Jesus and the woman at the well

How many Gods are there? Looking through the pages of history, I would conclude that there are many. Every tribe, every village, every race and nation had their own god or an array of Gods. Even the Israelites, known for monotheism, were not always true monotheists. Their insistence was that their God was more powerful than all other gods, individually or collectively. For serious students of the Bible, no subject is more engaging than the struggle between the one and the many. In the vigorous debates about the one and the many, no persons are more important than the Apostle Paul and the John gospel writer. There is no more important place than Ephesus. There are no more important documents than the book of Ephesians and the John gospel.

The importance of the city of Ephesus cannot be overstated. Located in southwest Asia Minor, it was a major center that developed along the road between the ancient Greek and Babylonian cultures and the new center of power, Rome. Ephesus was where East met West. It is not surprising that Paul apparently spent three years in Ephesus on one of his missionary journeys. Ephesus was an important place. It was in Ephesus that Paul argued his monist version of Christian theology. The authorship of Ephesians is still debated, but no one doubts that the Ephesians document reflects Paul’s thinking.

No Bible passage is more important to Christian theology than Ephesians 4:5,6. “…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” Jesus as the Lord of life and his Father God were never allowed by Paul to share center stage with any other deity, power or God.

A fascinating corollary appears with Paul’s Christian monism. If there is only one God, there can be only one humanity. Paul is being entirely consistent when he declares there can no longer be Jew and Gentile, no longer be slave and free, no longer be male and female.

Today New Testament scholars are in general agreement that the John gospel was not written by the apostle John. Rather it was written by an unknown author who lived in Ephesus. He wrote around the turn of the century. This was at least 70 years after the death of Jesus and about 25-30 years after the writing of the Matthew, Mark and Luke gospels. The John author wrote in the context of Ephesus and the congregation that was founded in Ephesus by Paul some 50-60 years earlier. The John gospel reflects the monism of Paul.

The John writer was not a historian. A knowledgeable reader will recognize that he wrote stories that are clearly out of context and full of exaggerations. This is true of the story that he tells in chapter 4 of the John gospel. It Is the story of the encounter of Jesus with a Samaritan woman at the site of a community well in Samaria. Samaria was a land located between Galilee and Judea. The inhabitants of Samaria were social outcasts. Jews, whether from Galilee or Judea, avoided contact with Samaritans. Jesus should not have been in Samaria. He should have taken a path around Samaria to avoid even the appearance of contact with a Samaritan. For Jesus to speak to the Samaritan woman was a social blunder. No self-respecting Jew would have had a conversation with a Samaritan woman.

This was no ordinary Samaritan woman. She was a social outcast among other Samaritan women. She had come to the well at an odd hour to avoid respectable Samaritan women. It turns out that she was a woman who was living with her fifth man/owner. The disciples of Jesus were completely surprised that Jesus would have a conversation with such a woman. The Samarian woman was overwhelmed by the attention Jesus gave her. After a meaningless exchange with Jesus, she ran off and told everyone about her encounter with Jesus.

Then the most startling event of the story takes place. Some men believed the woman and went to check Jesus out. They met him and GAVE HIM HOSPITALITY for two days. This last act of the story was beyond imagination. Samaritan men gave hospitality to a Jew from Galilee.

I began this essay with questions about one God and only one God. Inevitably this lead to a discussion of the unity of the human family. The oneness of the human family leads us to the acceptance and welcoming of people whom we perceive to be very different and with whom we may have deep-seated hatreds. Must our welcome include gay people? Does it lead us to accepting people with whom we have political, social and religious differences. It could include a woman who has had five husbands.

Just how far are we to take this one God, one humanity?

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives In Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.