Women in the Story of Jesus by Taylor Marion Ann;Weir Heather;

Author:Taylor, Marion Ann;Weir, Heather;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

4

The Woman at the Well: The First Samaritan Evangelist

The unnamed woman of Samaria met Jesus by Jacob’s well outside of Sychar. John 4 records Jesus’ conversation with the woman in some detail. The chapter also notes her invitation to the people of Sychar, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (John 4:29). The Samaritan woman’s testimony convinced many of the people of the city to believe in Jesus. John 4 also records that Jesus stayed in Sychar for two days at the people’s invitation and many more believed after hearing his teaching during that time.

Nineteenth-century women writing on this story answered common interpretive questions arising from John 4. They discussed the geographical setting of the story, using both their own travel experiences, and the travel experiences of others. They addressed questions about the historical relationship between the Samaritans and the Jews, using published theological and historical works. They talked about the theological significance of Jesus’ teaching about living water. They reflected on the way Christians should treat people with moral failings.

Significantly for the theme of this section, the women excerpted in this chapter also examined the Samaritan woman’s role as an evangelist. They used the Samaritan woman as a model to encourage women to evangelize in the private and public spheres, by sharing their spiritual experiences with others and by preaching. All of the authors in this chapter were preachers. Not all of the excerpts included argue unambiguously for women’s preaching—significantly Hannah Locker-Lampson did not mention that application in her sermon at all—but all demonstrate the reality of women preaching in the nineteenth century.

The first two selections in this chapter, Balfour’s and Baxter’s scriptural biographies, hold up the Samaritan woman as an example in her conversion and in her evangelism of the people of Sychar. Palmer’s essay is a polemic for women’s preaching, and focuses exclusively on the woman’s evangelistic endeavours. The final two selections on the woman of Samaria are sermons. Taking the woman of Samaria who preached the gospel to her contemporaries as an example, two of the nineteenth-century, Locker-Lampson and Beck, preached her story, and the gospel, to other women.

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