"Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? They came out of the town and made their way toward Him." (John 4:27-30 NIV)
There’s a woman in Sychar, Samaria who has a lot to teach us about freedom from shame. You’ve probably heard her story many times; the woman at the well with five husbands and a live-in boyfriend has left quite an impression on us. She wore her shame as status; making her way to the well alone in the middle of the day. We see from her interaction with Jesus, she was rough, uncouth and quick to spar with strangers. She had a hard past and a sharp tongue and she spoke crudely about sacred things. She was a harmed and hardened survivor. We may understand some level of the shame she experienced, but there’s a bit more to her story and it has to do with her geographical location.
Sychar is widely believed to be the ancient city of Shechem. Shechem bears ugly history dating back to Genesis 34. It was where Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, was raped by the ruler’s son. When her brothers learned of her violation, they conspired against the Shechemites. Feigning a treaty with the Gentile city, they betrothed Dinah to her defiler, but first the entire male community had to be circumcised. Drunk with desire, the prince agreed to pay the exorbitant bride price, and while the men of the city collectively recovered from their delicate surgery, two of Jacob’s sons took their swords and attacked the city, killing every male and carrying off their wealth. Jacob was grieved by his sons crimes. They brought shame on the family and made the house of Jacob obnoxious among the nations. It’s safe to say that Sychar was a city with a shameful past.
Additionally, in our quest to understand this woman’s layered shame, we need to know about the country of Samaria. Samaria had originally been part of Joseph’s territory. But when the Babylonians came and conquered Judah, they left behind the lower class of society; the people too common to bother carrying away. These simple folks had made a life amidst the ruins, intermarrying with neighboring nations for the sake of survival. They continued to worship God, even erecting their own temple on Mount Gerizem . (By the way, the Jews burned down the Samaritan temple in 128 BC because they believed it to be affront to their faith.) Samaritan worship was a wild mix of tradition and superstition, and thus they were despise by the Jews as half-breeds, even lower than the Gentiles. The Samaritans had known God and lost their way. This is why trips through Samaria were to be avoided at all costs, even interactions with Samaritans risked contamination. The whole country of Samaria was rooted in shame and Sychar-Shechem was it’s capital.
To clarify: this woman at the well with Jesus was a shameful lady, living in a shameful city, amidst a shameful country. She was buried alive beneath layer upon layer of shame and could hardly lift her head under the weight of it.
Remarkably, a long and honest conversation with Jesus altered everything for the Samaritan woman. He tenderly exposed her sin and in the same discussion, set her free. We know this because she left her jar at the well and ran off to tell everyone her truth. Her past no longer haunted her, it proved her newfound faith. When she met the Messiah and He bore her sin and shame; she could not keep the miracle to herself for another minute.
I love the way The Chosen series portrayed this woman. She went from walking small, folded in on herself with the weight of her sin and shame — to walking free, head up and shoulders back, shouting her about her experience.
I get it. In some small way, I am this woman. I’m the girl who folded in on herself while she was very young because of the things that happened to her. I am also the woman who found Jesus at the well and was released from every ugly word spoken over her life. My countenance has been different since the shame shook off and I am learning to walk tall: my body language letting the world know I now have something powerful to share.
Being set free from shame sets us up to share the gospel far more effectively. This woman wouldn’t stop sharing her love for Jesus. No wonder the enemy strives so hard to keep us buried beneath his lies and accusations. He is absolutely aware of what we are capable of when our shame is shattered and we’re Spirit-empowered. A shame-less woman is a force to be reckoned with, especially when she openly credits Jesus as the source of her cure. Her story became powerful instead of painful when it was drained of it’s shame. Ours can too.
Years ago I read a book about rules for life and lobsters. Rule 1? “Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back.” It may sound silly, but stay with me a moment. When two lobsters are placed in the same tank, they’ll determine dominancy within thirty minutes. The dominant lobster will strut, chest out and claws on display while the other sulks, dejected and prone to flight. Once established, rarely do lobsters redetermine their societal ranking. When they’ve assumed their position in the social hierarchy, they are likely to maintain it for a lifetime.
Friends, the enemy is determined to keep us sulking, dejected and prone to flight. But Jesus sets us free from sin and shame so we can hold our heads high, make eye contact and share our story with anyone who will listen. Shame-less women will inevitably make Jesus famous.
"Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did"... They said to the woman, "We no longer believe because of what you said; now we have heard of ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." (John 1:39,42 NIV)
Lord, we have been the woman buried in layers of shame. We’ve folded in and made ourselves small. We’ve worn the shame of sins against us and sins we’ve committed. But You have come into our lives and valued us enough to have a conversation that changes everything. Thank You for shattering shame off our frames. Give us the courage to hold our heads high, make eye contact and share our story shamelessly. Remake us into powerful witnesses to Your glory. May others come to know You because we refuse to keep quiet. Amen.