Preaching Paths 8 March 2026

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

The standard interpretation of Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well presents the woman as an incorrigible “repeat offender.”  Jesus observes that she has “had five husbands,” and “the man you have is not your husband” (v 18). Modern readers often assume that this woman is a predator, tossing off husbands that no longer interest her like a series of out-of-fashion dresses.

But this would be impossible in her social context. It was not a woman’s prerogative to “choose” a marriage partner. Jewish law dictated that only males could initiate marriage contracts, which were chiefly economic arrangements. This Samaritan woman’s multiple marriages could have ended in one of two ways: with the death of each husband, or because one or more had divorced her. (As is frequently pointed out, the school of Rabbi Hillel ruled that a woman could be divorced for something as trivial as burning dinner.) It is quite possible that she is not a predator, but a victim.

It was common knowledge that a widowed or divorced woman (thus, unattached to any male head-of-household) was consigned to a life of poverty. The law of levirate marriage dictated that it was the duty of a brother of the deceased to marry his widow, although it is unclear if this was scrupulously followed. If no brother was available, another man might marry her. On the other hand, if she had been divorced by her husband—again, strictly a male prerogative—another man might marry her, although it would be unlikely. A divorced woman brought no dowry with her. Her chief value to a household would be her labor and that of any children she might bear, or have already.  

For the Samaritan woman to live with a man without the protective benefit of marriage would likely have been a desperate arrangement prompted by abject poverty. Was she a “sinner” in such a situation? According to the legal codes of the time, undoubtedly; but no more so than the one who had “taken” her but refused to bestow on her the dignity of legal marriage. Little wonder she comes to the well in the relentless midday heat, avoided by others. She dreads others’ dismissive stares.

Jesus initiates conversation with this lowly woman in a public place – a shocking departure from rigid norms. Males did not converse in public with females unrelated to them. As he drinks the water she has supplied, Jesus suggests he is able to give her “living water,” an expression for flowing water or spring water. The woman responds to this literal sense, protesting that Jesus has no bucket to draw water. Jesus’ reply makes it clear that he is speaking in symbolic, spiritual terms; Jesus can give water that quenches thirst forever. So begins a conversation that quickly becomes deeper, and for the woman, intensely personal and ultimately, life-changing.

Jesus reveals that he knows her demeaning situation, but is his intent to condemn her? It seems to be the opposite: to convey that she is known, but NOT condemned. He declares that she will one day be a worshiper—in fact, one who will worship the Father in spirit and in truth (vv 21, 23-24). She will come before God without shame. Leaving her water jar, she hastens back to the town, where she immediately becomes an evangelist. She declares, as did Philip to Nathanael (1:42), “Come and see!” Intrigued and moved by her testimony, the townsfolk come out in great numbers. Many believe.

Might the kingdom of heaven—as well as its proclamation!—belong to those whom we are inclined to dismiss? Often it is those who struggle in the social, economic, and ethical margins of society who most long for spiritual transformation. Out of deep hardship comes deep worship, in spirit and truth.