesus’ day, Jews couldn’t stand to be around Samaritans and Samaritans couldn’t stand to be around the Jews, but they both loved Jacob because Jacob was the father of both the Jews and the Samaritans. With cultural differences dividing these two ethnic groups, Jesus realized that in order to create a bridge of communication, common ground must be found.

The church in America must seek common ground with their counterparts if there is ever to be a spirit of unity in our communities. Common ground in the church can be found in a shared humanity, in a shared Father, a shared Savior, and a shared Spirit. In fact there is much common ground today between black, brown and white churches in America, but deceit says to the contrary and misleads and divides.

Verse 7: “A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)” Remember that, his disciples had gone to the city to buy food – we’ll pick up with that later in the story. Jesus says, “Ma’am, it’s been a long day, it’s hot, I’m tired and I could really use a drink. Will you give me a drink, please?” Verse 9: The woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)”

How did she know that Jesus was a Jew? He didn’t tell her he was a Jew. He just asked for a drink of water and then she asks, “Aren’t you one of them Jews?” How did she know? The likely answer is that Jesus actually looked Jewish. He probably had a Jewish hairdo, was wearing Jewish clothes, and even had a Jewish accent. And it was this Jewish appearance that made it obvious to this Samaritan woman that he was not like she was.

Being reconciled with our neighbor does not mean there must be sameness. We can have diversity and still have unity. We can have differences, yet worship together on Sunday and work together on Monday. Jesus didn’t go to the Sycharian market, get a new haircut, put on new clothes, and change his accent to relate with this Samaritan woman. He remained who he was and she remained who she was, and they both were able to hang out together at the well.

There is another oddity about this point in the story -- Jesus, a Jewish Rabbi, is hanging out with a Samaritan woman. This was radical for his day. Jews had racist names for Samaritans, they would call them half-breeds or Samaritan dogs. Moreover, it was not common for men to have public interactions with women, particularly so for a rabbi. But notice what Jesus asks of her, “Will you give me a drink?”

The woman is likely in shock. “Say what? Are you talking to me? Don’t you know that racism has separated our two peoples for a long, long time now? Don’t you know that you have your drinking fountains and we have our drinking fountains? Haven’t you ever heard of the Jim Crow laws? You do know that your people live over there and my people live over here and there is this little thing called a Mason-Dixon line that runs between our two lands?”

Jesus responds, “I know society says we’re not supposed to be hanging out together. I know they say I am not supposed to drink from your cup, but may I have a drink please?” This is radical reconciling, restorative action. It is the kind of rare action that transcends the barriers of long, deep divisions. North and South Koreans can’t sit down together? With radical acts of love, they can. Israel and Palestine can’t sit down together? With radical acts of love, they can. Black, brown and white Americans can’t sit down at the well of common ground and drink from the same cup of human experience? Yes they can, through radical acts of love.

Let’s take this down to a personal level. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine somebody you’ve met or seen that you can’t see yourself hanging out with, let alone drink from that person’s cup. Can you think of someone? I can.

It was my first group meeting at this mental home in Chicago. I introduced myself to this man, “Hi, my name is Jeremy. What is your name?”

The man responds, “My name is Peeta.”

“Nice to meet you, Peter.”

“Nish to meech oo,” Peter said. Peter was not pleasing to look at. His teeth were black, brown, and broken. He was difficult to understand when he spoke. His fingernails were long, cracked, and black. His hands felt slimy. His skin looked like dying flesh. And he smelled funky. He was not someone that I imagined myself hanging out with.

Peter came to every one of the group meetings over the course of the summer. And during the last meeting, we exchanged hugs and departing remarks, and then Peter said to me with glowing eyes and a big smile, “Ah praw fur oo.”

I’ll pray for you, he said.

I went to that mental institution to teach Peter, and instead, Peter taught me.

Can you think of someone? Now imagine drinking from that person’s cup or washing that person’s feet. It’s kind of hard for us to imagine, isn’t it? We really don’t want to think of it. Yet, this is exactly what Jesus does with the Samaritan woman. He relates with this woman as a person. He relates with her humanity. Jesus says, “I am concerned about your spiritual as well as your social needs and that’s the reason why I am trekking through your land, and that’s the reason I am willing to put my Jewish lips to your Samaritan cup. I am not willing to skip your humanity to reach your spirituality. Instead, I am going to relate with your humanity, relate with you as a human being, and in so doing, I have grounds to speak to your spirituality.”
So now the discussion turns to spiritual issues. Verse 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.”

