Truth, Freedom, and the Samaritan Woman

The following posting comes from the Gospel reading for Saturday, May 13, 2023, the day before the Fifth Sunday of Pascha, also known as the Sunday of the Samaritan woman.  The Gospel text comes from St. John 8: 31- 42.  The initial two verses read as follows,

Therefore, Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him.  “If you should abide in my word truly you are my disciples, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free (St John 8: 31- 32).”

The Jews gathered around him give this reply:  “We are the seed of Abraham, and not at any time have we been enslaved” (St John 8:33).  Their response will soon lead to their rejection of our Lord.  From this verse we are to take note of three things.  First, by stating they are of the seed of Abraham they place their confidence and reliance on their natural lineage.  Second, there must be a fact check:  they seem to have forgotten a little matter about a period of time in Egypt under a certain Pharaoh.  Third, with this claim they put forth a lie.

Given this, we are to call back to the Prologue of St John’s Gospel (1: 1 – 18).  All things St John wrote about in his Gospel refer back to the subjects / themes expressed in the Prologue.  Additionally, the Prologue is written in a chiasm.  A chiastic structure is to resemble the Greek letter chi (X).  Found in the center of the chiasm is the main point the author wants to make.  St John’s Prologue has this in its center:

He came to his own, but his own did not receive him.  But to as may as received him, he gave to them authority to become children of God, to those who believed in his name.  To those not from blood, or the will of the flesh, or the will of a man, but are begotten of God (St John 1: 11 – 13).

Thus, the Jews’ reliance on their natural lineage is of no true spiritual value.  The children of God are begotten spiritually by faith in Christ!

As this portion of the eighth chapter continues we learn that Jesus tells them they are presently enslaved to sin.  As slaves they have no inheritance.  Further, they will find their belonging only in the release given to them by the Son:

Jesus answered them:  “Truly, truly I say to you — everyone doing sin is a slave of sin.  And the slave does not abide in the house forever.  The son abides forever.  Therefore, if the son should free you, you will exist in freedom.  I know you are the seed of Abraham, but you seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you” (St John 8: 34 – 37).

Next, the Jews’ objection changes (the claim of Abraham’s seed no longer works) — they now claim God is their Father.  Jesus answers, “If God was your Father, you would love me” (St John 8: 41 – 42).

Jesus refutes their claims and objections.  He shows that the Jews’ claims are LIES.  Hence, we find the irrefutable connection between truth and freedom:  to exist in truth we must, by faith, abide in Christ the Son, thus relying on him to free us from the bondage to sin and to exist in freedom in him.

To the above, we find a remarkable contrast in the account of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well (St John 4: 4 – 42).  In this fourth chapter, Jesus and his disciples come into Samaria to the town of Sychar.  Exhausted from their journey, he sits at Jacob’s Well.  Here he meets the Samaritan woman.

St. Photini

She had the lineage of a Samaritan.  They were a mixed people rejected by the Jews.  She had no impressive lineage.  Beyond being a despised Samaritan normally rejected by a Jew such as Jesus, she lived in a sexually immoral situation.  Jesus knew that after having five husbands, the man she now lived with was not her husband (St John 4: 16 – 18).  This she acknowledged.  She did not LIE.  She told the TRUTH.  Admitting her sullied condition, she enters into the beginning of her freedom in Christ.  She first sees him as a prophet.  Then to clarify her statement about the Messiah who would come, Jesus declares that he is the Messiah — the Christ — for whom her people hoped.  She then returns to Sychar and declares, “Come see a man who told me all things I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?” (St John 4: 29).

Let’s return to the Prologue:

He came to his own, but his own did not receive him.  But to as may as received him, he gave to them authority to become children of God, to those who believed in his name.  To those not from blood, or the will of the flesh, or the will of a man, but are begotten of God (St John 1: 11 – 13).

This Samaritan would would become St Photini.  It is known that she was baptized some time after the Resurrection.  She would go to Carthage as an evangelist.  Later, she would be martyred by Nero.  The Truth set her free!

Here is the point.  We cannot be as the Jews who trusted in themselves and external realities (and lies) that kept them enslaved to sin, false assumptions, and a false confidence in the Law of Moses.  We of faith are to look at ourselves truthfully.  We are to admit our sinful state and our poverty apart from Christ.  We are to continually confess our sins and our need for Christ’s salvation.  In this state of continual, truthful repentance, the Son will continue to set us free!

The following is a corresponding sermon:

In Christ,

Fr. Irenaeus