Today’s Invitation
Today we invite you to explore Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well through theologian Elizabeth Johnson’s feminist approach; engage the importance of dialogue for both lay people and clergy, as outlined in Catholic social teaching; and embody a feminist approach and dialogue through a community of lay women, known as The Grail.
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Reconsidering Conversion
Who is this woman from Samaria that encounters Jesus at Jacob’s well? Usually, the Samaritan woman is recalled as the woman who had five husbands, whom Jesus forgave. But is this detail the most important aspect of this character? The Samaritan woman plays an important role in our understanding of Jesus’s mission, considering that the writer of the Gospel of John devotes an entire chapter to this encounter.
In this story, Jesus brings up the Samaritan woman’s marital status, saying to her: “For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband,” (Jn. 4:18). Bible commentaries frequently associate this line with a condition of sin. However, the text is silent with regards to the cause of her situation. In fact, if we think about her social-historical context, on the one hand, it was very difficult for a woman to get, on her own, a divorce; and, on the other hand, we should not exclude the possibility of widowhood. Instead, what the text suggests is that the woman was somehow marginalized, or living on the fringes of her community. At the time, women usually gathered early in the morning to get water, but the Samaritan woman chose the hottest hour to go alone to the well, as the text reads,“It was about noon,” (Jn. 4:6).
According to Christian feminist theology, it is urgent that we recover, remember, and re-imagine what has been overlooked or neglected in scripture due to patriarchal patterns of interpretation, especially with regards to women’s stories and experiences of God. For feminist theologian Elizabeth Johnson, the point is not to exclude or erase traditional male symbols. If they have the power to communicate divine presence in their circumstances, they should not be rejected. Yet, as Johnson reminds us, in her book, She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse: “In the concrete context of patriarchy, such symbols in fact have not functioned to emancipate women. And even if they have that potential, they need to prove it, considering the long tradition of suffering and oppression toward women,” (40). In this particular story, it is important to free not only the woman, but also this text from the prejudice and excessive moralization that have made up the reception and interpretation of this biblical passage.
If we look at Jesus’s actions in this story, he is and sees beyond all this prejudice. Jesus is more concerned with the person than with social conventions. The dialogue that springs from this encounter is initiated by Jesus: “Give me a drink,” he says to the Samaritan woman (Jn. 4:7). Jesus crosses all boundaries that would prevent that encounter from taking place. Jesus disrupts the cultural, social, historical, and even religious barriers (e.g., purity laws), which separated him from this woman. Theirs is one of the longest dialogues in the New Testament, and is the longest that Jesus has with a woman. The Samaritan woman is, according to several scholars, the first person to develop a theological conversation with Jesus. As soon as she realizes that Jesus is the Messiah, she runs to her community to share with them this overflowing experience. The fact that she left the water jar behind shows us the rush, and the abundant joy that could not be self-contained.
This encounter invites us to reconsider the category of conversion. For Johnson, the traditional take on conversion (decentering to overcome one’s ego and to be filled with God’s grace) cannot be easily applied to someone who is already excluded or marginalized. That process of disowning oneself would only reinforce the situation of oppression. Conversion, here with Jesus, becomes an event of liberation from all circumstances that prevent the self, in their own condition and truth, from experiencing that abundance of life.
Perhaps, the story of the Samaritan woman is revealing, not so much for the particular circumstances of her marital status, but because of the intimacy of the encounter she has experienced. Perhaps we can remember the Samaritan woman, not as the wife of five husbands, but as the one who recognized the Messiah, and allowed her heart to become, “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn. 4:14).
Commentary by Sónia Monteiro
A Contemplative Exercise
Today, you are invited to find a relaxing place where you can hear the sound of water (e.g., a river, waterfall, fountain, etc.).
Let yourself be enveloped by the music that springs from the water.
Repeat the following passage from the book of Ezequiel:
…Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live (…) It will become fresh, and everything will live where the river goes (…) because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. (Ezeq. 47).
The Grail is an international and ecumenical community of women, grounded in Christian faith, that seeks to give visibility to the role of women in all dimensions of life, including the life of the church. It was founded in Holland in 1921 as Women of Nazareth, by a group of five young women and Dutch Jesuit priest, Fr. Jacques van Ginneken. Today, The Grail has local communities in 17 different countries around the world; together they share a common vision and mission.
This spiritual movement, organized under the leadership of lay women, relies on the diversity of talents and callings of its members. This plurality encouraged a model of organization less hierarchically oriented, and more in harmony with a shared responsibility and interdependency of these women.
Jesus Met the Woman at the Well, by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1986)