The woman said to him, “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?”

Jesus said to her, “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 I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” She thinks that Jesus has some kind of super Gator formula that will never make her thirsty again, and she doesn’t yet understand that he is talking on a spiritual level.

Verse 16: “Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.”

Jesus: “You’ve got that right. Fact is you’ve had five husbands and the man you are with now belongs to Mrs. Jones down the street.” Amazed she said, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.”

Perhaps embarrassed, she quickly changes the subject on him. Verse 20: “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain (behind her is Mt. Gerizim, the place where the Samaritans worship), but you people, you Jews worship in Jerusalem. Your church is over there and my church is over here.” Jesus responds, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

By worshiping in spirit and truth they no longer had to be concerned with whether it’s a Jewish thing or a Samaritan thing. Christ is introducing a radical new worldview where there is no more Samaritan and no more Jew, where there is no more slave and no more free, no more upper class and no more lower class, no more Catholic and no more Protestant, no more of the social dividing lines -- no more barriers to barricade ourselves and our communities in.

When I think of what it means to worship in spirit and in truth, I am reminded of a childhood friend. In elementary school my best friend and I played together. We read together. We even dreamed together. We dreamed of being missionaries in Africa. She was a little black girl and I was a little white boy. Other kids saw us hanging out together all the time, so they began to call us Salt and Pepper. But you know, children see things differently than grown-ups. When we were little kids we didn’t know anything about the racial problems in our society. We didn’t know anything about being black or white. All we knew is that we were best friends. Maybe that is what Jesus meant when he called us to be like little children. Because until we get back to seeing through the eyes of spirit and truth, we will forever walk this earth with the countless divisions that separate people from working together in unity.

Verse 25: “I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). And when he comes, he will proclaim all things to us. He’ll help make sense of all this mess.”
The church uses that line all too often. When Jesus gets back, he is going to make everything OK, he’s going to clean up all this mess. Yes, there are all these divisions and disorders – in the church, within families, among nations – but when He returns, everything will be all right -- so let’s just wait for Jesus to return…

Then Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” He in essence is saying, the time is now, this very day, this very moment. There is no more waiting for tomorrow, the time for radical change through love action is now.

Verse 27: “Just then his disciples came.” Now remember the disciples had gone into town to pick up lunch. “Just then his disciples returned and they were shocked that he was speaking with a woman.” They weren’t surprised to see him talking with a woman – they had seen Jesus talk with women plenty of times before. What got under their skin was that Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman – that’s what irritated them. “But no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Despite the ignorant racism of these disciples, they were afraid to challenge or question Jesus.

The disciples’ thoughts remind me of another story about the Apostle Peter. One day Peter receives a vision from God and the vision is filled with all of this dirty, nasty Gentile food. God then said, “Peter, kill and eat.” Peter responds in disgust, “I’m not going to eat that junk. That stuff is unclean.” God said, “Don’t call unclean, what I call clean.” Not long after we find Peter chilling out, getting his grub on at a Gentile’s house. It was the first time he ever had pork chops; first time he ever had hot dogs. He never knew bacon tasted that damn good. Peter liked that Gentile food. And he was just having a BBQ pork-eating good time until some of his homeys showed up. Some of his Jewish brothers showed up at the Gentile’s house and they were ticked off, “Peter, what’s gotten into you brother? Don’t you know that we have our food and they have their food; we have our restaurants and they have their restaurants.” So Peter, pressured by his own brothers, his own people, his own friends, gets up and moves away from the Gentiles. And when Peter gets up and moves, other Jews including Barnabas get up and move: “You’re not going to leave me by myself to eat with these Gentiles.” Peter would have gotten away with his shameful cowardice if it were not for one little problem, Paul showed up for the BBQ to. And Paul, seeing what Peter did, rebukes him in public.

Jesus couldn’t have had this kind of conversation with the Samaritan woman with all of these racist disciples hanging around. The kind of radical action Jesus calls us too will be in direct conflict with how others think the world should be. Some people are too set in their ways, too steeped in their traditions and uninformed opinions and ignorance, and if they see you doing something they wouldn’t do, it is going to set them off. At times it is necessary to disengage ourselves from this divisive crowd that continues to operate with ignorance, so that we can freely engage in radical acts of reconciliation and restoration.

