Gospel – John 4:5-42     Partners in mission

This lengthy dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan women is one of the most intriguing encounters of the Gospels.  The women is aware of the cultural barriers being crossed.  ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ she asks.  Jesus makes a request of her before he offers her anything, implying a level of equality; the woman is an active rather than passive participant in his ministry.  They develop a rapport, discussing ‘living water’, the difference between their religious customs, and the promise of the Messiah.  As they talk, the woman moves from calling Jesus ‘a Jew’ to addressing him as ‘Sir’, then to recognising him a ‘prophet’, and finally to announcing him to others as ‘Messiah’.  As their connection deepens, she grows in understanding, and her testimony is authentic and convincing.  Soon, others are drawn to him.

The encounter breaks religious and social taboos, but Jesus casually engages the woman in conversation as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.  He recognizes her as an individual with a life story and a context of her own.  There is intimacy in this encounter.  She is deeply affected by his openness and his teaching and becomes a crucial witness.  Jesus use the metaphor of the harvest to indicate his mission that included the Samaritans.  The time for the harvest has come, he tells the disciples, and this woman represents that movement outwards.  What is beautiful about today’s Gospel is the way Jesus goes about winning hearts: meeting this woman where she is, transcending boundaries, listening and allowing space for questions and debate.  It’s a more gentle model for Lent than we might be used to.

© Triona Doherty & Jane Mellet, 2022.  A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Matthew.  (Dublin: Messenger Publications 2022).

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“This woman is a partner first in conversation, then in mission.  The story liberates women for discipleship.  It should be read as one of the great missionary texts of the Church …  The woman does not wait for permission.  She is the bearer of Good News and she will proclaim it.                    – Anne Thurston