03142020 – John 4. 5-42 – Lent III
There was a time, PERHAPS still is…when people ASSUMED “the worst!” A wise person ASSUMES NOTHING!
I want to talk with you today about MISOGYNY because it is important.
I think it is critical for our “BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING.”
Misogyny is the HATRED of, CONTEMPT FOR, or PREJUDICE AGAINST women or girls.
Misogyny manifests in numerous ways, including social EXCLUSION, sex DISCRIMINATION, HOSTILITY, ANDROCENTRISM, PATRIARCHY, male PRIVILEGE, BELITTLING of women, DISENFRANCHISEMENT of women, VIOLENCE against women, and sexual OBJECTIFICATION.
We know, we understand, we get it – that Israel was based on a “good-old-boy” “PATRIARCHAL system.” It is A GIVEN.
Talk about ANDROCENTRISM. Talk about male PRIVILEGE. Talk about the DISENFRANCHISEMENT of women, it was ALL present.
Remember it was said, “In Israel, the COW was of MORE VALUE than the WIFE.”
We are talking about placing “a masculine point of view” at the CENTER of “one’s WORLD VIEW, CULTURE, and HISTORY,” thereby culturally “MARGINALIZING femininity.”
But this does not mean it NEEDS to CONTINUE. It needs to STOP, and the TRUTH be told.
This is a different AGE, a different ERA.
I know this, the CHURCH, the THEOLOGIANS and THE CLERGY have LED people ASTRAY, not PURPOSEFULLY, it was based on the LITERATURE and CONJECTURE…and on an ASSUMPTION.
The WOMAN AT THE WELL – is NOT a PROSTITUTE. She does not have a SHADY PAST, as far as we know. She is not WORLDLY, SENSUALLY MINDED, nor is she an “UNSPIRITUAL HARLOT,” as she has been labeled throughout the millennia.
The SEXISM, INTOLERANCE, BIGOTRY, DISCRIMINATION, all the BIAS, PARTIALITY, and PREJUDICE need to be KICKED to the CURB…and ENDED, once-and-FOR-ALL.
There is NOTHING in the passage that makes this an OBVIOUS interpretation.
Neither JOHN (as the narrator) nor JESUS (as the central character) supply that information.
Jesus at no point invites REPENTANCE or, for that matter, speaks of SIN at all.
The woman in question very easily could have been WIDOWED or have been ABANDONED or DIVORCED.
FIVE TIMES would have been HEART WRENCHING and heart BREAKING but NOT impossible. She could be engaged in a “LEVIRATE MARRIAGE” – where a childless woman is MARRIED to her deceased husband’s BROTHER in order to produce AN HEIR – yet is NOT ALWAYS technically CONSIDERED the brother’s WIFE!
YOU DO NOT JUDGE. YOU DO NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS THAT ARE NOT A PART OF THE TEXT.
Her story is TRAGIC, not SCANDALOUS.
Because of the TRAGEDY she could have been SCORNED, explaining why she was ALONE at midday.
Jesus sees her PLIGHT, not her IMMORALITY. Jesus sees her VALUE, her WORTH, her SIGNIFICANCE and SHE is a SAMARITAN!
UNFORTUNATELY, in the church, there is a long history of MISOGYNY. The church QUICKLY FORGOT that women play an IMPORTANT ROLE in the ministry of Jesus and the twelve. FORGOTTEN are the women at the foot of the cross when all their male counterparts FLEE. FORGOTTEN are the women at the EMPTY TOMB. Forgotten is the fact that women were the FIRST WITNESSES to the RESURRECTION. Forgotten is that MARY MAGDALENE actually became the APOSTLE to the APOSTLES!
The ugly head of male chauvinism has raised its head for too long. It stops here and now.
This story is not about IMMORALITY it is about IDENTITY. She was a hated, despised, Samaritan DOG, an outcast, a heretic and a half-breed according to the Jews. And a WOMAN!
BUT NOT TO JESUS. Not FOR Jesus. Jesus shows an open, non-judgmental attitude toward her, in BROAD DAYLIGHT.
Jesus is AMAZED by her and their BRIEF ENCOUNTER. Her AWARENESS grows. She is ANYTHING BUT CLUELESS, dare I say, like the twelve… She LOVES INTELLECTUAL DISCUSSION and is CHALLENGED BY IT. She RISES to the CHALLENGE. She actually becomes an EVANGELIST. She GOES and brings OTHERS to Jesus. SHE is refreshingly a WOMAN of GREAT FAITH over and against the men of LITTLE FAITH.
She is willing to transgress DEEPLY ENGRAINED SOCIAL TABOOs, between Jews and Samaritans and between men and women. She is DARING, COURAGEOUS and more than willing to disregard long-standing MISUNDERSTANDINGS. She started out as an OUTSIDER who quickly becomes an INSIDER by her own doing.
She is AMAZING. She is a Woman. And She is a WOMAN of SAMARIA. The misogyny ends here.
Amen.