This Epiphany Season (January 6-February 17) we are following the ministry of Jesus as told in the Gospel of John, alongside our Church School curriculum.
I saw a meme the other day that referenced this Sunday’s scripture passage, in which Jesus surprises a Samaritan woman by reciting back to her, though she ought to be a stranger to him, the entirety of her complicated marital history:
As a bookworm with not enough time on her hands to get through a massive ‘to be read’ stack, I felt very seen (and a little called-out) by the Jesus in this meme.
At the risk of being pedantic, I want to point out, however, that while this meme is ment to aim some (playful, loving) snark at would-be bookworms like me, I think it misses the point of the scripture passage on which it’s based. Our story this week is often framed as Jesus, however gently, calling out a morally-dubious woman, laying bare her shame and still offering her, sins and all, to partake of the Living Water that life in Christ offers. This is a very individualistic interpretation, focused on the nature and benefits of a person’s relationship with Jesus. It’s also an interpretation that lacks crucial context. This woman’s marital history, while extensive, wouldn’t necessarily have been scandalous, or even entirely uncommon for a first century audience, and could easily be explained by her first husband dying, his brother marrying her (as was his obligation), this second husband dying, and the cycle repeating through the whole cohort of brothers until the only brother left refused to marry her.
Taking a step back to see the story as a whole, we arrive at a much more community-focused interpretation, where Jesus encounters the epitome of an outsider (a Samaritan woman) who he insists on treating like an insider, going so far as to share that he knows information about her that only a member of her own community would know, and inviting her to enter fully into the abundance of beloved community, quenching her thirst for belonging with Living Water. Her response, to immediately go to invite her own community into this wider movement, to extend the belonging ever outward, reveals she understands the Good News of Jesus Christ.
So what are we thirsting for?
Join me at the well on Sunday to sing, pray, ponder, and quench our thirst together with the Living Water.
In faith,
Amy
