Let’s look together at the story of The Woman At The Well from John 4:1+ What Is the Meaning of Immanuel in the Bible? Learn how your comment data is processed. Makes sense. Question: "Who were the Samaritans?" There are lessons here about racial prejudice, religious hatred, and dealing with moral outcasts. all that shining morning scattered His acknowledgment and acceptance of this fact is brought out in the way he frames his response by complimenting how the Samaritan spoke and by his own use of the word man in both senses. Wish I had read your essay before treating that scene in my novel The Passion of Mary Magdalen. Just as the Samaritan woman was looking to men to satisfy her soul, we also look to things outside of Christ to give our hearts meaning and purpose . For an overview of some of the interpretive issues raised by it there is a video of a conversation about it between H. W. Attridge and D. L. Bartlett of Yale Divinity School available on Youtube here. The title of the famous short story by J. D. Salinger, Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters, is a quote from a fragment of one such song attributed to Sappho: the dimensions of the bridal chamber need to be expanded to make room for the exaggerated ‘size’ of the excited groom, who she compares to a god. Share how the woman went to collect water at the hottest time of the day because she didn’t want to see anyone or anyone to see her. Sixth hour Probably noon. For example, when the Samaritan asks Jesus if he is ‘bigger’- at John 4:12 -it would seem she wants that word to be taken in any number of ways. In those days, husbands divorced their wives, but wives did not divorce their husbands. Readers of the Jewish (or, for that matter, the Samaritan) scriptures would know that when a man and a woman meet at a well, a wedding usually follows. φέρεις ὄιν, φέρεις αἶγα, φέρεις ἄπυ μάτερι παῖδα. The story of the woman at the well is one of the most iconic encounters in the Bible. Vs. 7-8 – There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. To my knowledge no one before has argued for such a reading of this story. In the book of Acts, after Jesus' ascension into heaven, his apostles carried on his work in Samaria and to the Gentile world. It was about noon, the hottest part of the day, and a Samaritan woman came to the well at this inconvenient time to draw water. In this video, Dr. Brant Pitre discusses Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. Modern English has a parallel: in the formulaic expression “I now pronounce you man and wife,” man means husband rather than simply ‘adult male,’ yet man can have an almost psychological meaning. The Samaritan woman Jesus met faced prejudice from her own community. The human tendency is to judge others because of stereotypes, customs, or prejudices. The Message The Woman at the Well 4 1-3 Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). Jesus answered, "I who speak to you am he." She believed in Him, and then returned to her town to tell others who came to see for themselves. Jesus stayed two days, teaching the Samaritan people about the Kingdom of God. Living water: … (John 4:29, ESV). "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman," she reminded him. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. I have had failed marriages. I did not know a loving God growing up. 194 This woman was “ put away ” five times. The story of Jesus and the woman at the well is very familiar. Use our Bible object lesson to share this message with the children in your church. Up to that point she had led a sinful life, one which resulted in a rebuke from Jesus Christ. (Cornell, 1995) and is currently an independent researcher and writer living in New York City. The story of Jesus and the woman at the well is very familiar. It is also worth noting that the conversation between the Samaritan woman and Jesus is the longest one-on-one exchange ever recorded by any of the Gospel writers. Jesus explains that He is the Living Water. The woman herself knew she wasn’t married to a (human) husband. In John 4 the Woman at the Well has a divine encounter with Jesus. And as regards nature there is something truly embracing of unconditional love in her heart. A man meets a woman in a seemingly chance encounter. Liz Curtis Higgs. