Woman at the Well - Part 1

Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 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.)
John 4:4-9

Most of the commentaries I have read summarize this story as another case of Jesus choosing a lowly instrument (in this case, a fallen woman, in other cases lepers and the blind) to announce His arrival to a town. That point being made, the remainder of their energy seems to be spent scrutinizing the character of the woman. She is examined with a microscopic analysis never applied to the blind or lepers. And such subjective comments are made that I truly have to wonder on what basis they are so widely accepted.

Take, for instance, the common view that the woman was “annoyed” when Jesus asked her for a drink from the well. I see no evidence of this in the text. I would expect that the woman answered Jesus the way that she did for any number of reasons. His request was not merely unusual; it probably appeared inappropriate on a number of levels. And while it may have piqued her interest in Jesus, it probably aroused a healthy suspicion of Him as well.

It would be like a man who is staying at a hotel coming up to a cleaning woman who has just exited the bathroom and asking her to bring him dinner. Since her identity is obvious, there is little cause to think she’s been mistaken. The request is not only odd, it involves a certain ethical dilemma: staff who clean toilets are not allowed to serve food. I don’t think the woman at the well was being difficult. She probably felt an obligation to warn Jesus (although she must have felt it should have been obvious) that fulfilling His request would force her into a position of breaking rules and possibly even defiling Him.

And perhaps that was the point. The woman at the well could have drawn water for Jesus. He had not asked her to explain herself. But in case He couldn’t see the obvious, she states it for Him. She has no desire to defile this man. Yes, she is a woman without honour. But that may be precisely where her sensitivity to protect the honour of others was born.