Woman at the Well

 

John 4:1-42 is a well known Bible story where Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. The interpretation often go along the lines of Jesus reaching out to those outside the Jewish mainstream and the universality of his message. The story was surely shocking, even scandalous. A Jewish man speaking to a woman alone who turns out to be living in sin. Her responses, of course, reveals her recognition of Jesus as the universal Messiah and the breaking down of political boundries.

As I was rereading the story for the 1000^th time the other day it struck me just how politically charged and current the story is today. Despite the backlash and debates, many Christians point to the American “Founding Fathers” as the role models of christian piety and patriotism. Many Christians consider it their duty to take up arms in the military and kill in the name of American freedom and democracy. Many more think nothing of saying the Pledge of Allegiance or singing the National Anthem. Even the Mennonite Goshen College sings the National Anthem (though there is currently much debate over the practice).

The classic engraving by John McRae of George Washington praying at Valley Forge helps define, for many, the notion of a “christian nation”. Some, like Natalie Nichols of Shades of Grace Ministries hold firmly to the belief that the American Founding Fathers were Christian and that Christianity defines America. Such notions then define national patriotism as not simply a civic duty but a religious duty. A Christian, then is justified to kill if it is under the auspices of the American government because the American government is ordained by God (Romans 13:1).

Let’s look a little more closely at the story in John. A pivotal point occurs in verse 12 where the woman invokes the Samaritan version of the Founding Fathers. When Jesus claims to be able to provide living water (υδωρ ζων) the woman take that as a challenge to her national pride. She invokes the Founding Father, Jacob, who built the well. The theme of nationalism is returned to in verse 20 where she again invokes the Founding Fathers who worshiped on “this mountain”. In this story Jesus clearly puts to rest any notions of geo-political patriotism and nationalism in his response ”…the hour is coming (ερχεται ωρα) when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” Paul got it. His interpretation of John 4 in Galatians 3:28 was “There is (ενι) no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female…” Note the verb change here from Jesus’ “will come” to Pauls “is”.

The nationalistic elements in John’s story are certainly not the only themes, nor are they the most important. They are, however there and are most often over looked. The woman’s response isn’t all that much different from the response of many well meaning American Christians who invoke Washington or some other Founding Father when challenged. The Samaritan woman wrongly attributed the gifts God gives (here in the form of water from the well) as coming from Jacob. We too, often atribute American freedoms, the Constitution, liberty, or patriotism to Jefferson or Lincoln or even military might. If we met Jesus at the well we might be set straight. It is God who provided her the water and it is God who provide us any liberties or freedom we might have. Nationalistic pride and patriotism is no more appropriate for the American Christian than it was for the Samaritan Jew.

[Note: The image of George Bush with Washington and Lincoln was found on several blogs. None of the blogs gave a proper attribution for the image. If anyone knows who created this image or has any information about copyright please contact me so I can properly attribute it.]