The Bible, Homosexuality, and a Christian Response – Part 9

He Qi, The Samaritan Woman at the Well

The Samaritan Woman at the Well

¹ When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, ² (though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) ³ he left Judæa, and departed again into Galilee. ⁴ And he must needs go through Samaria. ⁵ Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

⁶ Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. ⁷ There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, “Give me to drink.” ⁸ (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

⁹ Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”

¹⁰ Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

– John 4:1-10

This story is commonly called, just The Woman at the Well. This story isn’t just about any woman, it is about a Samaritan woman. Notice that Jesus “must needs go through Samaria.” Where just about every other Jew would have gone a day or two out of his way to go around Samaria, Jesus went through. Most theologians agree that He needed to go through Samaria because He knew that he was going to meet this woman.

Just by stepping into Samaria, Jesus is breaking the cultural rules and expectations of His time and His followers. Imagine how shocked the disciples, all of whom were Jews, must have been. But Jesus didn’t stop there at breaking the rules. He sent his disciples off to buy dinner and stayed at the well by himself. Along comes a woman and He says, “Give me to drink.”

With four words, Jesus broke down cultural barriers – Jews had no dealings with Samaritans, gender barriers – a man by himself would never speak to a woman by herself, and opened the door to a conversation that would not only result in the woman’s conversion, but her entire town!

Notice how Jesus deals with this woman. First, he opens the door to conversation with a simple ice-breaking request. When she asks Him questions, Jesus patiently answers her questions. When Jesus tells the woman that she has been divorced five times and is now living with a man who isn’t her husband (John 4:16-18), she realizes He’s a prophet.

She asks about the religious disagreement between the Jews and Samaritans regarding Mount Gerizim and the Jerusalem Temple Mount (John 4:19). Many see this as a change of subject and it might have been, but what is more likely based on Jesus’ response is that the woman recognized Jesus’ authority and wanted some clarification. She asked a really good question actually.

Jesus response has often been taken as a rebuke.

Jesus saith unto her, “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.”

– John 4:21

Because of the way this verse is translated and the way we use these words in English, too many get the idea that Jesus uses the word woman the same way a redneck in a wife-beater would use it: “Woman! Go make me a sandwich!” But remember, the Bible wasn’t written in English. The New Testament was written in Greek and Jesus and the Woman were actually speaking in Aramaic. In Hebrew, Aramaic, and even biblical Greek, the word woman isn’t just a word, it’s an idea. It is a title of respect that recognizes her as a daughter, a sister, and having the ability to become a mother.

Jesus wasn’t rebuking her, He actually answered her very honest question with kindness, gentleness, humility, patience, and respect. When He finishes answering her question, the woman mentions her knowledge of a promised Messiah (v 25), Jesus says He is the Messiah (v 26) and she takes off back to her town (v 28). She returns to Jesus with her entire town! (v 29-30)

Because Jesus made a dedicated effort to reach this woman, a woman who was part of an ethnic group for whom Jews had strong animosity, and because He reached out to her in love and in kindness, she came to faith in Christ and she returned with her entire village who ended up converting as well. (v 39-42)

The lesson to take away from this story is that we too need to make a concerted effort to reach out to all people, even people we are uncomfortable with. This passage has been used to promote the idea of ethnic and racial reconciliation, and it is still a good passage to base that teaching on. Of course, in this case, I’m trying to promote the idea that we need to make a concerted effort to reach out to homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgendered people with patience and love.

God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

– James 4:6

Some of my Christian brothers and sisters point out to me that Christ was sometimes pretty severe with people too. That’s absolutely true, but look at who He was severe with. He was harsh with people who should have known better, the religious leaders, lawyers, and scribes – people who should have known scripture inside and out, but were the biggest hypocrites. Jesus called them out. He called them hypocrites, vipers, and blind leaders of the blind. He pointed out that they all put on a good show, talking the talk, but they didn’t walk the walk.

We have hypocrites, vipers, and blind leaders of the blind today too. Probably the quickest group to come to mind is Westboro Baptist Church and their picket signs that say things like “God Hates Fags.” Sure, they represent the far fringe of conservative Christianity, but even as you move to the center, you still experience ignorance and hate.

One pastor, Charles Worley of Providence Road BaptistChurch in Maiden, N.C. suggested that the government should “Build a great, big, large fence -- 150 or 100 mile long -- put all the lesbians in there. Fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals and have that fence electrified so they can't get out...and you know what, in a few years, they'll die out...do you know why? They can't reproduce!”

In New York, Pastor James David Manning put on the billboard in front of his Harlem church, “Jesus would stone homos” and “Stoning is the law.”[i]

I can’t even begin to tell you how offensive and un-Christ-like that is. Not to mention the ignorance it displays of the place of The Law in the New Testament and the Church. It also shows a complete ignorance of the life of Christ and how He would likely respond to people who violated the Old Testament Law.

I’m not guessing at what Jesus would do either. Jesus demonstrated how he would handle offenses that demanded stoning in this very passage. Jesus said, “he whom thou now hast is not thy husband” (v 18). The woman was living with a man as husband and wife without actually having a sealed marriage. That by itself was an offence under the Jewish Law that was punishable by stoning. Instead of throwing rocks at her, Jesus told her about salvation.

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[i] Sieczkowski, Cavan. "Anti-Gay Harlem Church Sign: 'Jesus Would Stone Homos'" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Mar. 2014. Web.