The Woman, the Well, the Truth

The Samaritan Woman

"If you knew the gift of God and who it was speaking to you...." John 4:10

You've heard the story a hundred times. A woman from Samaria goes to draw water, encounters the Lord, and then converts her whole community. Crazy, beautiful, miraculous. 

However, as with all of Scripture, when you sit with it a little longer, new lights begin to emerge. This story recently struck me in deep ways--and I pray it does for you as well. 

To start, it is important to note the time of day this story takes place: "it was about the sixth hour" (John 4:6) or 12 PM. I can't take credit for picking out this detail, but I'll share what I once heard at a youth conference. The speaker noted that noon is the hottest time of the day; I can't even imagine how hot it is in a desert landscape. Since it was so hot, 12 PM was not the ideal time to walk out from the city to the water well with a big jug that you'd fill to the brim and then proceed to lug back home. Most of the time, the women would head to the well early in the morning. Imagine that for a second. All the women from the town, heading out to the well together, chit-chatting about the latest this and that. No doubt, it was a time for fellowship and community---a sense of unity. Yet, this woman goes out to the well at noon. Alone. 

We also learn that she has had not one, not two, but five different husbands and "the one you have now is not your husband." Not only does she have no girlfriends, but she also seems to struggle in her marriage and family life. Even without knowing the details, we can gather that she struggled with modesty and chastity. 

Therefore, it isn't a stretch to infer that her words to the Lord probably came off with a little bit of attitude.  "Why would you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" She's going to stand her ground. Of course, our Lord knows her through and through, so he is unabashed and continues on. He knows that she has been hardened by her sin (all the husbands) and her shame (coming to draw water, alone).

Jesus' persistence begins to unlock her heart. "If you knew the Gift of God and who it is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him..." What is the Gift of God? Who is speaking with her? He continues to explain that the living water He promises will quench all her thirsts. Speaking of thirst, picture again that heat, the sweat, that jug. She is definitely feeling a physical thirst. But, Jesus helps her to finally recognize her spiritual thirst, as well. He uses the physical reality to unlock a spiritual truth. 

How consoling it is to realize our need for the Lord! It's painful at times, yes. (almost as bad as being really, really thirsty!) Yet, it is so profoundly refreshing to know that Jesus is our Savior--that He accepts us no matter what we have done. I can only imagine what she felt when her gaze locked in upon His merciful, accepting eyes---an experience vastly different than the eyes of judgement she encountered in her community.  

Fast-forward towards the end of His life, Jesus tells us he must return to the Father, and that it is, in fact, "to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you." John 16:7. This Counselor--the Holy Spirit--- which dwells within us--- is  God's Love. The Gift of God, the Gift of the Holy Spirit, enables us to love and know God more profoundly because we love with God's love, not our own. This union is a truly satisfying gift, one that quenches all our desires into the "one thing" (Luke 10:39). 

Jesus reveals much to the Samaritan woman, and at the end, He provides her with a solution: worship God. That is, turn your life to Him; make your life an offering to be a Praise of His Glory. "True worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth." Spirit: the Gift of God in the Holy Spirit, His Love.  And Truth: manifested in "He who is speaking to you"--the Son of God, our Salvation. The Truth reveals that God came for all and longs to love us and to be known by us, no matter how dry our hearts might be. 

O Come Holy Spirit, Gift of God, who teaches us to pray and to worship. Well up from within us and draw us into that magnificent, mystery of God the Father and God the Son. May all we do glorify You.