Newsletter Vol. 1 Issue 10

Woman at the Wall
James Tissot

 
Pre-Read: John 4: 4-42   

As Jesus becomes an adult and enters into his public ministry to proclaim the Kingdom of God, he is baptized, chooses his disciples, and begins preaching the Good News. There are many biblical passages we can enter when we try and meditate on Jesus’ proclamation. Today, we invite you to prayerfully read the story of the Woman at the Well. 

In this story, Jesus and his disciples journey through the region of Samaria en route to Galilee. While his disciples go into town to buy food, he sits near a well during the heat of the day. A Samaritan woman approaches the well and he asks her for a drink. It is a strange question because Jews and Samaritans did not share anything in common. They engage in a lively exchange, and eventually, Jesus reveals that she is speaking to the Messiah. She leaves the well- changed and goes back to evangelize to all in her town.

The encounter is noteworthy, culturally speaking. Not only does Jesus speak in this story to an “inferior” Samaritan, asking her for a glass of water, but a woman, a frowned-upon activity in his time. She is coming out in the hot of the day, which may make us wonder whether she was an outcast in her community. To be married six times, as the woman was, is a telling statement too in any society. 

As you pray, how might he be inviting you into a deeper understanding of yourself and racial justice in our society? 

Like all of us, Jesus was a man with his own assumptions about what is good and superior based on the social context of his time on earth. Because he was a first-century Jew, he grew up learning that he was “superior” to the Samaritan people. This was more than just simple discrimination against a particular ethnic group, however. Like our society which has historically designated African Americans and other people of color to be unclean, , Samaritans were considered impure, unclean, and Jews were forbidden to associate with them. To do so, it was believed, would render the Jew “unclean” before God. This divide stretched back centuries because Samaritans refused to worship in Jerusalem with the Jews. “Samaritans” were made up of northern Jews who separated from the unified kingdom after the death of Solomon and foreign Gentile colonists from Babylon and Assyria, enemies of Judea. Thus, the people who would become the Samaritans were seen as enemies both religiously and politically. 

Thus, at all costs, the Samaritan was to be avoided and the Jews were commanded to “use nothing in common with Samaritans” (John 4:9). Just like us, Jesus was blinded by his ethnic identity, and like us, was prone to make judgments about who was “good” or “bad” both consciously and unconsciously based on social norms. Like we may do at times, he judged others based on his biased belief that Samaritans were inferior to him.

And yet, she and Jesus have an encounter: it starts with bickering back and forth about what should be considered right, or normal. Jesus insults her people by saying they have failed to acknowledge the gift of God (John 4:10). And yet it is she who sees him for who he is: a prophet. Ultimately, even though Jesus at first sees her as part of an inferior group of people, she sees that he speaks with authority like Amos and Micah who called out the harsh burdens placed on the poor and marginalized by the powerful political and religious elite. 

READ "Examining our Subconscious Perceptions" from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

What was my experience with this reflection? How did I feel?

Have I had an encounter like Jesus or the Samaritan Woman? Which one am I? How did this encounter change me? 

Where do I need to be humbled like Jesus and see outside my own cultural categories? 

Where do I need to examine how structural racism, historical racism, and cultural racism shape the way I interact with people who are different than I?