What is her name?

I don't know why this is frustrating to me, since the Bible is full of stories about women with scant details provided, but it bothers me that we do not know the name of the "Samaritan woman at the well."  We know her "sins" -- that she was married 5 times and that the man she is currently "with" is not her husband-- but we do not know her name. 

One commentary I read calls the Samaritan woman a "model Christian."  I have to agree with this opinion. After all, she listens to Jesus, trusts Him enough to ask questions, and then understands who Jesus is -- the Christ, the long awaited for Messiah.  Next she goes and enthusiastically tells others about Him.  Finally, she brings others to sit at His feet and learn from Him.  So even though she is a "sinner" -- she is a model of a true believer. 

This same commentary compares the Samaritan woman to Paul, who was a killer and persecutor of Christians before having an encounter with Christ that changed his life.  He became a great evangelist and leader in the Church.

But what about the "Samaritan woman?"  How do we know the story of "Paul/Saul" but not even the Samaritan woman's given name?  Is it because she is a woman?  Is it because her "sins" were particularly heinous?  What exactly were her sins, anyway? What happened with her first 5 husbands?  Was she a prostitute?  We'll never know for sure....

The Samaritan Woman at the well

Today on my faith journey--for my first ever blog entry--I am thinking about the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:1-54.  My initial question is that I am wondering why the lectionaries leave out important sections of this chapter, which is really one complex unit and a story within a story.  I don't think I have ever heard this entire chapter preached on as a unit, and that is what I plan to do this Sunday at our little country church, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, just a few miles north of Renville, Minnesota, on County Road 6.  I am just beginning to think about what this chapter means to me and what it might mean to the people of faith in my flock.  I want to meet them right where they are and this is a farming community, busy but nearly finished with the sugar beet and corn harvest.

If you get a chance to read this chapter today, tell me what stands out to you.  So far I have noticed that Jesus seems to be deliberately going off on his own, after sending the disciples off to buy food.  He goes to a place where good Jewish people do not go--to Samaria.  And he goes to the well, a place where women of all sorts were likely to be found.  Was Jesus really alone with the Samaritan woman--or were there witnesses to what must have seemed a scandalous interaction between a woman with "five husbands" who is living with a man who is not her husband?  Did anyone overhear his conversation about "living water?"  Why did He take so much time with this one person-- a woman of such low status, too?  Did He know before He went there that she would be there and that she, a sinner, would be the one to listen to His message and believe that He was the Christ, the Messiah?

More on this later....  May God bless you through His Word, my dear companions, on this journey of faith. 

Pastor Karen