Astonished (John 4:3-42)

You probably know what Twitter is.  From your phone or computer, you send out short messages of 140 characters or less, and anyone who wants can follow you and read what you wrote. 

One way that people who use twitter can help others find tweets of interest is through the use of hashtags.  The most popular twitter topics and hashtags can take on a life of their own.  People talk about them, even on websites that have nothing to do with twitter.  They become trending topics.  A topic can trend for a few days or a few weeks as it captures the attention of the world.

Today is the first in a series of “hashtag sermons.”  I’ll be preaching on trending topics of the day, and searching faith and scriptures to see what kind of a response we as Christians might make … or what we as Christians might learn.

The hashtag topic that has received the most attention in recent weeks is the hashtag, “#YesAllWomen.”  It’s a topic that has generated a lot of controversy, which of course is why so many people have been discussing it on twitter.

The hashtag “#YesAllWomen,” has been used to describe sexism women have encountered.

The examples on the screen show two of the thousands of tweets using the hashtag #YesAllWomen that have been seen by millions of people.

At first, I didn’t pay much attention. When the hashtag started appearing, I figured it was the angry venting of  some women who just went around hating men.  I certainly didn’t think it was something worth preaching.

But as I learned what #YesAllWomen was really about, I realized that the message that it was trying to express wasn’t about hating men; in fact, it wasn’t all that different from what I had just spent an entire year of lessons trying to teach to our mostly boy Chi-Rho youth, and that it is, in fact, an important message.

It’s about how men express their masculinity, how they treat and respect women, and above all, how our male-dominated culture continues to treat women as less than fully human.

The message of #YesAllWomen isn’t that all men are sexist,  but that we live in a society that allows some men to think it’s ok to be sexist … and that we all have a responsibility to change that.

The Bible has a lot to say on this, both good and bad.

Sodom. 

The main character in the story of Sodom is a man named Lot, a good and righteous man who has given shelter to two male travelers – angels in disguise, perhaps – who needed a place to stay.  But at night, a mob comes to the house and demands that Lot give the travelers to them, so that they could rape and abuse them.

Lot says no, for he has promised these men shelter and protection; and he offers to send out his own daughter instead.

The Bible lifts this story up because Lot did right by protecting the travellers and upholding his promise to provide them a safe place to spend the night.  But what does it say about how ancient cultures viewed women, when his own daughter’s value was less than the value of these two strangers?  What must Lot’s daughter have felt, to know that she was seen as barely human, not even worth the same protection offered to these male travelers?

Next story: Bathsheba.   You know the story, how King David committed adultery with her, then had her husband killed.  Here’s the interesting thing, though:  Scripture doesn’t really condemn David for the sin of adultery.  His sin wasn’t sex.  His sin was theft.  Scripture says he took what did not belong to him.  That was his sin.  She was “the wife of Uriah,” property that David stole. 

And then, of course, we have Paul.

Believe it or not, Paul’s views toward women were quite remarkable and progressive.  Now you’re probably saying, “Wait. Didn’t Paul forbid women to speak?”

Actually, Paul gave instructions for how men and women should speak and teach.  But these instructions were so radical for how positively they regarded women, that later writers who used Paul’s name, and later editors who copied his manuscripts by hand…, they just couldn’t accept this particular teaching. So they changed it. 

That’s how we get so many letters from Paul that forbid women from teaching and speaking in church.  The actual, authentic writings of Paul convey just the opposite idea, but it was too much for the editors and writers who came after him.

These stories do not necessarily approve of the sexist attitudes of the times, but they do show how such attitudes were a part of the ancient cultures. 

There are other scriptures which boldly challenge the prevailing cultural views toward women.

The Old Testament has the story of Ruth, and the story of Esther.  How truly remarkable it was, in those ancient, patriarchal societies, to include stories of women acting with such boldness, bravery, and wisdom.  To portray women in such a way, at such a time, is amazing.  If I had more time, I’d go more in depth in describing these truly revolutionary tales from scripture, and I hope you’ll take the time to read the stories of Ruth and Esther on your own.

Then there’s Lilith.  Jewish folklore tells the tale of Lilith, and scholars actually trace her story back to the Epic of Gilgamesh. 

Lilith has only a brief mention in the Bible, in Isaiah 34, where her name appears without any other information about her. Isaiah must have assumed that everyone who would read what he wrote would have already been familiar with Lilith’s story.

Lilith, according to Jewish legend, was Adam’s first wife, the wife he had before Eve.  But Adam insisted on treating Lilith as less than fully human.  He wanted to dominate and subdue her, but Lilith wouldn’t go along with that.  Exit Lilith, and enter Eve, a woman more willing to accept an inferior status.

By the way, in some English translations of Isaiah 34, the translators took out Lilith’s name and replaced it with descriptions of a “night monster.”  Talk about misogyny and sexism!

Cultural attitudes toward women really hadn’t changed all that much by Jesus’s time.  Women were still second-class citizens who had no rights, and men were still free to treat them however they liked.  A man who respected women and treated them as fully human was extremely rare – perhaps unheard of.

Remember Mary, who wanted to listen to Jesus as he taught his disciples, while her sister Martha was working in the kitchen?  Women weren’t supposed to listen to teachers.  Women weren’t supposed to learn.  What could a woman learn – she wasn’t even fully human!

“Jesus, why don’t you say something?  Tell Mary to get to the kitchen where she belongs!”

