The Woman at the Well

It is quite ironic that that the world renowned actress Elizabeth Taylor would pass away in the same week we that the lectionary reading is about Jesus meeting a woman who was married almost as many times as Elizabeth was. Now the author of the gospel of John was all about irony. Irony abounds in many of the stories of John’s gospel. Biblical scholars note that “Irony presupposed a distinction between appearance and reality. What appears to be true is indeed true, but it is only a partial truth and not the full truth. Because of this distinction between appearance and reality, irony often takes the form of either humor or tragedy—or both” (1) I imagine that in heaven Elizabeth Taylor and John the Evangelist are right now giving a high five to each other in preachers like myself sermonize about woman at the well – another woman whose personal history has been held suspect.


It’s hard for some to get beyond the marital history of both of these women. Like Elizabeth Taylor, it seems the story about the woman at the well stops at Jesus’ mention of her five marriages and her living in sin with her current boyfriend. Much ado “has been made of her sinfulness, her shady past, her dubious morals, her promiscuity.” (2)  And preachers have expounded upon how Jesus was able to forgive this woman of her past in order that she may be saved. The great sixteenth century theologian John Calvin imagined this unnamed woman to be a difficult and disobedient wife who forced her husbands to divorce her and speculates that Jesus brought up her past in order to get this woman to shut her mouth. (3) I love Calvin but I think this time he got it wrong.

Just as there is much more to the story of Elizabeth Taylor, such as her extraordinary acting career, her philanthropy, most especially her work in raising money for AIDS research and her business smarts, so too there is also much more to the woman in the well than just her marital history. Even though Jesus mentions her marriages the text does not show Jesus condemning her or even forgiving her for having multiple marriages. Instead Jesus embarks on the longest conversation that he has had with anyone in the Bible. Most of Jesus’ conversations in the Bible quickly turn into monologues of Jesus preaching but in this text there are thirteen exchanges between Jesus and the woman. There is give and take throughout their conversation.

The conversation itself is forbidden according the social conventions of Jesus’ day. Jesus chose to speak to an outsider who with three strikes against her, she’s a woman, she’s a Samaritan and she has had bad luck with husbands. Jewish men were forbidden from talking to women that they didn’t know and Jews were forbidden from talking to Samaritans. The Samaritans in Jesus’ time were reviled by the Jewish community of which Jesus was a part of. The Jews and the Samaritans shared a common heritage but differed from each other in worship practices and cleanliness laws.(4) Often the Jews referred to the Samaritans with terms such as foreigners or intruders so as to distance themselves from this group of people that were not like them. The Samaritan woman was well aware of this when she said to Jesus, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (4:9) Jesus replies that if she knew who she was really talking to, knew who Jesus really was, that she would be asking him for living water. Now we as the audience know that Jesus is the son of God, the Messiah, but this woman hasn’t caught on yet. To the Samaritan woman, Jesus is just some crazy Jewish guy “who had no business being there, no business speaking to her and no business asking her for a drink of water from the well.” (5)

However Jesus presses on, he continues the conversation. In her book “More Bad Girls of the Bible” theologian Barbara Essex states, “Theirs is no idle chitchat-they engage in a deep and wondrous theological discussion. She asks questions and points out her understandings and Jesus seems genuinely intrigued by her. So delighted is he with her theological savvy, he discloses himself to her—he is the Messiah that the Jews have been anticipating. His disclosure deepens her belief and she can’t wait to go and tell others. She [becomes] the first evangelistic missionary!” (6) This woman who was a part of a despised people is the first person whom Jesus reveals himself to be the Messiah, and this Samaritan woman is the first disciple empowered by Jesus to spread the good news to her entire village.

This irony was not lost on the first century people who were the first to hear the Gospel of John. This story to them was highly symbolic. Amongst this group were debates over whom they should evangelize too. Was salvation only for those of Jewish lineage or did it go beyond to the Gentiles, the Pagans, or even God forbid, those heretical Samaritans. The woman in this story represents the Samaritan presence within that first century community. The conversation she has with Jesus is a theological debate between Jewish custom and Samaritan custom which included the proper place to worship. This was the biggest conflict between the Jews and the Samaritans. The place of worship was where believers thought God dwelled. The Samaritans worshiped on Mt. Gerezim, the mountain that the woman and Jesus’ conversation was taking place. whereas the Jews worshiped in Jerusalem. However Jesus doesn’t make a big deal about customs or even place of worship. Instead he tells her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father 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 the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (4:21-24) Jesus asserts that the spirit of God is not bound to any one location or any one people. Any believer is able to worship God “in spirit and truth.” anywhere!

The disciples come back and they are concerned about Jesus. They are astonished that he is speaking to a woman but they seem to not make a big deal about her being a Samaritan. As the woman leaves for her village, the disciples urge Jesus to eat but he refuses their food. He tells them that he is already fed by doing the will of God, by building the Kingdom of God through empowering people like the Samaritan woman to spread the good news. As always, the disciples don’t get it. Their heads are still wrapped around physical food where as Jesus is talking about spiritual food. “Do you not say ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest.’” Jesus then points to the multitude of Samaritan people coming towards them led by the woman. “But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting…I sent you to reap for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor” (4:35-38)

The invitation that Jesus extends to the woman, to the Samaritans and most especially to the disciples is extended to us as well. We who have been witnesses to the good news of God’s love and grace freely given are called to share this message with those who need to hear it. We are called to follow Jesus’ example of transcending our discomfort and reaching out to those who are different from ourselves. It can be frightening, it’s certainly strange, but in the end we will be fed by the food of the will of God who sent Jesus, and who sends us to complete God’s work here on Earth. May it be so. Amen.


(1) George Stroup, “John 4:5-42: Theological Perspective” Feasting on the Word, 94


(2) Frances Taylor Gench, Encounters with Jesus., 34

(3) Ibid., 34.

(4) James D. Purvis, “Samaritans” The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Paul J Aichtenmeier Gen. Ed (San Francisco: Harper Row Publishers, 1985), 898-899.

(5) Barbara Essex, “More Bad Girls of the Bible.” 97

(6) Essex, “Bad Girls” 96.