We often think of this story as that of a typical un-churched or de-churched person. Quite frankly, the story of the woman at the well is more the story of a church going, God loving person; she was living her faith to the best of her abilities; the only way she knew how. She isn’t really a seeker. She didn’t come to Jesus asking for Spiritual guidance, Jesus came to her asking for a drink of water. It is easy to assume, thanks to John’s use of detail, that this woman is in some way a very sinful person - heck she’s living with a man after five failed marriages – but judging from her theological understanding it seems to me that she is, in fact, a victim of her circumstances. Her husbands have either died or divorced her; she, it seems, has had little, if anything to do with it – except maybe having been educated in theology; that would certainly be grounds for divorce in first century Palestine.
So we’ll assume, for sake of argument, that this woman is a devout Samaritan, worshipping God to the best of her ability the only way she knows how. She arrives at the well at noon because she is tired of the abuse she gets from the other women who seem to have it all together. They haven’t been married five times, and they feel they can look down their noses at this woman. So she quits the game. She chooses to remove herself from their mockery. She heads to the well at noon. Today, however, her plan has backfired. Instead of avoiding a mess, she finds at the well a man, and not just any man, but what appears to be a Jewish man. “This can’t end well,” she must think to herself, “but I’ll keep my head down, get my water, and get home.” Her newly revised plan fails when Jesus, thirsty from a hot morning on the road, asks her to draw him a drink from the well. Avoidance is now impossible – she must engage this man, this Jewish man.
So our devout Samaritan woman begins a conversation with this man. Most certainly she is hesitant at first, “Jews didn’t share things in common with Samaritans, things like water cups and conversation”[1] But as the conversation goes on it becomes clear that this isn’t any normal conversation – she has met someone special. By the end of their time together she is starting to think the unimaginable, she has met the Messiah! She leaves her water jar behind, rushes back to town, and pounds down the doors of the people she has tried so hard to avoid. “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” She still isn’t sure, her question in Greek shows the expectation of a negative answer. “This can’t be the Christ, can it?” Still, something has changed within her, her eyes have been opened and she must share the news. And it all started with a question.
Jesus asked her a question that has no deep meaning behind it, “Will you give me a drink?” How often in life do relationships begin with a simple question? It happens all the time. One thing Cassie and I have noted since we moved down here is the “classic Alabama over share.” You know it. You go into the Winn-Dixie to grab a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. You finally arrive at the front of the cashier line and say, “how are you?” to the woman smiling behind the check stand. In my experience growing up in Pennsylvania and living in Virginia the expected answer is, “I’m good” or “I’m fine” or “OK”. But here, it is so very different. “I’m exhausted, it has been a long day. My two year-old was up at three with a fever and rash. Then I had to be up at 6 to get the other two ready for school. I had a doctor’s appointment, then I got here at noon and I work ‘til eight.” I now know more about this woman who is ringing up my groceries than half the people I graduated from high school with. There is something healthy about the “Alabama over share.” I am forced to actually engage the people with whom I occupy this space. I can’t go around ignoring the world around me, and in these encounters I am changed. Slowly I have come to understand that the woman behind the cash register isn’t just slow, but she is, in fact, exhausted – I’ve learned to cut her some slack – even pray for her as I wait. And it all started with a question
Jesus lived a life of questions. He asked questions. He welcomed questions. He rarely answered someone without asking another question. It is a life few of us understand these days; questions have gone out of style. Instead, with our 24 hour news cycle we live in a world of answers. From Kindergarten on up we are taught to receive answers rather than to ask questions. Our teachers impart knowledge upon us. Our preachers stand up and tell us how to interpret texts and how to live our lives. Our televisions are full of “experts” who have all the answers from who will win the Super Bowl to how to end the war in Iraq. Nobody is asking questions because everybody has all the answers. But Jesus, Jesus asked questions.
It seems clear from this story that a primary spiritual practice is question asking. Our devout Samaritan woman asks questions, “How can you ask me for a drink?” “Where can you get this living water?” “Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?” “Could this be the Christ?” She isn’t afraid to have her opinions challenged. She asks questions not really expecting to be changed by the answers. Her life experience is not about having the answers but about asking the questions. Her reward is a life changed forever – our devout Samaritan is now a believer of the Christ and an evangelist for the way.
Each of us has the opportunity to be changed in a similar way. In asking real questions we are forced to look at our underlying assumptions. We end a sedentary life of answer downloading and begin a quest for knowledge by asking questions. It is dangerous and scary to leave our comfortable life of answers behind. The possibility of change is not always a happy one, but in our Gospel lesson today it is clear that sitting still in our easy answers is not an option. The answers we found early on in our faith journey are not the be all and end all – God has much more to teach.
Some years ago, writer Eugene Peterson found an analogy for this battle between couch potato faith and the spiritual quest in, of all things, a Winnie the Pooh story. In one of the many tales from the Hundred-Acre Woods, Christopher Robin and company decide to set out one day in search of the North Pole. At one point along the way, young Roo falls into a stream and needs to be rescued. Pooh Bear eventually uses a long pole to fish his friend out of the water. Once this emergency had passed, the animals stand around and discuss what had just happened.
As they are talking, Christopher Robin notices that Pooh is standing there with the rescue pole still in his paw. "Pooh, where did you get that pole?" "I just found it earlier," Pooh replies. "I thought it might be useful." "Pooh," Christopher Robin says excitedly, "the expedition is over! You have found the North Pole!" "Oh," says Pooh, "I did?" Eventually Christopher Robin sinks the pole into the ground and hangs a flag on it with this message: "The North Pole, Discovered by Pooh. Pooh Found It." Then they all go home again, satisfied that this quest was successful. This story, Peterson suggests, bears some resemblance to the way many people in recent years have gone about their various spiritual quests.
People are in search of something quite grand but, like Christopher Robin and company, they seem quite willing to label the first thing they find as being "it." They are hungry and thirsty for something more, so they go to Barnes & Noble, stumble on some book and they think they've arrived at their destination. They see that someone has slapped a label of spiritual authority onto this work--you can, after all, always find someone with a "Rev." in front of his name or a "Ph.D." after her name, to write glowing blurbs for such books. And suddenly, like Christopher Robin's flag, people think this label authenticates this version of “THE ANSWER”
One estimate claims that there are nearly 10,000 different books currently in print that dole out spiritual advice. Many of these have been best-sellers over the years, which means that some of the same people are buying different books all the time. This is great news. The spiritual pole they confidently labeled as "the North Pole" six months ago must not have turned out to be the end-destination after all. So they go out in search of another, asking new and different questions hoping for fresher different answers.[2] The quest for the North Pole goes on.
Our devout Samaritan woman, despite her best efforts to avoid being changed, stumbles upon a man to whom questions are quite comfortable. In the end, her life was forever changed. Where is your quest taking you? What questions are you feeling compelled to ask? Are you willing to be changed by the answers? And then, instead of sitting comfortably in the answers, will you step out again by asking new and different questions?
Our devout Samaritan woman set out for the well at noon expecting a day like any other. She was comfortable despite her circumstances, she made do. But in a question; in a chance meeting her life changed. Where will you meet Jesus? What questions will he ask? What questions do you have for him? How will your life be changed? Be on the lookout, Jesus might be thirsty today at your well.
[1] http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/february-24-third-sunday-in.html
[2] The article at http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/thisWeek/index.php saw this as a negative, but I have taken their story and spun it the other direction. Sermons are so much fun!
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