Lent 3, Year A
In the late 90’s, a book came out
called “Bad Girls of the Bible.” It was
very popular and spawned two more books called Very Bad Girls of the Bible and Slightly
Bad Girls of the Bible. The series has sold over a million copies, which is
pretty good for a book about the bible.
I read it about 15 years ago and I liked it. However, the more time I
spent studying the Bible, specifically women in the Bible, the less I liked
it. Let’s start with the cover. All you can see are the heavily made up eyes
of a woman with what I can only assume is a “come hither” look. Otherwise, I am not sure why eyes with heavy
mascara indicate a bad girl. Then there
is the line-up of “bad girls.” There are
a couple that I would not dispute (Delilah and Jezebel), but the rest I would
take issue with…in regards to how bad they really are.
In
the midst of these bad girls is the Samaritan woman at the well. Over the centuries she has been depicted as
a seductress, a prostitute, an adulteress, a serial monogamist and everything
in between. All these assumptions come
primarily from her response to Jesus’ request that she call her husband. She responded: “I have no husband.” He said, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no
husband’; for you have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your
husband.” From this exchange, people have inferred that she was divorced five
times and obviously it must have been her fault. Now she is living with someone who is not her
husband which is further proof that she is a woman of questionable character.
Divorce at this time is much different
than it is today. First of all, a woman could
not ask for divorce. So if this woman at
the well was divorced 5 times, it was because five different men divorced her. Men also did not need a reason to
divorce. There was no extensive
paperwork. All they needed to do was to
put it in writing. The woman had no
recourse. There was nothing she could
do. Since there were not many
occupations available to woman, the only options for a divorced woman was to
remarry, move in with a male relative, beg on the street, prostitute herself or
starve.
While a man could divorce his wife for
any reason, there was one situation when divorce was recommended. Because procreation was a so important in
the Jewish faith, if a woman could not bear a child in the first ten years of
marriage, it was recommended that the man take an additional wife or divorce
and then remarry.[1] Therefore (and please know this is
conjecture…but a lot more likely than her being a seductress who liked to hang
out at a well) it is very possible that the reason she had been abandoned by so
many men was due to barrenness.
Since this woman has been labeled as
bad, a lot of people read this story as one of sin and forgiveness. While Jesus does acknowledge the fact that
she has been married five times, he never declares her to be a sinner. In other stories of forgiveness, Jesus is
very clear about the sin and the need to sin no more. Yet in this story, he never accuses this
woman of sinning nor does he say that she is forgiven. Obviously, we are all sinners in need of
forgiveness, but that is not what this story is about.
After Jesus tells her that he knows
about her past and even her present living condition, she declares, “Sir, I see
that you are a prophet.” Most people
assume that she is just changing the subject from an uncomfortable topic. However,
in the Gospel of John, the word “see” has a special meaning. It often means belief. Instead of just changing the subject, she
might actually be making a powerful statement of belief. Not only does she see him, she believes in
him. What is it that led her to believe in him? Was
it because he knew all her sins and was able to forgive her? I don’t think that was it. Instead of just sin, I believe he saw a deep
pain, a pain that she had kept hidden for many years…the pain of being broken
in some way and then abandoned over and over again. I believe he saw that pain that had become
her identity, but he saw something else as well, something beautiful and
divine.[2]
So often in life, we let ourselves be
identified by things that we think are wrong with us. We will always be the child who was abused,
the wife who was beaten, the man who is unemployed, the person crushed by the weight
of their own depression, the widow, the divorced person, the single person…and on
and on. Often other people do not identify us this way, but we do it to
ourselves. If that is the case, then it
might as well be everyone in the world who identifies us that way…at least it
feels that way. Imagine that you are
that person who identifies yourself by your pain. Then one day, someone comes to you and says,
“I see your pain. I see every piece of
it, but I see something else too. I am
here to give you a new identity, an identity that carries no baggage and no
shame.” That would be transformative. Would that transformation be enough to compel
a woman of questionable character to run and tell an entire town, “Come and see
a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah can
he?” I think it would be.
For this woman at the well, this new
identity is more powerful than any shame she might have carried. She is now a vessel of living water. The living water is Jesus the Messiah, and she
carries it now. One of the quirky little details in this story is that when she
goes into town to share the news of Jesus, she leaves her water jar
behind. Today, that would be like
leaving your cell phone or wallet on the counter and walking out. That jar was literally what kept her
alive. But she doesn’t need the jar
anymore, because she is now a vessel of living water.
Before, there was something inside her
that was dead. Now every part of her is
nourished by this life giving water.
Before she was barren. Now she is anything but that. Her self -worth is no longer dependent on
anything those five husbands needed from her. Not only is she full of life, but
she has life to share and that is what she immediately does. She goes to tell the world about this person
who is the very embodiment of all that is living, all that is good…the one
being who conquers death on every level.
Jesus gives each one of us this
opportunity, this chance to define ourselves- not by who we are or who we are
not, not by the scars that we bear, but by the God who created us, died for us
and was resurrected so that we may know what it is to truly live.
[1]
Biblical and Jewish law regarding divorce: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3140621?seq=7
and http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/toledot/shi.html
[2]
This partially comes from what Karoline Lewis said about the barrenness of the
woman and what affect that might have. http://www.workingpreacher.org/brainwave.aspx?podcast_id=489
No comments:
Post a Comment