This weekend, 250 people gathered in Springfield for a day of reflection on women in the ministry of Jesus. The gathering featured reflection on the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well (John 4:5-52).
The well is an Old Testament place for couples to meet so that the plan of God for their marriage could unfold. Wells or springs feature in the stories of Isaac, Jacob, and Moses finding wives. Jesus is presented in the Gospel according to John as the true "bridegroom" who at Cana changes water into the best wine as a symbol of the way he will join us to himself and transform our humanity into his divine likeness.
At the well in Samaria, he meets a woman who has had five husbands but is not married. The Samaritans worshiped five pagan gods but believed in the promise that God would send an even greater prophet than Moses. The woman is such a worshiper who sought God but did not yet know God. Asking her for a drink, Jesus began a conversation that carried both the woman and himself into God's plan for them.
She at first made fun of him for breaking the law by asking to use an unclean Samaritan's jug, but then became interested in his offer of living water. Gradually, the conversation moved to the difference in the place Jews and Samaritans worshiped.
Amazingly, Jesus treated her as an equal in the dialogue, answering her questions and drawing her on in conversation as with Nicodemus in the previous chapter and with Martha and Mary later in the Gospel. Jesus treated her as a disciple, someone he was willing to instruct in the things of God. Ultimately, he offered a revelation beyond that made through Moses, that one day true worshipers would worship God not in a place but in spirit and truth.
His male disciples were surprised to see Jesus talking to a woman when they returned from the nearby village where they had gone for food. On the other hand they probably were more shocked by his revelation that they were going to harvest where she planted.
Like so many who leave everything behind to follow Jesus, the woman left her water jar and went to tell the others about the man who told her "everything she ever did." True to a woman's way of ministering by invitation rather than direction, she did not tell so much as ask them if he might be the "One."
The people of the village asked Jesus to "abide" with them. After a couple of days with him they came to believe he was the Savior of the World. The male disciples of Jesus would be able to gather into the church those who had heard and believed. There is a lesson here about the ministry of Jesus, just as there is a lesson about the constitution of the church itself.
In the ministry of Jesus, the sharing of the Gospel comes from those intimately drawn into conversation with him, whose hearts are set on fire by what they hear. Such faithful ministry knows no limit of gender, race, or position. In the end the villagers say, "Our faith is no longer dependent on your story. We have heard for ourselves and come to believe that this really is the Savior of the world."
The Samaritan woman is not made less by the personal faith of the people she first evangelized. Neither are the shepherds Christ appointed made less by not being able to control all the ministries by which the faith is spread. Nor are any of us believers made less by the faith that calls us to submit ourselves to the shepherds Christ has appointed to gather the faithful as one in him.
The Woman at the Well speaks eloquently of the inclusion in ministry of all the faithful, women and men, and of the unity of the church, ordained and lay, in the faith we have in Christ.
Father Richard Chiola is a certified counselor, pastor of St. Cabrini Parish in Springfield and diocesan director for the ongoing formation of clergy.