“THE WOMAN AT THE WELL”
John 4:5-30,39-42
The Rev. Ms. Laurie A. McNeill
Montclair, New Jersey
February 27, 2005
Prejudice is alive and well.
Racism makes novel the election of a bright, young man to be the junior senator of
Illinois. National headlines trumpeting the victory of Barak Obama were gained because of
the tantalizing combination of brilliance and race.
Sexism makes newsworthy the firing of the CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Executives
come and go, but the ousting of Carly Fiorina was closely examined because of her gender.
Marital status makes possible the acceptance of a society who rewards a marriage
between husband and wife. A governorship was gained by James McGreevey after he
entered into wedlock.
Persons of color, women, and single people are treated with prejudice. Harvard
President Lawrence Summers regrets that he has exemplified a truth in which we all
participate. Prejudice is alive and not well.
Prejudice is not a modern phenomenon. Prejudice is front and center in today’s
gospel lesson.
The story from John’s gospel is remarkable. Not only is it the longest recorded
dialogue Jesus has with anyone, it is with a Samaritan woman who is not married. The
woman at the well represents a trifecta of exclusion. The fact that her story is included in
our New Testament is amazing!
After all, the woman is a woman, and in those days women were dehumanized and
considered to be property. The only value a woman had was in relationship to a man, or as a
mother of male children.
Not only is our central character a woman, but she is a Samaritan woman, and the
Samaritans were despised by the Jews. The Samaritans evolved as a people when the Jews
were exiled by the Babylonians. The Jews were displaced from Palestine long enough to
marry outside their own race and, over time, they worshiped other gods. So the Samaritans
were a mixed breed of people, impure. And they dishonored God with their impure
religious practices. Once the Jews returned to the promised land, they loathed the
Samaritans that had corrupted their race.
As if being a Samaritan woman is not enough, this woman has been married five
times, which means she probably has been rejected five times. Women were incapable of
divorcing their husbands; it was husbands who had the power to divorce. Perhaps this
woman has lost a husband or two to death, but more than likely she has been turned out on
the streets by her former husbands. If she had burned the pita bread, failed to bear male
children, gone out in public alone – if she had been guilty of any of these offenses, her
husbands would have had grounds for divorce.
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