Show Notes

Pillars of Strength

Who was she? She appears in only one of the Gospels, the last of them, the Gospel of John, Chapter 4, in verses 4 through 42. It’s not a synoptic Gospel, meaning that it does not have crossover material in the other Gospels.

Jesus is going through Samaria with his disciples. He passes through a town called Sychar, and while his disciples go out to look for lunch, Jesus sat by a historic well, a well dug by the ancient Patriarch Jacob hundreds of years earlier.

“When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” … The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

This is the story of the woman at the well. She is not given a name in the Gospel, but in the Eastern Orthodox tradition she is called, “Photine.” She is a Samaritan, which, as we learned in an earlier episode, was a separate community who had some common beliefs with the Jews.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

Jesus sounds almost impatient. He is thirsty, and hungry, and he is bantering with this woman who is showing her cultural prejudice. Her next statement is clearly a dig:

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” … Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Is she flirting with him? Does this pass as banter? The Gospel of John is different from the other three Gospels in that it includes these kinds of long, reconstructed conversations, and it certainly recalls, in Jewish history, the, “betrothal,” scenes of Issac, and Moses, who met their future wives at a well. The point seems to be that Jesus is up-ending those expectations.

He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

“I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. “The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.

I have always liked this line. Her response to his show of supernatural ability she replies, gobsmacked, “I can see that you are a prophet.” The encounter then takes a few more turns, including Jesus revealing to her that he is the expected Messiah.

Here is the interesting thing about their interaction. Jesus does not expose her. He declares his mission to her. This is a pattern in the Gospel of John. He shows who he is openly, and people choose to reject or accept him.

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

Here is another interesting point: The disciples, though surprised to find him talking to a woman, thought it was just something that he did. His actions were beyond questioning, and, his talking to women, the way he spoke to everyone else, was just something they had come to expect.

Former Vice President , and current Presidential hopeful Mike Pence said that, in order to avoid any accusation of impropriety, does not eat alone with a woman, or attend events where alcohol is served, without his wife. That seems noble, on one level, but it speaks to a bigger problem. Are women so distracting that they are shunned and relegated to being lovers, wives, and mothers? Doesn’t the problem start with men unable to control their thoughts and actions?

Jesus didn't care. He knew that women are equal to men, and completely equal in the sight of God. He knew that women should look for their own salvation, not have a man direct them, or guide them through it. Compare this to Saint Paul, who says in 1 Corinthians 14:33–35:

"As in all the congregations of the Lord’s people. Women should remain silent in the churches, They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church."

Jesus is about equality. Women can come to God on their own, and, in this case, they can lead their husband, their whole village to salvation. That should have been the rule in the faith. Then again, there are some Christians who literally think they are holier than Christ…

The More You Know

Last time we discussed Hell, a place that the broad diversity of Christianity will agree exists, in one way or another. We talked about how there is a difference of opinion on whether or not it is eternal, or even what it is, but it is a part of the faith. A theological or moral necessity, though not in the way we expect.

Today we are looking at an idea from the Catholic Church, the concept of Purgatory.

The recent edition of Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Purgatory this way:

Purgatory is the state of those who die in God's friendship, assured of their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter into the happiness of heaven. Because of the communion of saints, the faithful who are still pilgrims on earth are able to help the souls in purgatory by offering prayers in suffrage for them, especially the Eucharistic sacrifice. They also help them by almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance.

The idea was that some people are part of the faith, but die unconfessed, or died with some unfinished perfecting to do. Heaven allows no sin or uncleanness, so a Christian goes to an intermediate state, purging the last of their earthly sins, before joining the righteous in heaven.

Where does this idea come from? The Book of Maccabees, the Apocryphal book that describes the jewish who wrestled the Kingdom of Judah away from their Greek overlords during the Seleucid Empire, establishing their own rule from 167 to 37 BCE. The story of four brothers, fighting off impossible odds, their bravery in battle, their single-minded devotion to not allowing their faith and culture to be erased by Greek ideas, is exciting reading. Eight books in all, but the first two books are considered canonical by the Catholic Church.

In the Second book of the Maccabees, there is a story where Judah discovers that some of his soldiers, loyal patriots, had died while wearing pagan amulets, good -luck charms for protection in battle. Judah orders sacrifices held to purge them of their lack of faith in the afterlife.

The idea was common in Judaism by that age, and was incorporated into early Christianity. It is mentioned by Saint Paul, when he mentions praying for Onesiphorus, a member of the Church who has passed on.

The church outside of Catholicism, has rejected the idea of Purgatory. High church doctrines in Orthodox, and Anglican communions, have similar ideas, namely the process of Glorification, by which the soul is extended God’s grace and makes the final step into sanctification. Some Christian Churches will accept the idea of prayers for the dead, but not the idea of suffering for righteousness.

The idea of Purgatory is expressed most beautifully in the image of the Anima Sola. A figure that started in Italian Catholicism, and became popular in Latin American Catholicism, where it became a figure that spoke to the oppressed and colonized: A woman, breaking free of her chains, looking upward through the burning flames of Purgatory. The image is so evocative that it is included in over syncretic faiths, like Santeria.

What do you think? Is the idea of further suffering after death, even for the righteous, simply adding to the terror of death?

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