A: 3rd Sun of Lent (19 Mar 2017) - BEYOND NAMES AND CLASSIFICATIONS - Jn 4:5-52

“How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria (Jn 4:9a)?” This was the straightforward question of the Samaritan woman to Jesus in our gospel today. It appears that she spoke of what was commonly held at that time, i.e., that the Samaritans are separated from the Jews, and it is a social taboo that they talk, much more intermingle, with each other in public (4:9b). This also drove her instinctively to label Jesus as “Jew,” while calling herself “Samaritan.”

Noteworthy in this scene is that Jesus neither acceded nor contradicted the appellation given him. He could have responded: “Yes, I am a Jew” or “No, I am not, I am one of you.” But he simply ignored the categorization and proceeded on revealing a more important basis of ethnicity: our unified heredity with the one Father (Jn 4:23). This same dynamic is manifested also in Jn 8:48 when the Jews accused Jesus: “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Herein, Jesus was qualified by the Jews themselves as a “Samaritan.” Again, Jesus ignored the label and proceeded on emphasizing everyone’s singular connection to God the Father (Jn 8:54). This theme is prevalent at least in the Gospel of John. Jesus allows himself freely to be classified under one ethnic group: he can be Nazorean (1:46), or he can be Samaritan (8:48), or he can be Jew (4:9), or he can even be both Nazorean and Jewish (19:19). In all these circumstances, Jesus undermined any of the labels on him, underlining instead higher moral values and our relationship to the one Father.

What is funny in our world nowadays is that we are fond of labeling persons, and categorizing one especially when his/her position is supportive or contradictory of one group or personality. A case in point in the Philippine society is the black-and-white appellation of persons who speak against the government as “Anti-Duterte” or “members of the Yellow Brigade;” and vice-versa, those who defend the current administration as “Die-hard Duterte minions.” With this, the Filipinos are divided… not only the nation, but even small communities to the point that good neighbors become fierce enemies, facebook friends exchange below-the-belt tirades, and even family members turn sour to each other simply because of one’s ideological principles.

Thus, the Philippine Church that speaks openly against the culture of death is labeled immediately as one of the "Yellows." But as we saw it in the Johannine Jesus, name-calling is negligible. The true measure of one’s affiliation is our relationship to the Father. Jesus, despite not acceding to any appellations, spoke against the Samaritan woman’s immoral life (4:17) and questioned their idea of worship (4:21-24); and on the other side of the coin, he corrected also his Jewish disciples’ wrong notion of faith (4:34-38). If the Church leaders then criticize a government policy on the basis of its immorality, they are not affiliating themselves to one camp and destroying the other, they are simply advocating the observance of higher spiritual values. They are merely being prophetic in accordance to the example of Jesus in his dealings with the Samaritans, who after opening their minds recognized his prophetic role (4:19,42).

I just hope that beyond names and classifications, we can all at the end of the day recognize that we are indeed members of only one family… God’s family.

- Rex Fortes, CM