We are the Woman at the Well…part 1
Recently my favorite story in the Bible came to life in a new way that is more experiential. It is the longest one-on-one conversation recorded in the gospels between Jesus and another person is found in John 4, the Samaritan woman at the well.
I try putting myself in the story as this Samaritan woman, a kind of outcast, having to go and fetch water every day and dreading it for a number of reasons (the five husbands, the gossip, the possible ex-wife of the third husband etc.), not to mention the physical aspect of carrying heavy water. To make it easier on myself and everyone else I go to the well when the other women are less likely to be there, even though it is in the heat of the day.
This time a man is sitting there, obviously a Jew. He is likely to ignore someone who is a Samaritan and a woman so it doesn’t matter. I think, “In his mind I am of no more value than a dog. I’ll just get my water and go home.” To my surprise, the man asks me for a drink of water. What’s up with that? Is he flirting? He seems different though, not like any man I’ve met before. He feels safe.
I ask him why a Jewish man would even speak to a Samaritan woman.
This man named Jesus replies, "If YOU only knew the GIFT God has for YOU and who YOU are speaking to, YOU would ask ME and I would give YOU LIVING WATER."*
Jesus says the word ‘you’ to the woman five times in this sentence. I put my name in the place of ‘you.’ Can we doubt the living God wants a relationship with each one of us, to be in conversation with us as individuals? The word gift in Greek is D
o
rea. It refers to a free undeserved, unwarranted gift. Whenever it is used in the New Testament it means a spiritual or supernatural gift: here it is living water.**
Springs and wells provided continually renewed water for the community. They are a metaphor acknowledging “God as the fountain of living water: the Holy Spirit, God’s presence. In the Bible water is used in 3 ways and meanings: a cosmic force only God can control, a source of life, and a cleansing agent."** That is also true of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.
*New Living Translation of the Holy Bible
**Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
***water metaphor info: Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
image & text copyright Valerie Sjodin 2011