Verse 28: “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! Could this be the Christ? They came out of the town and made their way toward him.” It later states in this chapter that because of her testimony many other Samaritans believed. The woman left her water-jar, left that which could not quench her spiritual thirst, she turned away from the empty well that she was drinking from – the well that only gives peace for a moment, and began drinking from the living water that Christ provides. But she didn’t stop there. She in turn shares this good news with others, becoming a minister of reconciliation herself.

So now the Samaritan woman is leading the Samaritans out to meet Jesus at the well. And what we have here is a potential race riot. All of these Samaritans are about to run into some fiery, racist Jewish disciples. James and John, the so-called Sons of Thunder would call down holy nukes from heaven if you gave them a chance, and Peter would cut your ear off, quicker than look at you.

Verse 31: Meanwhile his disciples were urging Jesus to eat something, “Rabbi, we walked all the way into town to pick you up a fish sandwich, fry, and a Coke. We know you’ve got to be hungry. Here, eat.” Jesus said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” The disciples are probably looking at each other, “Where did he get his food? The pizza delivery man doesn’t come out this far, does he?”
Much like the Samaritan woman was missing Jesus point, so too are the disciples. Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.” As the water represents the thirst quenching that brings healing to our spiritual life, the food is the life of radical action bringing sustenance to the lives and communities around us. Just as our physical bodies require food and water to function, so too a properly functioning social body – a quenching of the thirst through a spirit of unity and sustenance through love in action.

Jesus goes on, “Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.” As he was saying this, the disciples looked up and see all of these Samaritans coming across the field to meet them. Jesus is saying, “It’s time to get to work. Now is the time to do God’s will.”

Many years ago I attended a conference in Raleigh, North Carolina to hear a black religious leader speak on racial-reconciliation. I remember that evening like it was yesterday. I arrived early to the arena and was the first to sit down in a section close to the stage. As the minutes passed by I noticed that white people were sitting all around me. I looked over to the next section and it was filled with black people. Something struck me. At a conference on racial-reconciliation, at a conference named Harmony & Unity, at a conference where walls are to be knocked down and barriers crossed over there was still division! So I stood up, picked up my belongings, crossed the aisle of separation and sat down in the midst of my black sisters and brothers.

This is the present condition of the church: there is this atmosphere of talking and in a few cases working together. But after all is said and done, more has been said than done. We are called to get up from our comfortable section, to get up from our comfortable ways of living where all who are around us are just like us – speak like us, dress like us, think like us, act like us. Christ calls us to get up, cross the aisle of separation, and sit down in the midst of someone different… particularly, someone marginalized by society.

The church is much like the sections of that conference. In the one place where we should expect to find diversity and unity, there is instead sameness and separatism. The American church bears the stains of division no differently than this nation bears them. Echoing the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, the church is a thermometer that reflects the norms of society, but it must become a thermostat that changes this nation. Sisters and brothers, if people black, white, brown, red, or yellow can play together in field of sport, can work together in the field of occupation, and can fight together in the field of battle, isn’t it time the church begins to serve together in the field of humanity. Division destroys and leads to endless disorders, but unity based on Truth and Spirit fixes the foundation, resulting in reconciled and restored communities. Such is the course necessary to lay the foundation for economic and social justice.

The shackles of separation that binds our communities, our nation, our world, at times seem almost unbreakable. Yet this passage reminds us that Christ has shattered these chains by a devotion to truth and a unity of spirit. Reconciliation will not sail in on the winds of inevitability but will rather be brought forth by an engaged, courageous people doing radical reconciling work.

The healing of broken communities begins with each of us.

A Prayer:

Our Father in Heaven, we face a difficult hour. While we should be rolling down the river of reconciliation, we instead find ourselves meandering in the stagnant pool of separation. While we should be drinking from the cup of unity, we instead find ourselves dry mouthed and parched lipped, bearing the tiresome journey of disunity.

Mighty God of Love and Peace, give us strength so that we may no longer shy away from the sight of challenge and adversity, but instead are able to stand firm in your Truth, in your Spirit, and in your Love.

Forgive us for our individual cowardice contributing to the cracking on the walls of our communities. Begin to heal these deep wounds through our repentant steps so that your glory will be made known throughout the ends of the earth.

We thank you for Christ Jesus, our LORD, and His sacrifice on the Cross. For in Him we have the light to follow. In Him our thirst is quenched. In Him we are able to engage in radical acts of love. In Him, peace is made possible. It is in His Name that we pray. Amen.

Peace,

Jeremy MacNealy