Outsider to Evangelist: The “Woman at the Well”

Reflection for March 8th (Lent 3) by Rev. Sandra Nixon

Scripture: John 4: 5-42

The Unknown Outsider

Sometimes the most important voices in history are the ones whose names we never learn.

History tends to remember the kings, the generals, the famous leaders. But often the real turning points begin ,with someone whose name never makes it into the headlines — someone ordinary, someone overlooked, someone on the margins.

Today we meet one of those people.

It’s fortuitous timing this year: on a weekend when we observe international women’s Day, remembering the long struggle of women for equality — and celebrating women’s strength, resilience, and leadership — we get to spend time this morning with one woman in particular. 

We don’t know her name.
We don’t know exactly what her life has been like.

What we do know is that she was a Samaritan, and she was a woman — which, in the social world of the first century, placed her firmly on the margins, an outsider in almost every possible sense.

She’s know simply as “the woman at the well.” Or “the Samaritan woman.”

But that’s about as much identifying information as we get. However, while her name is missing, some very personal details about her life are revealed in the course of her encounter with Jesus.

Before we go further, it’s worth noting that this story only appears in the Gospel of John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke don’t tell it. Which means that for John, this encounter must have carried particular meaning about who Jesus is and what his ministry looks like.

So let’s step into the scene.

The Encounter at the Well

Jesus has been travelling with his disciples and, passing through the region of Samaria, he stops near a town called Sychar. Tired from the journey, he sits down beside a well.

John even tells us which well it is: Jacob’s well. According to tradition, this was a place connected with the ancient patriarch Jacob — a place tied deeply to the shared history of both Jews and Samaritans. So it’s not just any well. It’s a place loaded with memory, identity, and religious meaning.

While Jesus rests, a woman comes to draw water.

And Jesus does something surprising.
He speaks to her and asks her for a drink.

Now to us, that might sound ordinary enough. But in the first century, this would have been incredibly unusual, shocking even.

For one thing, Jews and Samaritans did not associate with one another. The hostility between the two groups went back centuries. Samaritans and Jews shared some common heritage, but they disagreed sharply about where and how God should be worshiped. By the time of Jesus, the division had hardened into mutual suspicion and avoidance.

And then there is the matter of gender. A Jewish man — especially someone of status such as a teacher or rabbi — would not normally engage in extended conversation with an unrelated woman in public.

So when Jesus asks her for a drink, he is crossing two major boundaries at once: boundaries of ethnicity and gender.

The woman knows this, and she immediately points it out.

“How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?”

But instead of backing away from the tension, Jesus continues the conversation. In fact, he invites it to deepen. He speaks about “living water.” Water that becomes a spring within a person, welling up to eternal life.

At first the woman hears this practically — as a promise of easier access to water. But as the conversation unfolds, it becomes clear that Jesus is speaking about something deeper: the life and love of God flowing within and between people.

And then the conversation takes a personal turn.

Jesus says to her, “Go, call your husband.”

She replies, “I have no husband.”

And Jesus says, “You are right… you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.”

Now this moment has often been interpreted in a very particular way. Many sermons and commentaries assume the woman must have been morally suspect, perhaps promiscuous, perhaps ashamed.

But the truth is, the text itself never says that.

There are many possible explanations for her life story that have nothing to do with shame. In the ancient world, women had very little control over marriage arrangements. Husbands could die. Women could be widowed multiple times. A brother or male relative might be expected to marry a widow to provide protection. Divorce could be initiated by a husband. A woman could be abandoned.

So instead of assuming moral failure, often scholars today suggest something different: this may simply be a woman whose life has been marked by instability and vulnerability.

And that vulnerability matters.

She is already marginalized as a Samaritan. Already vulnerable as a woman in a male-dominated culture. Her life story may have made her even more precarious within her own community.

And yet notice how Jesus treats her: no judgment. He doesn’t dismiss her or end the conversation.

Instead, he continues to engage her seriously — theologically even. She raises questions about worship, about where God should be encountered, and Jesus responds with some of the most profound teaching in the entire Gospel:

“The hour is coming when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”

This unnamed, marginalized woman is given a theological conversation on par with the one we heard Jesus have with Nicodemus just last week.

From Vulnerability to Voice

And then something remarkable happens.

The woman leaves her water jar — the very reason she came to the well — and goes back to the town.

And she begins telling people about Jesus.

“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Could this be the Messiah?”

In that moment, the outsider becomes a witness.

