16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you[c] say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he,[d] the one who is speaking to you.”
There are two important issues that arise from these ten verses. First, the conversation about the Samaritan woman's husband. We need to name and claim the unfortunate legacy that too often preachers have used Jesus' words in verse 17 as either a reprimand or judgment upon the woman. But I don't read those words that way. I don't think Jesus was condemning the woman in any way. Rather, I think he saw her heartbreak. Remember in Jesus' day, women had very little say in who they married. And if a woman's husband died, something that was quite common...as in the book of Ruth, then the woman was passed along to one of her husband's brothers. Imagine that! I don't even know if I want to. Such blatant disrespect of a woman's rights makes my heart break. It is NOT the Samaritan woman's fault that she does not have a husband. More to the point, Jesus does not seem to condemn her for this situation AND he does not even seem to care all that much. It is a passing comment on the way to a greater point...one verse in the midst of a very long narrative. It is our own unnamed sexism that has shined a light on this verse and it is good to re-think our understanding of this.
Second issue and I think the bigger point of these ten verses is worship. How you worship and where you worship is vital. The Samaritans were not only a mixture of foreign and Jewish DNA, but also when the people of God came back from Exile, the Samaritans opposed re-building the temple in Jerusalem. We need to remember this is a family fight, like all disagreements in families, they are painful. Words get said that should not have been spoken, people's feelings get hurt because in families we often know just the right words to push each other's buttons. When the Samaritans raised the question about rebuilding and where to rebuild, there were some in the Jewish family who were offended. OF COURSE they should re-build Solomon's temple in exactly the same spot...that is holy ground. Others were not sure.
We face such difficult decisions in the church today. The decisions center around budget and buildings and worship styles. God created us to reflect the beautiful diversity of God's fingerprints. But the truth is there are moments when that diversity is a blessing and time when it is a challenge...because it can bring out our differences in opinions and how we see the world. Anne Lamont is fond of saying, 'Of course we think our opinion is the RIGHT opinion...otherwise we'd get a NEW opinion'. How true.
Yet, the value of diversity is that we don't see as clearly as we think we do. Everyone's vision is skewed and blurred. No one has all the answers...remember that come November with an election! The Samaritans and some Jewish folks differed on who you should marry and where you should worship. The same can be said today. Those issues remain in our world today. Yet, Jesus was more interested in the how, then the where or the when or the other logistics. Worship can happen anywhere. Yet, worship also needs to lean into and strive to embrace the beautiful diversity of thought.
Today there are people who want more Bach in worship and people who have heard all the Bach they need in their life time. There are people who want a hymnal in hand and those who want a screen on the wall. There are people who want the comfort of tradition and those who want to shake it up every week. Which is right? Yes...all the above and more than we can fathom or understand.
What is meaningful worship to you? And how can you be open, really open your heart, to another's perspective? I think if these questions were asked and engaged in faithful ways in our churches today, there would be more than a trace of God's grace found within our conversations.
May it be so for where you worship and where I worship.
Blessings ~
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