But Jesus just says, “Mary has chosen what is right, and I will not take that away from her.  I will not deny her what she seeks.”

Woah!  He acts as if she was fully human!

And then, the story we heard today.  A woman by herself, alone, at the well.  Jesus approaches, and speaks to her. 

He’s not supposed to do that!  He should have instead sought out whatever male was responsible for her, and spoken to him instead.  The male speaks for the woman.  The woman is not supposed to speak for herself.

Yet Jesus approaches her, and asks for a drink of water.

The woman responds: “Why are you asking me for a drink?”

Do you hear in her voice the hesitation, the apprehension, the fear? 

This woman, we find out later, has had five husbands.  We always assume it’s her fault, that she’s had five husbands.  Perhaps we should ask why we make that assumption.

James Forbes, in one of the best sermons I’ve ever had the privilege of hearing, asked: what about those five husbands?

And he went through those five husbands, one by one.

Husband number one, he said, married the woman for her beauty… but beauty didn’t last.

Husband number two, well, he had heard the rumor that she was, in fact, a lesbian, but figured that she just hadn’t found the right man, and if she just found the right man… well, that didn’t work.

Husband number three…he seemed nice at first.  But then he started slapping her around a little.  And then a lot.  And she put up with it, for a long time.  What else could she do?  But finally, she had to leave, even if it would make her an outcast.

And husband number four, and husband number five… I don’t remember their stories, but they were similar…

Is it any surprise that she reacted to Jesus’s question with hesitation, apprehension, and fear?  Even if all men weren’t like that, the men she had known believed they could treat her however they wanted.

Do you think, in our modern, civilized, 21^st century society, a woman who unexpectedly finds herself alone with a man she does not know might experience similar apprehension and anxiety?

We still live in a society in which the degradation and dehumanization of women is accepted.   It’s true that not all men treat women that way.  But some do.  And they do, because society has told them it’s okay.

I have lots of connections online, and the other day I saw that one young man had posted on facebook one sentence.  It said:  “First girl I date that dresses like a pin up girl will get a ring on her finger.”

Before I started paying attention to #YesAllWomen, I probably would have ignored this comment.  Just an immature young man trying to be funny.

  But now I realize that comments like this are what contribute to a culture that dehumanizes women.  One or two comments like this may not be that big of a deal, but when society as a whole allows messages like this to flourish in the public square, to become the norm, it paves the way for the dehumanization of women, and that is what allows some men to think they have the right to treat women however they want.

So I responded to that facebook post.  Man-to-man.  Friend-to-friend. 

When I checked again, my response was deleted.  Apparently he didn’t want to hear what I had to say.

Here’s an interesting tidbit:  last week it was reported that hurricanes with female names cause more deaths than hurricanes with male names.  Why?  Because, it was discovered, people aren’t as intimidated by female names.  A hurricane with a male name, well, that’s something to take seriously.  But a female name?  Ehh.  Pay no attention.

Most people don’t think this consciously.  But subconsciously, society continues to give women less credibility and less importance, so that a female name just automatically registers in our minds as less intimidating, a name that doesn’t have to be taken as seriously as a male name…

…So Jesus strikes up a conversation with this woman. He does take her seriously.  To him, she’s as much a child of God as any man.

And the disciples arrive… and they are astonished.  Astonished!  They can’t believe it!  Jesus is talking to a woman, the same way he’d talk to one of them.  And they’re speechless.  This Jesus just never fails to surprise.

Finally:  if you’ve seen the pictures, you know that over the past year we’ve been painting shields and swords in our middle school Chi-Rho group.  And we’ve been talking about heros.  For Halloween, I even dressed up as Hercules, the hero who many kids today know through the Disney animated film.

But as the narrator, voiced by Charlton Heston, asks at the beginning of Disney’s Hercules:  What is a hero?

Strength alone does not make a hero.  That’s the message of Disney’s version of the story.  And all year, there has been a sign on the wall of the youth room that says:  “STRENGTH AND LOVE.” 

A hero uses his strength for good.  He uses it to defend the defenseless, to bring honor to those he loves, and to serve his community.

There is a message in society that says men prove their manhood by putting others down.  There is a message in society that says men show they are men by treating women as something less.

There is also the perception that the antidote to this is to make men more like women: more gentle, and less… manly.  Churches are guilty of broadcasting this message, and so it’s no wonder that we have so few men in our pews than women.  But that’s not the solution, either.  And that’s not what feminism is about.

What feminism is about, and what #YesAllWomen is about, is calling upon men to use their strength, their manhood, to honor and respect all people, to help create a society that breaks down distinctions: neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek.  Not when it comes to how people should be treated.

#YesAllWomen is actually a challenge to men to be better men, to be fearless, proud and strong in using their lives for God’s glory.

#YesAllWomen is a challenge to men, to follow the example of Jesus, who welcomed Mary and found her just as worthy as the men to learn from him… who found a way to break through the Samaritan woman’s distrust of men, and treat her as fully human… who courageously stood up for anyone who was being disrespected, bullied, or oppressed.

At the end of that story, after Jesus talked with the woman at the well, she goes to her town and tells everybody about Jesus.  The men all rush out to meet Jesus and hear what he has to say.  Then the they all turn to the woman and say, “Now we believe, NOT because of what you said – after all, you’re just a woman! – but because of what we have seen and heard for ourselves.”

And Jesus, I’m sure, replied to their derogatory comment… man-to-man, friend-to-friend… but his response was quickly deleted.