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Note also that she was alone, a fact that will have meaning as we learn more about her. The Gift of God: The gift of God was His Son, (John 3:16), the benefit was eternal life. The “woman at the well” is a woman whose sins are apparent, but she has not sinned alone. The Greek “φέρεις” (phereis) repeated three times, not only means to bring back, but also to carry back (to carry the responsibility of compassion on one’s own shoulders). Angelica Kauffman’s 18th-century painting of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well. The Woman at the Well in John 4 is an important Bible story for kids. Note that the woman is drawing water at noon, an unusual time because the normal time for this would be at evening. Here’s the Greek: The Woman at the Well: Thirsty for Truth. Jesus knew this. (Tulane, 1976) and J.D. Above all, the story, which unfolds in John 4:1-40, suggests that Jesus is a loving and accepting God, and we should follow his example. I enjoy Sappho’s poetry on so many different levels, yes the love poems, but also her philosophy of life. Remember also that Sappho was a true mom with a daughter she loved dearly named Cleis. The story begins as Jesus and his disciples are traveling from Jerusalem in the south to Galilee in the north. Her most moving lines to me are these (reminiscent of Jesus as Shepherd), and translated in a Japanese poetry collection by Kure Shigeichi — who connected her, I think quite rightly, in terms of form and content, to the Japanese tanka and haiku tradition: Sappho says: There is enormous depth of meaning in the poem also for feminism and religion. And this well is not just any well; it is the same well where Jacob met his first wife Rachel in Gen 29. When Jesus first uses the word it clearly means husband or partner. She appears at an odd time of day with no one else around and manifests an inquisitive, independent mind. That resonates with how the groom at a Greek wedding would, with sexually charged humor, be compared to a god in wedding songs. On its surface, the story chronicles ethnic prejudice and a woman shunned by her community. The story of the woman at the well teaches us that God loves us in spite of our bankrupt lives. Thank you for your comments on this piece and on my blog. Image: Paolo Veronese We don't know her name or age. God values us enough to actively seek us, to welcome us to intimacy, and to rejoice in our worship. This view gains traction when we look at the heavy symbolism in the story. Brava! The Woman at the Well Part 1. Spiritual vs. Material: The Middle Way? Maybe this is the day that you, like the woman in this story, will find eternal life through Jesus Christ. Thank you very much. SONG IDEAS: ‘Friend of God’ ‘Royalty’ by Hillsong Kids ‘Oh What Love – Be Exalted’ by Watoto Childrens Choir But look deeper, and you'll realize it reveals a great deal about Jesus' character. Jacob's well The site known today is authentic. BIG IDEA: I AM KNOWN BY JESUS AIM: ‘The Woman At the Well Encounters Jesus’ Childrens Lesson is intended to help children understand and think over the fact that Jesus knows all about them – the good things and the bad – and he loves them! 17 The Samaritan answered, “I do not have a ‘man.”’ Jesus said to her “Beautifully you said ‘I do not have a man.’ I was in a very abusive, alcoholic family and continued their patterns into my adult life. Jesus alone is the Living Water that fills our void. Angelica Kauffman’s 18th-century painting of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well. There are lessons here about racial prejudice, religious hatred, and dealing with moral outcasts. The woman at the well was searching for the one true God and she was trying them all and wasn’t satisfied with any of them, even the sixth one. ( Log Out / In truth, we don’t “know” a whole about her, and we only have smidgens of her poetry left to remind us of her genius. by Rita M. Gross, Catholic Feminists Meet, Strategize by Rosemary Radford Ruether and Theresa Yugar, Learning from the Nation by Jameelah X. Medina, Sexist Responses to Women Writing About Religion by Sarah Sentilles. Part I, Gratitude and Hope: With a Lot of Help from My Friends by Carol P. Christ, Subversive Sister Saints by Angela Yarber, Good Things Come to an End by amina wadud, The Importance of Ritual for a Goddess Woman by Deanne Quarrie, Mormon Feminism and the Need for Ritual and Practice Creation by Caroline Kline, Gratitude and Hope: With a Lot of Help from My Friends by Carol P. Christ, Like Water Flowing Down a Mountain: Creating Lasting Change by Carolyn Lee Boyd, Honoring Our Mothers, Honoring Our Selves by Safa Plenty, Where Did She Go? Categories: Bible, General, Scripture, Textual Interpretation, Tags: Christianity, female spirituality, Gospel of John, John 4:16-19, John 4:7-29, lesbian spirituality, Samaritan woman, Sappho, Stuart Dean, woman at the well. Both Nicodemus and the woman at the well must decide what to do with what Jesus has told them. She is telling Jesus she is a lesbian. Jesus’ conversation with the woman about her “five husbands” has a deeper meaning beyond just the woman’s own checkered marital history.CNS Photo A man meets a woman in a seemingly chance encounter. I have been one of those bad girls. Most of the those “scholars” spoke with an arrogance that I found hard to swallow. A modern day monologue version of the what the Woman at the well said to Jesus. The story can be read in John chapter 4 and finds Jesus speaking to a woman. They were hated by the Jews because of this cultural mixing and because they had their own version of the Bible and their own temple on Mount Gerizim. In the days of the Church Fathers, did the whole Church fast, pray, and give alms for the forty dayspreceding Easter? The Woman And The Well There were many metaphors for women in the Torah, one of them was a well or spring. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." The “woman at the well” is a Samaritan, and Samaritans have their own distinct religion—a corruption of the Jewish faith. At first, the Samaritan woman did not fully understand Jesus' meaning. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Watch the children's sermon demonstration below, download the teaching notes, and then gather your object lesson supplies. It is midday, and Jesus and his disciples have arrived at a Samaritan town called Sychar which is close to … Previously he worked in a variety of other capacities, including 15 years as a corporate attorney. (John 4:26, ESV), As the woman began to grasp the reality of her encounter with Jesus, the disciples returned. Before I explain exactly what the play on meaning is about I want to justify the assumption that there is some sort of play in the first place. in the eight directions. The story in the Gospel of John of the encounter Jesus has with a Samaritan woman (hereafter, ‘the Samaritan’) at Jacob’s well (4:7-29) has attracted considerable scholarly attention. John 4:5-6 sets the scene for this narrative. John 4:1-26) Verse 1-4: “when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. Jesus, the Woman at the Well, and the Meaning of ‘Man’ by Stuart Dean. The lines you quote are fragment 104a. They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. Without Jesus, our souls are dead. Of all the women in the bible I relate to the woman at the well the most. Told in John 4:1-42, it depicts how Jesus, traveling through Samaria on the way to Galilee, sat down at a well in the town of Sychar. When I was writing a page (yes, just a simple page) about Sappho, I was overwhelmed with the amount of scholarship available. Absolutely. The free love of the 60’s. It is the tale of a woman who went out on a normal day’s activity – to get some water from the well — and yet she found more than she ever expected. First, he spoke to her despite the fact that she was a woman. Yet, when the Samaritan responds she is picking up on the biological meaning. Let’s look at the Scripture first, and then take a tour of the area. The Samaritans looked for the Christ and expected Him to be a prophet who would teach them. She came to draw water at the hottest part of the day, instead of the usual morning or evening times, because she was shunned and rejected by the other women of the area for her immorality. The story of the woman at the well is one of the most well known in the Bible; many Christians can easily give a summary of it. They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. As Sappho uses it in the line just quoted, ‘man’ (the same word used in John 4:16-18) clearly has primarily a biological meaning: it refers to a male adult. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35, NLT). Stuart Dean has a B.A. Going to the well The New Testament describes the familiar account of the "woman at the well" (John 4:5-42), who was a Samaritan. For centuries Jews and Samaritans had rejected each other. For an overview of some of the interpretive issues raised by it there is a video of a conversation about it between H. W. Attridge and D. … Jesus and the woman discussed their views on worship, and the woman voiced her belief that the Messiah was coming. Do you dismiss certain people as lost causes, or do you see them as valuable in their own right, worthy of knowing about the gospel? It is also worth noting that the conversation between the Samaritan woman and Jesus is the longest one-on-one exchange ever recorded by any of the Gospel writers. See on ge3318. In a few brief moments her life is changed forever. One of the encounters is between Jesus and a Samaritan woman, who is often referred to as the woman at the well. 185 If the woman at the well is to come to a saving faith, she must change her course, just as Jesus required of Nicodemus. "How can you ask me for a drink?" Jesus alone is the Living Water that fills our void. Here’s more about the woman at the well and her conversation with Jesus: Background: A Samaritan woman meets Jesus alone when she goes to draw water from her town well. And, third, he asked her to get him a drink of water, although using her cup or jar would have made him ceremonially unclean. It is a time not just for personal growth, but for growth of the Church. 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