Since leaving seminary, I have gotten out of the habit of writing manuscripts for my sermons, and for the most part, things have worked out fine. Yesterday though, for discipline's sake, I decided to write one out and read it. I'd like to share it with you and hear your thoughts. The layout is the way I did it yesterday.
The first husband was the one that she was arranged to be married to. They had grown up together. Their families did business together. She liked him well enough, but always found the idea of marriage to this childhood friend to be a bit strange. Still, he was good to her and she knew the marriage would mean security for her in the long run. She would want for nothing.
If his illness seemed sudden, his death seemed even more so. She grieved as much for herself as she did for him, until finally her brother-in-law, her dead husband's brother, did the right thing and took her into his home. Though the marriage was legitimate by all legal standards, her new husband couldn't bear the thought of being with his older brother's wife. She began to suspect that his attention was going elsewhere. When she finally had her suspicions confirmed, she decided it would be best to keep her family as well as the one that she had married into from as much shame as possible. They divorced quietly; neither party wished to make a spectacle of the ordeal. She moved away from the countryside with small settlement she received from husband number two.
Number three was the first man to actually sweep her off her feet. She loved him passionately and he returned her passion with an equal intensity. It's been said that women have a way of falling for bad men. She was no exception. They lived lavishly. She never had asked where the money came from, but she had her hunches. Still, she was captivated by him. He didn't care about her past. Instead, he made outlandish claims about how they would spend their future. Unfortunately, there is only so long that one man can live off of another's wealth. In a failed attempt to rob a trading caravan, he learned the hard way that rich men will do whatever is required to protect their riches. It was his death that hurt her more than any other pain that she had experienced.
Twice widowed, once divorced, she returned to her hometown. Her parents, who at this point simply wanted the best for their wayward daughter introduced her to yet another business associate, this one old enough to be her father. Still, he was a man of good reputation and enough stability to support them both. She secretly hoped to outlive this old man and return to her family with whatever he left her. Yet when it was all said and done, it was he who decided to be rid of her. He became frustrated when after several months she had yet to conceive. Man of power that he was, he could never consider the fact that perhaps he was the problem even at his age. After four husbands and no children, she had to accept what may have ended up being the harshest truth of all; that her womb was barren.
If she was unable to give birth then her body was really only good for one thing, and she would have to find a way to make a living off of that. Her fifth husband was more than willing to help her in that endeavor. He would secure her clients, mostly priests and officials who had to keep secrecy as a top priority, and she would keep a small percentage to live off of once she had given him his due. It was a harsh lifestyle. There was no respect to be found for a woman in her position and the clients, even the supposedly pious ones, were inhumanely cruel to her. Still, the abuses she received from clients paled in comparison to those she experienced when she returned home. He beat her if she came home without money. He beat her if she came home with too little money. He beat her when he was drunk. He allowed his friends to abuse her when they were drunk. There is only so much abuse the human spirit can take before it resists oppression at all costs. He disappeared. Shortly after, she disappeared. His body was found in a field. He had many enemies. Though everyone suspected her, no charges were made.
She gave up. The best she could hope for was occasional companionship. Not acceptance. Not love. Not compassion. Just a temporary warm body to distract her from the loneliness. She lived among the other outcasts. It was hard enough being a Samaritan, but to be reviled even among her fellow Samaritans was almost unbearable. She had attempted one morning to go to Jacob's well to get water for herself and her current companion. She couldn't bear the stares. The whispers were deafeningly loud. “Whore”, “Adulteress”, “Beggar”, “Murderer”, “Oh the shame she has brought on her family!”. She heard it all that day and vowed never to return to the well when the other women were there. So she waited for the hottest part of the day and only then, would she go to the well.
John 4
Jesus and the Woman of Samaria
Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, ‘Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John’— although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— he left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’
Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘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. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to 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 worshippers 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.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’
Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ They left the city and were on their way to him.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’
Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’
Okay, I took some liberties, I don't know the woman at the well's story. But it is hard to imagine in that time and culture what could have driven a woman into and out of five marriages. Yesterday, I and some of you attended our friend Lizz's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony. Much shorter than Marnie's and mine! A marriage at it's best is the uniting of two souls who stick it out for better and for worst and their lives become one life. I know from speaking to people who have divorced that when you separate, you realize the truth of that oneness. Even if the marriage was a complete disaster and the divorce needed to happen, the parties involved have lost a bit of themselves. It is hard to imagine what is left of this woman after five marriages ending.
