The woman at the well has a name, with Joel Everson

The longest recorded conversation between Jesus and anyone in the gospels is with the woman at the well, venerated as a martyr in the Catholic tradition, her witness “equal to the apostles” in the Eastern Christian tradition. “Having had five husbands and the one now not her husband” in a culture where women could not initiate divorce, suggests her life had been full of tragedy & heartbreak, not promiscuity. Yet instead of revering her witness, she’s often “slut shamed” as a loose, mouthy woman Jesus tolerates—demonstrating his long-suffering, instead of having the kind of fire, feistiness & courage Jesus likes, even admires.

The fact that a woman who is known for courage, tenacity, and suffering has shame projected onto her illustrates how folks interpret stories both in the Bible and of the people they know: it says more about “them” than it does about her.

Maybe they’ve been that wrong about you? Maybe you’re that wrong in the way you are reading someone else’s story right now?

It also raises the question—if people have been THAT wrong in what they’ve told us about the woman at the well, how wrong are they in what they’ve told us about JESUS?

#spirituality #christianity #jesus #womanatthewell #photini #womenshistorymonth #theology #thezeitcast

Видео The woman at the well has a name, with Joel Everson канала The Zeitcast with Jonathan Martin