Gradualism: Rooted in Scripture and Tradition
“He had to pass
through Samaria. So he came to a town of
Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son
Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there
at the well. It was about noon.
“A woman of Samaria
came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give
me a drink.’ His disciples had gone into
the town to buy food. The Samaritan
woman said to him, ‘How can you, a Jew,
ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?’
(For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.” Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew
the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have
asked him and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you do not even have a bucket; where then can you get this
living water? Are you greater than our
father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his
children and his flocks?’ Jesus answered
and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but
whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give
will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to
keep coming here to draw water.’
“Jesus said to her, ‘Go
call your husband and come back.’ The
woman answered and said to him, ‘I do not have a husband.’ Jesus answered her, ‘You are right in saying,
‘I do not have a husband. For you have
had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.’ The woman said to him, ‘I can see that you
are a prophet. Our ancestors
worshipped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in
Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Believe
me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people
worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because
salvation is from the Jews. But the hour
is coming, and is already here, when true worshippers will worship the Father
in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship
him. God is Spirit, and those who
worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.’
The woman said to him, ‘I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he
will tell us everything.’ Jesus said to
her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking with you.’
At that moment his
disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still
no one said, ‘What are you looking for?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’ The woman left her water jar and went into
the town and said to the people, ‘Come see a man who told me everything I have
done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?’ They went out of the town and came to
him. Meanwhile, the disciples urged him,
‘Rabbi, eat.’ But he said to them, ‘I
have food to eat of which you do not know.’
So the disciples said to one another, ‘Could someone have brought him
something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My
food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say – in four months the harvest
will be here? I tell you, look up and
see the fields ripe for the harvest. The
reaper is already receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life,
so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For here the saying is verified that one sows
and another reaps. I sent you to reap
what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing
the fruits of their work.’
Many of the Samaritans
of that town began to believe in his because of the word of the woman who
testified, ‘He told me everything I have done.’
When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and
he stayed there two days. Many more
began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, ‘We no
longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we
know that this is truly the savior of
the world.’” (John 4: 4-42)
This passage is instructive because there are three levels
of action that must be seen all at once and in relationship to each other:
- Jesus and the woman at the
well.
- Jesus and his disciples.
- Jesus and the Samaritans
of the village.
The woman at the well represents the first level of
gradualism. Note the highlighted words
in the passage: they represent her
gradual realization in the identity of Jesus.
Her first statement was true, but both incomplete and intended as a
racial slur – Jew. The next two
statements are also true, but incomplete – sir (Jesus as a human being). This represented development to a title of
respect. The third title represents a
leap to a new level of understanding – Messiah – for it is at that point that
the woman leaves behind her water jar (her material understanding of Jesus). The final stage is one in which both she and
the entire community come to affirm Jesus’ final identity as savior of the
world.
The woman is instructive for many reasons. First, she is a public sinner who has been in
multiple marriages; the very fact that she is out at midday drawing water
indicates this reality. Second, this
conversation takes place outside the village –a place on the margins, a place
of vulnerability; but also a place that is not circumscribed and limited by law
so that the work of God can truly enter into the woman. It is the place where she encounters God, and
the village, the place of law, is seen as mission territory. Third, Jesus is in relationship with the
woman throughout the entire scene, inviting her to partake of the living water –
the life of grace – in spite of her sinful past.
Most instructive is the fact that the woman, sinner though
she is, comes to be the missionary who goes back into the village and brings
others to a relationship with the Lord Jesus.
The entire action of the story is parabolic: Jesus goes to a village of people hated by
the Jews and chooses a woman from among these outcasts who is an outcast of outcasts
– and she becomes the means to bring others to the kingdom of God.
Meanwhile, the disciples remain locked in a lack of
understanding, a condition that persists throughout their time with Jesus. They remain trapped in material
understandings of Jesus, represented by the fact that they insist that he eat
and wonder where he got food. How often
do we find this lack of understanding among them? And yet here again gradualism exists: Jesus remains in relationship with them and
they continue to grow in their understanding and love of God.
Finally, we have the Samaritan village, a group of people
thought utterly cut off from God by the Jewish people. And yet we see that God has had a continual
relationship with them and they to Him, albeit imperfect. What is more, Jesus chooses to come to this
group of outcasts to offer salvation.
There was no need of Jesus to enter this town; he could have done what
every other Jew did and take the long way around. But that long way around is not the way of
salvation. It is instead our mandate as
followers of the Lord Jesus to go directly to the outcasts and marginalized and
establish a relationship with them. And gradually,
over time, God invites the person to an ever deeper relationship with him, just
as he has done in each one of our lives.
Yes, Jesus says to the healed person, “Go and sin no more.” And each time we celebrate the sacrament of
reconciliation we hear those words, and what is more we promise in the act of
contrition that we will sin no more. Yet
we find ourselves back in the confessional time and time again throughout our
lives, and we will find ourselves there at the moment of our death. None of us is a finished product; all of us
are in the status viatoris – pilgrims on the way. The Church invites us to a pastoral posture –
a pedagogical posture – of gradualism.
And this is not new. It has been
there in the history of the Israelites, the lives of the disciples in the
Gospels, the woman at the well, in the very life of the Church in the
development of doctrine, and in every one of our lives.
Let us not be miserly in our fishing. Let us not cast out one reel or line. Let us instead heed the command of Jesus and
cast our nets wide for a big catch. And
let us be the field hospital where the sick are tending to the sick – all overseen
by the Divine Physician, the Chief Resident of our hearts and souls.
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