Furthermore…

I heard a Monsignor on the radio discussing Christ’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. In a slip of the tongue, he said ‘the good Samaritan woman,’ then quickly corrected himself. I waited in vain for him to say she was the ‘bad Samaritan woman,’ but if it crossed his mind, he stopped short of it. It was the Gospel reading this past Sunday, and just in a few days I have heard several circuitous arguments to the effect that she was likely a blameless product of her circumstances and not the local tramp. “Have it your way,” I think.

The conversation she has with Jesus seems charged with a kind of playful sparring for one-up points such as goes on in a pickup confrontation. Such might have been old hat with her. Her repeated use of the  honorific ‘Sir’ seems a kind of mock, distancing formality that she would be quite willing to set aside for a more informal personal relating, should such develop.

But she quickly sees that she is not being hit on, but rather redeemed, a far more exciting eventuality!