Jesus meets the Samaritan Woman

Jesus meets the Samaritan Woman (John 4) Jesus “had to pass through Samaria.” Of course, he did not have to pass through Samaria. The Jews had a shorter route to avoid passing through Samaria since the Samaritans were considered worse than gentiles. Since the Babylonian exile this group of Israelites mixed with non Israelites and so were influenced by the introduction of Babylonian gods in their worship. They became the enemies of the Jews. So why would Christ go there? Did not the Gospel say “He came to what was his own” (John 1)? Did not he himself announce to the Canaanite woman that he was “sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” (Matt 15: 24)? But here he is in Samaria and precisely in the town called Sykhar where Jacob’s well exists. He had to pass through Samaria because he will call these strangers into his church and kingdom. A Samaritan woman came to draw water at noon. Women in that culture would walk miles to the well to draw water early in the morning or late in the evening. They would do that to avoid the hot weather. But for a woman to come at noon bearing the heat, it means she was an outcast of her community. Jesus wants the outcast. He goes a further extra mile and calls in sinners who are having sexual affairs without marriage. Note how he calls them gently, gradually and with full respect of their dignity (vv.16-18). He does not condemn sinners but sin. In this context, Jesus asks the woman to give him a drink. Jews considered Samaritan women to be ritually impure and therefore drinking from their jars was forbidden. Jesus is thirsty but obviously it is another kind of water. When she questions his request, he offers her the “spring of water welling up to eternal life” (v. 14) not the stagnant water of the well. What is this water? Jesus is thirsty for love and that is what he will give. He is the source of living water. He brings her up from the material water to the spiritual living water of eternal life. This living water is precisely the Holy Spirit. This is why he concludes that “true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth” (v. 23). The Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of truth” (John 16:13). Water was used in the Old Testament as a symbol of God’s act of saving and giving life to man as well as prefiguring the fullness of salvation in Christ. Recall how God saved Noah and his people through water, and how the Israelites were saved through crossing the Red Sea. The Church continues to use water in the sacrament of baptism as a sign of death with Christ and regeneration through him (CCC 1217-1222). Amazed she responds “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.” (vv. 25-26). An astonishing announcement “I AM” - the same name that God gave to himself when he spoke to Moses for the first time. Jesus is God. He is one with the Father (John 17:11). She ran to her village and told her citizens. Many of the Samaritans believed on account of what she told them. The woman is presented as a missionary like the disciples (v. 39) How does this story help us today? Three lessons:: Love your enemies and reach out to them Do not judge those who sin against you And the third one is that the water Christ gives is Love. It is also the water that he is thirsty for. It is from a spiritual dimension the thirst he had when he was on the cross. He is thirsty for souls to save! And he expects us to love him in the faces of the needy, the sick, and the outcast. He gives and reveals the Spirit. “God is Love” (.1 John 4:16). Love is the essence of the Trinity. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father. And the Holy Spirit is the bond of mutual love of the Father and the Son. The story of love is also the story of God with humanity from creation to redemption, the Resurrection and the sending of his Spirit to be with his people until the kingdom is fully established and he is glorified in his elect at the end of time. But that is another lecture. Christ is risen. He is truly risen. by George Farahat