She went to the well at the hottest part of the day. She did this purposely because she knew none of the other women from her village were likely to be there. In this way, she would avoid all the town gossip about her. She was a woman that had several marriages and the man she was with, she wasn’t married to.
That’s when she saw him, sitting by the well, giving the impression he was waiting specifically for her. The man had come with friends but he sent them away-perhaps to have uninterrupted time with her-in search of food. He asked her for a drink, and this startled her. She was a woman and a Samaritan. It was not kosher for a man to speak to a woman alone, or for Jews and Samaritans to intermingle (the woman knew he was a Jew).
The man proceeds to tell her about a different type of water-a living water. Water that would quench her thirst forever. She asked him how he would get this water because the well was deep and he had nothing to draw the water with.
As her story continues to unfold, the man begins to tell her about her life and she realizes he is a prophet. She suddenly becomes excited and leaves to tell her village about the man that told her everything she ever did. “Could this be the Messiah?” she asked. Many of the Samaritans in her village believed that day because of her testimony.
This story is intriguing to me, especially because it highlights a woman. I believe the many stories of women encountering Jesus were to set women free from the bondage of a societal norm as second class citizens. While this passage is mostly about the sin the woman had lived in, her new knowledge that Jesus was Messiah, and being set free spiritually, Jesus put a spotlight on the unique influence women have in their families, and their circles of influence. In that moment he took another swipe at racism toward women and other cultures.
What would life around us look like to love like Jesus? Not like the world loves but like Jesus loves-factual, truthful. gentle, kind, compassionate.
Divine love is not how the world defines love, and somewhere in between might we find his grace to love those who are different from us?
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Shalom!
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