3rd Sunday of Lent (Woman at the Well)

The conversation Jesus had with the female-figure we have come to know as the Woman at the Well, brings together an unlikely combination of people. To explain why, I’ll put it into historical context, about two generations after King David, the Jewish nation divided into two principal kingdoms—north and south. The northern kingdom, called Israel, was later invaded by a powerful foreign neighbor. Their eventual defeat occurred in about the year 722BC. Most of the citizens of Israel were deported, but some were allowed to remain.

With time, people of different cultures and religions began to move into the area, leading to inter-marriage and a blending of cultures. These people came to be known as Samaritans, and while they always claimed to be true heirs of the tradition that came through Moses, the people of the southern kingdom (Judah), the area that didn’t get invaded—came to regard the Samaritans as impure, having deviated from true Jewish faith and culture, and not truly Jews. This brewing animosity developed into a formalized split, resulting in the people of Samaria building a temple of their own on a sacred high-place called Mount Gerizim. They held firm that they were true upholders of the correct religion, and the people of Judah held firm that they were not. By the time of Jesus’ birth, this tension was still very much alive.

Jesus, we are told, was on his way from Judea to his hometown of Galilee, and there were two main routes that could take him there. The shorter one went through the city of Samaria, and the longer, out of the way route, followed the course of the Jordan river. Jesus took the route, through Samaria, but not as a shortcut. At a town of Samaria, he stopped to rest at the town well. A woman came there for water at noon, the hot part of the day, when people intentionally avoided going out into the sun for such tasks. She did so, however, because she wanted to go precisely when no one else would be there. Why? She was woman who lived in shame among her own people—having had many men in her life. Further, women didn’t go out into public places alone, yet there she was. An unlikely encounter: a woman alone in public, now suddenly conversing with a man; a Jew with a Samaritan; God’s sinless Son, with a scandalous woman.

          There are three things that this reading called to mind for me this week. First is that like this woman, we all are thirsting for something beyond our reach, something we don't have. So often we seek to satisfy this thirst through things that money can buy, hoping that it will give our hearts peace and satisfy our restlessness. What we inevitably find is that it doesn't satisfy our restlessness and that we continue to seek out the next thing, hoping that it will be what satisfies. It continues on and on while our hearts remain restless. But we also respond to this restlessness by seeking out the things that we believe can satisfy our bodily appetites. Our impulses have us delving into pollution through the internet.

          Jesus came to her two tell her that it's not that series of men and her life nor any other that would follow that is ultimately going to satisfy--it's him. To us also, Jesus would say stop, look to me. I am the only thing that will satisfy.

A second detail that comes to mind is how this woman bore shame and somehow had come to accept the message that she was damaged goods. At a certain point in each of our lives, as we make bad decisions that we can't go back and change, we can begin to hear that voice within our head telling us the same thing, that we are damaged goods, that we could have been what God had always hoped and what we had always hoped, but unfortunately, that ship is sailed. We are damaged goods.

In so many words, Jesus gave her the message that she longed to hear and needed to hear: that she was a child of God and beloved. In all the ways that we give ear to that deceptive voice and its message, Jesus would want to speak to us, to tell us that it's a lie. Through the mercy he revealed, we reclaim our identity and are not just damaged goods.

          Finally, the third element is Jesus’ request to her: “Give me a drink”. We would think that in this dynamic between these two figures, Jesus says everything to give her, but nothing her needs from her. So much of this reading incorporates the notion of thirst and hunger, and further bearing in mind that from the cross Jesus will later declare “I thirst”, Realized that he thirsts for a response from us. The question for each of us is, What is the task that he is asking of me? That requires some prayerful introspection, giving space and time for God to reveal that. But I also consider in this reading how there is the discussion about food that result in Jesus saying, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work”. Perhaps therein lies what is being asked of us: To do the will of our heavenly Father. Could you in the first hour you are awake, take at least a minute to focus and ask that prayer, giving some space and time for what God would put on your heart. What do you desire of me today? I trust that in seeking to know what our Lord desires of us, we will find what fulfills our desires, all for which our hearts thirst.