John 4: Extreme Isolation and Extreme Hope

As I reflect on John nearing the end of his life and writing his reflections about Jesus, the familiar story of the woman at the well takes on incredible significance for us in the middle of our corona virus (and many other) struggles. How did John experience so much cruelty in the world and still live in enough hope to say, “In Jesus was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it”? (John 1:4-5 NIV).

This story was actually an exceptionally awkward story for John to include if he wanted to make Jesus look good. Yet, John obviously felt this story needed to be included if we were going to understand the light and life Jesus brings us.

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. John 4:1-3 (NIV)

The intro to this story, makes me smirk. Jesus was preaching somewhere around Jerusalem, the center of strict religious legalism. The religious leaders in the area heard that he was getting more popular than John the Baptist. So,….Jesus’ response to hearing that he caught the attention of the religious elite?J He headed back to Galilee, again. He headed back to the area known as a place “nothing good could come from.” (i.e. John 1:46)

“Jesus HAD to go to Samaria.”

On his way to Galilee, John says Jesus “had” to go through Samaria. There were alternate routes Jesus could have taken to get to Galilee. The necessity was about what Jesus was accomplishing in Samaria not how he was getting to Galilee.

This is especially cool because of the tension between Jews and Samaritans. Jesus got the attention of the religious elite; went to hang out with the people they looked down on; on the way, he stopped to hang out with the people they despised. Strict Jews considered the Samaritans to be cursed because their ancestors had intermarried with the Assyrians 700 years earlier. Though a Jew may wander through the region on the way to somewhere else, they certainly didn’t hang out there.

Well, strict Jews didn’t hang out there. Jesus, on the other hand, took his disciples there and sent them into the Samaritan town to buy food. While they were in town, he went to a well to meet with a woman who had been rejected by many people.

“Jesus’ association with women made him a joke to many ancient people. It was a source of pride for his early followers.”

In the ancient world, women were not considered worth teaching. It was considered inappropriate for a man to talk to a woman at length in any situation. It was scandalous to talk to a woman alone in the countryside. The woman in John 4, was a woman who had already had 5 husbands and was living with a sixth man. Even in our modern world, a woman in her situation would be judged. In the ancient world it was infinitely worse. Women had no rights. Women didn’t get to divorce men. Men discarded their wives when they displeased them. Women without husbands had no way to take care of themselves. Even if some of her husbands had died, she would have still been considered cursed. Somehow, this lady had found a way to convince men to keep marrying her. Until the 6th guy anyway. She was doing what she had to do in a time where women had few options.

In addition to dealing with the sting of rejection from a series of men. She was also rejected by the rest of her town. Somehow, she had found a man to take care of her, but she did not have a community where she could find acceptance. We know this because women generally went to well with other women for safety and in the mornings and evenings so they could avoid the heat of the day. The woman in this story came to the well alone at midday.

This is the woman Jesus went out of his way to meet that day. While his disciples were buying food, he taught this woman. He cared about the rejection she lived with. He continued to teach her, even after his disciples returned. They were all shocked. John points out that no one asked why he was talking to this woman. Obviously, they didn’t understand. They disciples didn’t walk up and go, “Ohhhh women are people too. We should totally learn to respect them.” They just sat with their dismay. Later, John realized the significance of what Jesus did that day.

The amazingly beautiful part of the story is that after Jesus taught her about God’s new plan, this woman went back into her town and told everyone about Jesus. The time he spent empowering this woman, who had experienced so much rejection, emboldened her so incredibly that she was able to convince her whole town to come meet Jesus for themselves. They had to have seen a transformation in her. Everyone knew her business. She was the cursed lady, living with some dude. Why would anyone listen to her or follow her anywhere? I imagine because she suddenly had bold confidence. She experienced acceptance so wonderful that she wanted it for the people who had rejected her.

The Samaritans from her town came out to meet Jesus at the well. He spoke to them and they urged him to stay. He stayed with them for two more days and taught them.

As John reflected on this story, I imagine him smiling as he thought of how much it flew in the face of all the religious and social rules of the day. But it was who Jesus was. He had to go to Samaria. He had to show this woman and all of us, how God sees people.

As we reflect on the isolation the woman at the well felt, consider how it applies to us in the middle of a pandemic. We are currently struggling with physical isolation. For many of us, this just brings the struggles of modern life into clearer focus. Most of us were already feeling isolated. Modern society has left most people feeling disconnected and alone. Jesus cares about all of the ways we feel isolated in our modern world.

The lesson he shared with the woman that day was about worshiping God in spirit and truth. Because of the resurrection, the old way of relating to God has been replaced with something new. We get to have his presence living in us. He cares about the isolation we feel now, and after the quarantines are lifted. He wants to hang out with us and show us a better way. He wants to empower us to share his love boldly with our communities, no matter how much rejection we have felt from them.