Samaritan well proved instead to be a rendezvous
with eternity. Samaria was that familiar part of cen-
tral Palestine that Jews loved to loathe. The feeling
on the Samaritan side was mutual. But the journey
was long and in order that it not be longer, Jesus
and His disciples took a shortcut through Samaria.
Or perhaps Jesus, in typical defiance of cultural
mores, sought to encounter one of the very people
who had been shunned as heretics ever since the
days of the exile.
reflection on the low estate of this place. Sy-
char was located near the plot of land that
Jacob had given to Joseph as part of his
inheritance. Exhausted, Jesus stayed
behind at a well in the center of town
while the disciples went to find food
in the village. No doubt He was hop-
ing that someone would come by who
could quench His thirst with cool well
water.
less it was someone trying to avoid other people.
So Jesus watched this solitary figure approach Him.
Clearly, by His dress Jesus was a Jew and this
woman perhaps hoped against hope that He would
leave her alone, snubbing her as Jews loved to do
even in the Samaritan's own land. Beyond that, she
knew that it was totally improper for a man to "lower"
himself by speaking to a woman in public.
ment.
granting of a drink of water. Jesus' request was hum-
ble because usually the request for water was made
of someone in a superior position. Her reply shows
how startled she was that He would ask such a thing.
"You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How
can you ask me for a drink?" (vs. 9) She was trying
and much more, a woman of Israel's blood enemy.
To add to that, everyone knew that honorable women
came for water in the cool of the day. Only the un-
clean and the scorned ventured out when the sun
beat down mercilessly. But the woman reckoned the
sweltering temperatures were easier borne than the
wagging tongues that flailed her each time she ap-
when speaking of running water as
our father Jacob who gave us this well? Give me this
water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep
coming here" (vs. 12, 15).
ter I give them will become in them a spring of water
welling up to eternal life" (vs. 14). To show her that
He was taking her to a place where she had never
been, He challenged her with a question. "Go, call
your husband and come back." Her bravado gone,
she mumbled in reply, "I have no husband." Jesus
continued, "You are right when you say you have no
husband. That fact is that you have had five hus-
bands, and the man you now have is not your hus-
band" (vs. 16-18).
of God and who it is
you living water."