What always strikes me about this passage is the fact that after her encounter with Jesus, this woman returned to her city and informed those who would listen that Jesus told her everything she had ever done. At least within the context we are given, that is certainly not the case. He never mentioned her acts of love. He never mentioned her acts kindness. He never mentioned her acts of humor. Or her acts of generosity. No, he only mentioned that she had been married five times and that she was currently living with someone who was not her husband and to her, that was everything. That was her whole life summed up by those failures of relationship. She had become defined by her sin. Now I'm sure that wasn't by her choosing. I'm sure she would have loved to have been known for her beauty, for her intelligence, for her ingenuity, for her leadership. But instead, she's the woman whose had five husbands. The whore, the slut, the adulteress, the prostitute.
You know it would be an awful thing to be known by your sin. I know I would be pretty miserable if my worst sin was always before my face. I will always have the worst things that I have done and left undone hidden in my heart and I'll probably always have to deal with them on some level, but I would hate walking around with those things thrown in front of my face daily. It does happen for many today and i would dare say that it happens more for women than it does for men. We have all sorts of lovely terms that we use to sum the character of woman based on her sin. Whore, slut, ho, bitch, baby killer. Women have had to bear the unfair burden of being more greatly identified with their sin over long periods of time. That's something that men bear a lot of the responsibility for. Certainly we all have to carry the weight of own decisions, but I propose that we often take it upon ourselves to add additional burdens onto the shoulders of those who are already burdened by their sin and I propose that we do that to women more than we do to men.
I want to play a song for you. The lyrics will be on the screen.
"I Get Out" -Lauryn Hill
[Singing Chorus] I get out, I get out of all your boxes I get out, you can't hold me in these chains I'll get out Father free me from this bondage Knowin' my condition Is the reason I must change [Verse 1] Your stinkin' resolution Is no type of solution Preventin' me from freedom Maintainin' your pollution I won't support your lie no more I won't even try no more If I have to die, oh Lord That's how I choose to live I won't be compromised no more I can't be victimized no more I just don't sympathize no more Cause now I understand You just wanna use me You say "love" then abuse me You never thought you'd lose me But how quickly we forget That nothin' is for certain You thought I'd stay here hurtin' Your guilt trip's just not workin' Repressin' me to death Cause now I'm choosin' life, yo I’ll take the sacrifice, yo If everything must go, then go That's how I choose to live [Pause] [Singing rest of Verse 1] That's how I choose to live... No more compromises I see past your disguises Blindin' me through mind control Stealin' my eternal soul Appealin' through material To keep me as your slave [Singing Chorus] But I get out Oh, I get out of all your boxes I get out Oh, you can't hold me in these chains I'll get out Oh, I want out of social bondage Knowin' my condition Oh, is the reason I must change [Singing Verse 2] See, what you see is what you get Oh, and you ain't seen nothin' yet Oh, I don't care if you're upset I could care less if you're upset See it don't change the truth And your hurt feeling's no excuse To keep me in this box Psychological locks Repressin' true expression Cementin' this repression Promotin' mass deception So that no one can be healed I don't respect your system I won't protect your system When you talk I don't listen Oh, let my Father's will be done [Singing Chorus] And just get out Oh, just get out of all these bondage Just get out Oh, you can't hold me in chains Just get out All these traditions killin' freedom Knowin' my condition Is the reason I must change [Singing Verse 3] I've just accepted what you said Keepin' me among the dead The only way to know Is to walk then learn and grow But faith is not your speed Oh, you've had everyone believed That you're the sole authority Just follow the majority Afraid to face reality The system is a joke Oh, you'd be smart to save your soul Oh, when escape is mind control You spent your life in sacrifice To a system for the dead Oh, are you sure... Where is the passion in this living Are you sure it's God you’re servin' Obligated to a system Getting less then you're deserving Who made up these schools, I say Who made up these rules, I say Animal conditioning Oh, just to keep us as a slave [Singing Chorus] Oh, just get out Of this social purgatory Just get out All these traditions are a lie Just get out Superstition killing freedom Knowin' my condition Is the reason I must die Just get out Just get out Just get out Let's get out Let's get out Knowin' my condition Is the reason I must die Just get out
There is a whole school of theology that teaches that God's primary work in the world is the work of liberating people from oppression. When I read this story of the woman at the well, I see a woman having a liberating encounter with the living God. I see a woman being given the offer of eternal life, wanting to be free of the bondage that life has put her. The bondage of isolation, the bondage of loneliness, the bondage of being identified solely as a sinner. This woman has an encounter with the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, the God who loves His people enough to dwell among them and she is freed.
