The woman at the well and the water beneath the surface

John's Gospel tells us about Jesus making his way through Samaria. He comes to Jacob's well and encounters a woman who's there to draw water. Jesus is tired, thirsty, vulnerable from his journey, and he asks her to give him a drink.

She responds out of what she has always known — that Samaritans and Jews made their differences the reality of living. But Jesus, in his own vulnerability, sees that what she has always known is that differences separate others.

An encounter between communities

This woman is no ordinary person. She's very conscious. She knows her community well. She speaks of the greatness of her ancestor Jacob. But when Jesus offers her the living waters of life, she also notices that Jesus has no bucket to draw from the well.

Most of her responses, if we look into them, are not so much resilience as they are what the social construct of the woman's community has imposed on her.

Biblical scholars have said this is an encounter that doesn't involve only two people. Rather, this encounter is a plural encounter — Jesus and the Samaritan woman representing their communities. In other words, the unnamed woman being called a Samaritan woman is symbolic of her people. And so for her and Jesus to be in conversation not only challenges the status quo, but the dialogue itself needs our full attention.

Breaking taboos

The conversation begins with Jesus asking for a simple drink. It immediately breaks two taboos: a Jew speaking intimately with a Samaritan, and a man initiating a conversation with a woman in public.

But Jesus quickly moves from physical water to living water. He says, "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."

For the woman, living water simply meant running water, like a fresh spring, as opposed to stagnant well water. But for Jesus, it meant the gift of the Holy Spirit and eternal life.

Recognizing her reality

Jesus mentioning the woman's five husbands is often misinterpreted as judging and shaming her for her past and present relationships. But rather, out of compassion, Jesus recognizes that the laws of that society have given rights only for women to be married off to the brothers of their husbands and their husband's families. This woman has been passed around as many times as the males have done.

For the woman, that is her reality of survival — living in a space of having no options but to be vulnerable and submissive within that society. Here Jesus recognizes the history and complication of the woman's reality.

I'm reminded of the calling of the prophet Jeremiah to bring a message of judgment and hope to Judah. Jeremiah resisted this because he was too young. That was his excuse. Yet in this story, it is a conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman whose community has always seen differences of religious understanding and gender as exclusion, justification of violence to her gender, segregation as a reason to be unwelcoming.

In the Jeremiah story, we are reminded that God said to Jeremiah, "I have known you from the time you were formed in your mother's womb." And here Jesus' response transforms these labels which have justified the woman's exclusion to being the first disciple — the one who sees, hears, and goes to tell others that she has encountered the one who is greater than their ancestors. The root and source of all living waters has freed her.

Gender violence then and now

The Samaritan woman — many of the labels and exclusion imposed on her are based on her gender. She is a symbol of how bodies of women have been used for gender violence.

As you look to celebrate women, remember that women in other parts of the world are still fighting for their freedom because of the social constructs forced upon them — not to be seen, no options or choices, or to be heard.

Today's story is an encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. They represent two communities coming together. Instead of seeing differences, Jesus recognizes the complicated reality of this woman and the community that she represents, so he offers her the living waters.

What lies beneath the surface

Water on the surface may look still or calm and can sometimes be like a mirage. But we need to look and dive under the surface of that water. There we can often see the rough and disturbing movement that happens underneath.

In the same way, we should look at the issues of women around the world. There are many things that are happening underneath the surfaces of those waters.

Here in Australia, we are a first world country where our options give us freedom. However, we are still the same as other countries where violence against women still occurs. One out of three women has experienced violence in Australia. It is three out of eight women, and that is a high number.

Believing her testimony

In this time of Lent, let us reflect on how we pay attention to violence that occurs in the reality of women and those who suffer because of their gender.

The Samaritan woman told her story and she was believed. "Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me everything I have ever done."

Once we see, hear, and listen to the survivors and victims of gender-based violence, we too fulfill their thirst for freedom. In acting on such difficult issues, it allows the hope for God's love, care, and compassion to become more visible and present and to be encountered for those individuals and communities in spaces often forgotten.

Amen.