It's noon and not yet the hottest part of the day. The grass sways in what remains of the cool breeze of the morning. The sun is perched high, pouring it's light on the hilltops and valleys below. A man approaches a well, his muscles weary after a long walk, a little out of breath, a bead of sweat gathering on his brow. He exhales as he sits to rest beside the well.
A woman approaches, her mind wandering as she goes through the motions of the mundane, everyday tasks before her. Perhaps she is startled by the presence of the man sitting at the well.
And with that, the scene is set for the longest recorded conversation that Jesus will have with any single person in any of the gospels.
A man, a woman, and a well. It's a familar scene to Hebrew readers. The Hebrew scripture is full of well narratives, and they almost all follow a similar pattern. It's what students of literature call a trope, and it's all over the Bible. We see versions of this trope with Rebekah, Rachel, and Zipporah.
And as we look at the Samaritan Woman's story, the text demands that we keep these other narratives in our minds; however, this week we're going to look at this story in light of another well narrative. A different woman, lost and unseen, who finds her salvation with YHWH and a well. A woman whose life hasn't been easy, who is an outsider. A woman whose ethinicity and class make her one of the most marginalized people in scripture. Her story is the only other well narrative that I'm aware of in which God Himself arrives with the express purpose of meeting a woman and giving her life.
Hagar and the Samaritan woman both encounter God in a hopeless state. While we know the details of Hagar's pain and suffering, we have fewer details about the Samaritan woman. But here's what we do know based on her culture and the historical period: the Samaritan woman has a had a challenging life. She has not had stability. She has suffered circumstances that led her to being married 5 times in a culture in which women couldn't initiate divorce easily and few men would be willing to marry a chronic adulterer.
So what led to her multiple marriages if not adultery? We don't know. What we do know is that a woman had little way to provide for herself outside of marriage, and this is a woman that comes to the well likely feeling discouraged, used, forgotten, perhaps hardened and defensive. A woman who has been useen. A woman fighting to survive. A woman whose people have failed her. A woman thirsty for living water.
And Jesus, the true light, the word made flesh, the one full of grace and truth goes out of His way to be at this well and to talk to this woman. Jesus always sees those who are unseen. Because He is one with the Father who has always done the same. As Hagar and her son lay dying in the desert, God meets her there, providing a well and a promise to give her life and make her son into a great nation.
Jesus finds the Samaritan woman at the well and promises her "...a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (Jn 4:14) and her reply is instant. She says, “Sir, give me this water" (Jn 4:15). They go on to talk at length, until Jesus reveals to her that He is the Messiah, and she believes.
John tells us that she is so overcome with joy and excitement that she leaves her jar and runs back to the town, telling her people about the God who came to find her at the well. She has received this water that Jesus has offered her, and it is literally bubbling out of her to everyone she knows. And the result?
"Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony..." (Jn 4:39).
The woman at the well teaches us that no matter how discouraged we are, no matter what has happened or is happening in our lives, no matter our mistakes or the mistreatment we have received, God sees us. He sees every part of our lives and He comes to meet us where we are. Over and over again. He is the God who sees the unseen.
This woman encountered God and, unlike Nicodemus before her, did comprehend the light, accepted it, and then gave it away to everyone that she could.
May she be a reminder to us all that that even when we don't feel like we are good enough, smart enough, strong enough, God sees us, and He can and will do powerful things.
John Part 6 out on the Podcast this Tuesday!
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