The vulnerable person is able to access their voice.

In fact, this outsider woman becomes the first person in John’s Gospel to share the good news about Jesus with others.

She becomes, quite literally, the first evangelist in John’s Gospel.

Her testimony is compelling enough that people from the town come out to meet Jesus themselves.

John tells us:

“Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.”

Now, the passage ends with an interesting twist, if you want to call it that. The townspeople eventually say to her, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves.”

And if I’m honest, I don’t find this to be interesting, I actually find it rather irritating.

It feels like the narrator is quick to move past the woman’s role — as though her testimony only mattered temporarily before the “real” authority arrived. Perhaps it was simply that the teller of this story wanted to make sure the focus ended up on Jesus. Perhaps.

But we shouldn’t miss the significance of what this woman did. 

Without her voice, her testimony, the others would never have come.

This outsider becomes the bridge through which an entire community encounters Jesus.

Outsider to Evangelist

In fact, this woman becomes the first person in John’s Gospel to share the good news about Jesus with others.

She - the unnamed outsider - becomes the first evangelist.

And it all begins with a conversation at a well.

Which brings us to the heart of this story.

Jesus  - as he manages to do in so many situations, forms community - with intention and with his attention - he forms community where, per social & cultural norms, none should exist.

In this case, he reaches across gender barriers.
Across cultural boundaries.

And even across historic hostility and suspicion. 

This woman, this outsider - is welcomed by Jesus, who treats her like a person, like a person worth talking to and, dare I say, respects her enough to offer her his teaching. 

It is this genuine welcome, meaningful inclusion, respect and empowerment - social and spiritual - is precisely what Jesus knows this woman needs.  Living water.

And the result is: transformation. 

Someone who is vulnerable is empowered to find their voice.

An outsider becomes an evangelist, drawing others to the well of life. 

Let the Living Water flow

And maybe that is where this story touches our lives today.

Because there are still many people who know what it feels like to be outsiders — people who have been judged, excluded, silenced, and pushed to the margins.

And that is precisely where Jesus likes to hang out and talk to people - with honesty, offering dignity and, always, invitation.

It’s an invitation to new life and into partnership. 

Honestly, one of the most profound things I believe Jesus does throughout his ministry is he treats people as conversation partners in the unfolding work of God.

And when that happens, when we realize we are valued enough for Jesus to extend that invitation to us, something powerful happens.

We find our voice.

We discover belonging.

We become witnesses to life-giving grace.

And the church —commissioned as the body of Christ — is called to embody that same movement - to create community of true belonging, inclusion, respect and empowerment.

Where those who have been silenced are heard.

Where those who have been outsiders discover they are part of God’s household and part of the conversation, part of the story of God’s unfolding work.

Like the woman at the well, we too have a story to tell, good news for those who have been wounded and judged, who’ve been made to feel vulnerable and voiceless, who have been cast out and left out - left out of churches, leadership positions, leadership positions in churches, in government, and in society as a whole. 

It’s also our story to tell - as loudly as we can right now - as counter story to those increasingly loud voices which purport to be Christian, which are claiming that “love your neighbour” merely refers to your fellow Christian - and specifically, one whose brand of Christianity aligns with yours.

Which is pure nonsense - we have only to look to Jesus and encounters like this one with the woman at the well to see what love your neighbour really means.

Some of you will have heard of the US episcopal Bishop Marian Budde who has been telling this story as loudly as she can right now. She was recently asked what she thought her most important work is right now. Her reply: 

“My most important work is to amplify and strengthen a Christian witness rooted in the unconditional love of God revealed to us in Jesus. 

At a time when some of the loudest Christian voices belittle empathy and advocate a dangerous alliance with the forces of authoritarianism, I feel it is essential to offer an alternative witness, honouring the dignity of every human being… engaging in public discourse with courage for the common good. We all need to relearn how to speak with one another across differences respectfully."

We have good news to proclaim and live out, in our welcome and inclusion and care in Christ’s name.  And the Living water flows.

PRAYER:

O God,

Fill this community with your spirit.

Connect us to the mind and heart of Christ.

May our welcome be genuine and unconditional.

May our inclusion be respectful and empowering.

May the living water of your grace and living word among us

continue to nourish our faith and mission together. Amen.

The Gospel of John 4: 5-42

5 So Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “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.” 

11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

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 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, the one who is speaking to you.”

27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” 

28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30 They left the city and were on their way to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labor.”

39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.”