How do we know she's freed? Well, she returns to the city, the city where she has undoubtedly been on the receiving end of barbs and insults, and degrading comments, and innuendo, and maybe even outright abuse and she proclaims that she has had an encounter with the Messiah. I think knowing her position in life she could not declare that he was the Messiah, but she could say what her experience of him was. We know she's freed because despite the infamy that she lives with, her testimony brings many to belief. At this point in the Gospel of John, only two other people have pointed Jesus out as the Messiah; John the Baptist and Andrew, the brother of Peter. And of the three, she was the most effective. Andrew brought Peter, John brought some disciples, the woman has brought a city to Christ. She is among the Gospels' first evangelists. Why is it that she is only referred to as the woman at the well? Why don't we refer to her as the woman who evangelized Sychar? Or the woman with the living water? Or the better Samaritan?
For a long time the Church (capital “C”) has done a lot to suppress various voices in its community. I've watched over the last couple of years how my female colleagues from seminary have languished in their search for ministry positions in which to share their gifts while their male counterparts get positions with what seems like very little effort. It is easy for me as an African American to talk about how the voices of people of color have been suppressed. It's a lot harder for me as a man to talk about how the voices of women have been suppressed. Once while Saleem and I were talking about worship here at Mosaic, he expressed his joy at our new preaching rotation and then said that it would be good if we could also get someone with a little less facial hair to preach on occasion. Dimwit that I am, I took it as an indication that I needed to shave. Of course, he was talking about having more female voices represented. I confess to you all my own misogyny and how I have not honored women in my life. It is something that I deeply repent of and truly want to change in my own life.
I believe there are two kinds of sin in this world: self assertion and self negation. Self assertion says I want that, gimme, it exalts self above others. Self negation denies the image of Christ in you. It says “I am worthless”. I have no value apart from what I can offer to others. Self negation isn't unique to women. As a child of abandonment and abuse, I often struggle to see my own value as having its source in God alone. But self negation is bondage. It is a box that we must escape from to be the true us that God has intended for us all to be. We have a friend at the Project whose mother works for Christians for Biblical Equality. The group refers to themselves as being extraordinary advocates for Christ's liberation from human limitations imposed by gender, ethnicity or class and isn't that what we all should be. We have to say along with Lauryn Hill that we won't be victimized no more. We won't be compromised no more. None of us can be as useful to the kingdom of God as we desire to be if we stay enslaved to our sins.
Let me say one last thing. Jesus says to the woman that the time is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship in Spirit and in truth. He says to her that worship is not limited to location. Well, it's also not limited to time. It's not limited to style. We've done a terrible thing to the word “worship”. We've used it define our musical preferences. 'We're a black church so we need to have a choir, we're an emerging church so we ned to have a praise band, we're a Presbyterian church so we need to have hymnals. We're a blended worship church so at some point in the service you're going to be unhappy. Friends, worship is about so much more than what style of music you like or dislike. For the past week and a half I've been speaking to groups of college students from Isaiah 58. The audience of that part of Isaiah was a part of the Nehemiah revolution of returning from captivity, rebuilding the temple and restoring the rites and rituals. They thought that if they fasted the right way, and prayed the right way, and sang the right way, then God would be near to them. But God says through the prophet “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” Paul says in Romans 12 that I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Brothers and sisters, worship has much more to do with what we do once we leave this sanctuary than it has to do with what we do inside of it. It has to do with living lives toward God and toward each other. It has to do with releasing people from bondage whether that be the bondage of others people's pride or the bondage of their own self negation. And it has to do with being authentically who we are before God, warts and all, and knowing that we are both fully known and fully loved in Jesus Christ.
Not to mention the additional burdens that the people reading the scripture heap onto the backs of its female characters!
This was awesome. So awesome that I'm emailing it to my mother right now. We recently had quite the conversation about slurs against the Samaritan woman.
Posted by: Heather W. Reichgott | March 12, 2008 at 12:52 AM
Agreed.
Thank you, Heather. The compliment means a lot coming from you.
Posted by: Derrick Weston | March 12, 2008 at 08:29 AM