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2014-03-23        Daniel Daring     

  (Comments welcome here)        

Have You Heard it for Yourself? 

Exodus 17:3-7; Romans 5:1-2.5-8; John 4:5-42

The encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman poses a direct challenge to our Churches' claims and regulations, and to our popular understanding of what constitutes being a Christian. In this short reflection, I would like to highlight three issues that are particularly connected with the reading of this Gospel: divisions among Christians, women in ministry, and a personal understanding who Jesus is.

Divisions among Christians

"How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (John 4:9). The quarrel between Catholics and Protestants goes all the way back to the year 1517 in which Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg. Since then, the accusations of being heretics havebeen leveled against each another, and each denomination claims to be the only true Church of Christ. The quarrel between the Jews and the Samaritans goes back to 720 BC, when the Assyrians invaded the Northern kingdom of Israel and destroyed its capital Samaria. Those who did not die were captured and brought to Assyria. Only the poor were left. The captured never came back and the Assyrians brought into Samaria people from different nations. They lived and inter-married with those poor left there. They wanted to join the worship in Jerusalem, but they were rejected by the Jews. So they established their own worship at  Mount Garizim.

John Paul II in his encyclical letter, Ut Unum Sint called all Christians to work for unity, to overcome prejudices and misinterpretations of other beliefs, and to demolish the walls of divisions that were built in the past. The call reached its peak when Catholics and Lutherans announced a Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification on October 31, 1999. But it has come to a low point with the recent document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (June 29, 2007) which says that the Protestants Churches cannot be called Churches, because they "have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery." "Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship in in Jerusalem" (John 4:20).

Women in ministry

"They [the disciples] were astonished that he was speaking with a woman" (John 4:27). A small chapel invited a priest to celebrate the Eucharist on their feast day. The priest was scandalized to see women serving as the altar girls and as commentator. During Jesus' time "a Rabbi might not even speak to his wife or daughter or sister in public" (William Barclay). During our time it is forbidden in our Church to speak about the possibility of women being fully involved in the ministry. The exclusion of women from ministry reached its climax in a ridiculous quarrel about the translation of a name mentioned by Paul in his letter to the Romans. The NIV translation has Junias, the NRSV has Junia, and the Authorized KJV has Junius. Paul writes: "Greet Andronicus and Junia(s;us), my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was" (Romans 16:7). As J.D. Crossan points out, the case "would be funny to ridiculous if it were not sad to tragic." The reason for such quarrel lies in Paul's acknowledgment of her position as being "prominent among the apostles." It does not go well with our insistence that only men attended Jesus' Last Supper, and that, with exception of Mary Magdalene, only men were supposed to have seen Jesus after His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:5-8). "Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 'Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?'" (John 4:29).

Knowing Jesus personally

"Many Samaritans from the city believed in him because of the woman's testimony" (John 4:39). In the Oscar Winning movie, Fiddler on the Roof, a poor milkman, Tevye says that "because of our traditions we have kept our balance for many, many years." Tradition is an extremely valuable part of life. Our Church has been able to preserve many traditions that go back to the first centuries of Christianity: the celebration of Holy Week and the Easter Eve liturgy, for example. Tevye says that the Jews had traditions for everything, "how to sleep, how to eat, how to wear clothes."

 Our Church has an elaborate tradition when it come to vestments that should be used during liturgical celebrations: violet for Advent and Lent; white for Christmas and Easter; green for  Ordinary Time, and red for Palm Sunday and the feasts of the martyrs. According to Tevye, "because of our traditions every one of us knows who he is and what God expects him to do." 

Yes. We Catholics can be distinguished from other Christians by our devotion to Mary, the rosary, Mass, and our insistence on belief that faith without work is useless. "You may ask how did these traditions get started?" I do not know. But what I begin to realize is the fact that our traditions cannot become a substitute for a personal encounter with Jesus. De Mello aptly acknowledges it by saying: "I have been content to learn about you at second hand, Lord. From Scriptures and saints, from Popes and preachers." To rely on other person's testimony or on our tradition can be a first step on our journey in faith. But we have to go beyond that. In order for us to become Christians, we need to spend time with Jesus. It has to come to the point when we can say: "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world" (John 4:24).

Conclusion

John Paul II stated that the proclamation of reconciliation between God and humanity in Jesus Christ cannot be reconciled with the present divisions between Christians. The first Christians saw nothing wrong with having women prominent among the apostles, serving as ministers, and being responsible for Christian communities. Finally, no matter how venerable our traditions are and how many great witnesses of faith we have among our members, each one of us needs to hear and know for him/herself that Jesus is the Savior of the world.

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