Lent 3A - Additional Thoughts: Nicodemus v. The Samaritan Woman

Over at The Voice - Christian Resource Institute, Jirair Tashjian outlines some ways in which the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well shares similarities with the nighttime encounter with Nicodemus. He then states:

In many ways, however, the story of the Samaritan woman stands in stark contrast to the Nicodemus narrative in the previous chapter. Note the following differences:

Loosely summarized, the contrasts he points out are as follows:
1) Gender - Male v. Female
2) Social Status - Jew v. Samaritan
3) Morality - Pharisee v. Adulteress
4) Time of Day - Nighttime v. Daytime
5) Initiator - Nicodemus v. Jesus
6) Outcome - Uncertainty v. Transformation

Of those distinctions, I find it very interesting that the fourth distinction seems to have provided the same outcome in each occurrence--an uninterrupted private encounter in which the Gospel can be presented through theological discourse. I would also contend that while the specific Nicodemus narrative ends with uncertainty, the Gospel account of Nicodemus ends with an investment of 75 pounds of spices for the proper burial of Jesus.

I would add another distinction to the list, in that Nicodemus likely was a learned scholar, while the Samaritan woman was probably fairly uneducated. At the same time, Jesus engages in a dialogue with each of them, carefully outlining the Gospel message in terms that they would understand.

Let us remember that Christ came for all people: the Jew and the Gentile, the male and the female, the morally upright and the sinner, the social elite and the outcast, the Ph.D. and the GED.

It's this message presented in the Gospel according to John which seems to be echoed in Paul's letter to the Galatians:

^3:26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Grace and Peace,

PastorJon