URC Daily Devotion 7th October

Just as there is a lot to take in with this passage as a whole, so there is also much to learn from the woman herself. Let’s start with some facts.  She is a Samaritan. Samaria is the name given to the land between Galilee in the North, and Judea in the south. If you are traveling from north to south, as John tells us that Jesus and his disciples were doing, the natural route is through Samaria, but Jews often avoided this way so they could avoid the Samaritans.  They were not very well-liked to say the least, and the Jews and Samaritans really didn’t get along at all well.  In order to understand why, though, we have to go way back in Jewish history to more than 400 years before Jesus’ birth. During the Babylonian exile, most of the Jews were forced out of their homeland and spread elsewhere around the Babylonian Empire. During the exile, many Jewish practices came to be influenced by the Babylonians. However, there were some Jews who remained in the area of Judea, and they came to view themselves as the only true descendants of Abraham because they were the only ones not influenced by outside forces. They came to be known as Samaritans, and they opposed the return of the Jewish exiles after the end of Babylonian occupation. The Samaritans and the Jews also disagreed about the place of true worship; the Jewish people of course, held to the Temple in Jerusalem, while the Samaritans believed God’s dwelling was the Temple on Mount Gerizim.

In any event, the Jews and Samaritans were frequently involved in skirmishes, with bloodshed and murder, but at best they still avoided each other at all costs and simply did not mix.  They would, especially, not share eating and drinking vessels with them.  And yet, Jesus asks this woman for a drink.

Surprisingly, John does not tell us that this woman is an adulterer; nor does he say that she is even a sinner, but it does seem fair to say that there was something in this woman’s life that she was ashamed of. We can assume this because she came to the well outside of the city in the middle of the day. It was, indeed usual for women to gather water from the well each day, but they would normally go to the well first thing in the morning so that they could collect their water while it was still cool – and there was a well within the Sychar town limits, so there was no reason for this woman to walk out of town in the heat of the day to get the water; unless she was afraid to interact with the other women of the town and ashamed to be seen by them.

Yet, whatever her colourful past, no matter her gender, or even her heritage as a Samaritan, when this woman encountered Jesus at the well, none of those things mattered. He asked her for a drink of water from the well, and she willingly dropped the bucket down into the well and drew fresh water to serve to Jesus.   

That one action, willingly taken to serve a stranger in need, was the beginning of this woman’s salvation journey.  Jesus engaged her in conversation. They talked about the well and its connection to their ancestor Jacob.  Jesus told her about “living water,” and offered her a drink, even as she collected water for him. Then they talked about the woman’s life. The conversation was to be completely transformational for the woman. Although she didn’t initially understand what “living water” was, by the time she was on her way back to Sychar to tell the village people about her encounter at the well, she must have known that it had something to do with being valued even when you feel ashamed.

Jesus saw straight to the heart of what was happening in this woman’s life. The woman had been through one emotional upheaval after another. Whether or not her various marriages ended in death or divorce, she must have felt defeated every time.  In the midst of it all, there was something in her life that caused her great shame. Like women and men everywhere, she wasn’t a villain, she was just a sinner with a messed up life.  Jesus, in all his infinite love and wisdom knew she needed to be loved and respected for who she was – a female, a Samaritan, a sinner – so he offered her living water.

And her life was changed!  It wasn’t just that the woman left the well with a smile on her face and feeling a little better on that particular day.  It wasn’t just that she gave herself a pat on the back because she had given some water to a thirsty stranger. No, she knew that she had encountered the Messiah.  She was valued, even though she was a woman.  She was respected, even though she was a Samaritan and felt ashamed.  She was loved even though something made her feel unlovable.  This woman did what I hope any of us would do.  She went back to her town to tell anyone who would listen. With her enthusiasm, with her honesty, with her testimony, people came to believe in Christ.  John says “Because of her testimony, many people in the village believed in Jesus.”

So here’s why the woman at the well matters for each of us. We have all felt like a nobody at times; some of us may have felt that we don’t matter because we are women, or because we’re not part of the “in crowd”?  I’m sure that there have been times when we are ashamed about all the mistakes we’ve made in our lives.  I have certainly felt in the past that nobody values me or respects me because I don’t have the best job or the best house or the coolest car (in fact, I score all three!)  This is why the story of the Samaritan woman at the well is so completely wonderful because in her story, we learn that none of that stuff matters to Jesus.  He loves us for who we are.  He values us even when the world might not. He’s not concerned with all the mistakes of our past.  He just wants to offer us “living water.”  He just wants to have a relationship with us.  He wants us to know that our messy lives are not so horrific in his eyes, and that if we will drink from the well of life, we can be made new.

When we begin to doubt your presence, and disbelieve your motives, you offer us living water,
We thank you, life-giving and generous Father.

When life’s regrets and the bad choices we have made leave us feeling excluded and unworthy,
you offer us living water,
We thank you, life-giving and generous Father.

When circumstances, or the cruelty of others, have left us alone and our souls wounded,
you offer us living water,
We thank you, life-giving and generous Father.

We thank you and praise you, our Father, that however we may thirst,
whatever we may need to satisfy our souls, you offer it freely and abundantly in Christ;

So we drink deeply of the living water and, as we draw from the well of your Son,
we seek to pass the cup to others who like us, are thirsty for your grace.

Amen