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He takes her from the practical to the spiritual, from embodied experience to disembodied experience from physical power to spiritual power from water that you need to drink over and over again, to an internal spring that gushes up toward eternal life. He moves from the health of spring water, to the eternity of living water. Jesus begins to speak of living water from a kingdom of God perspective. And that is as good a reason as any.īut Jesus takes her deeper. That is sometimes why people turn to Jesus, for some practical, personal advantage. Living water was thought to be healthier and better for the constitution, and if she knew where to get this living water, it may give her some practical advantage, which would be a welcome change. Living water was the way people described fresh springs. “Where do I get this living water?” Her curiosity is practical. But Jesus continues, not vexed by her anxiety, saying: “if you knew the gift of God and who it was asking for water, you’d ask me for a drink of living water.” Jesus may have been in a hurry, but one thing this story tells us, is that Jesus is always interested, and Jesus always has time. So she throws up a barricade, citing Hebrew law to thwart any ill intentions from this wandering Rabbi. This strange man might guess that she has been a victim before, and her experience tells her that this increases the likelihood of her being a victim again. There she was, alone at the well, unprotected. The woman immediately responds by saying: “You broke a Jewish law by talking to me.” Her words are defensive. All of this Jesus knows at a glance, and yet he talks to her anyway. So this woman’s presence at noon indicates that she is outside the village’s standard way of doing things. It was too hot, and it wasn’t the custom. Women of that era collected water in the morning and in the evening, but not at midday. The clue is that the woman is collecting water at noon. Now this conclusion comes by way of a little 1 st century anthropological examination. Second, she is a Samaritan and he is a Jew repeat the point about the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s. He should completely ignore her to avoid any association with impurity, gossip or potential immoral activity. As a Rabbi, in the Jewish tradition, the protocol would insist that he act as if she isn’t even there. There are three things to notice here to help us understand what is going on: first that Jesus is even talking to her. Or, just as likely, it was a super hot day, and everyone was inside having a siesta (or the Jewish equivalent). I guess there is certain self-confidence in being the Son of God. So he stayed by the well, not worried, it seems about being jumped, mugged or hassled.
And he didn’t accompany them, probably to avoid the curiosity a travelling Holy Man can attract. He sent all of them, which seems the best way to maximize the speed of gathering supplies. Furthermore, he sent his disciples into Sychar to get some food without him. But that was a much longer route than going through Samaria. The most often used route from Judaea to Galilee was down from Jerusalem to Jericho and then up the east bank of the Jordan river to the sea of Galilee. At best they ignored each other, at worst they robbed, beat and killed one another. The Samaritans were to the Hebrews as the Hatfield’s were to the McCoy’s. In the ancient days it was the kingdom of Israel, until it was conquered by Assyria in 750 BC. Samaria is the land between Galilee to the north and Judaea to the south. The clue comes from the fact that he is by himself at a well in Samaria. The story begins with a sense that Jesus is in a hurry.
The second reason I want to work through this story is that the Samaritan woman’s experience may, and often does, reflect our own experience and journey with Jesus. She was the first person who went out of her way, by her own initiative, to tell how Jesus changed her life.
First, just historically, as a matter of fact, the Samaritan woman was the first Christian Evangelist. Today I’d like to spend some time going through it. (I’m impressed by Hal’s ability to hold that 16 pound Bible for so long). That is a long Gospel and there is a lot going on in it.