THE FOUNDATION STONE FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN

Jesus wanted to leave Judea, in the South, and go to Galilee in the north. This meant that He had to pass through Samaria. Now the journey through Samaria was about three days long. Yet, because of the feud that existed for long years between the Jews and the Samaritans, any Jew who wanted to travel north to Galilee would bypass Samaria and travel  along the River Jordan, and that would have meant a six-day journey.

For obvious, pastoral reasons, Jesus wanted, to pass through Samaria. On the way He came to a small town called Sychar, where we find, to this very day, a well, better known as Jacob’s Well. According to Genesis Jacob had bought a plot of land in that area, and on his death-bed he had bequeathed it to his son Joseph.  When Joseph died his remains were taken to Palestine and buried there.

So the Jews had fond memories of that area and especially of the Well. When Jesus and his friends arrived there, it was midday and the sun was at its hottest.   Naturally He felt thirsty and weary. It is interesting to note that the disciples went to buy some food from some village.  Something that no Jew would have dreamt of doing before: going to Samaria and buying food from them.  Things have started to happen.

“When Jesus arrived at the well there was a Samaritan woman.”   Note: we should never read the Bible as if we are reading a novel just to while away the time or for pastime.  Reading the Bible should mean ‘studying the Bible’; we have to note every single word and phrase. A case in point is the sentence I have just written:  “When Jesus arrived at the well there was a Samaritan woman.”

Something very mysterious is happening; why would a woman go to draw water at midday, which was against their custom, and, when there was another well where she lived?  Is it a mystery or a providential meeting?

This woman might have been a social outcast, from what we shall be reading further down, and she wanted to avoid the other women. Another point of interest is her declaration to Jesus: “I am a Samaritan woman, and you are a Jew, how is it you ask me to give you water?” It was part of the Jewish custom that no Jewish Rabbi could stop to talk to a woman in the street, even if she were his mother or wife. And now Jesus stopped and He is not only talking to a woman, but to a Samaritan woman, the sworn enemies of Jews. In this episode Jesus laid the foundation stone for the emancipation of woman.