Well or Spring?

John 4:1-26

I have good memories from Aleppo. When I was child, my parents took me to my grandparents’ home. They were living in the Old City where each two or three houses shared a yard with a well in the middle. I remember the smell of the water and the moisture that came from that well. Although the government brought water service to these houses, the well was still there. I used to look inside the deep well and made my mother very anxious!

We are in the season of Lent. In the previous weeks, I spoke about how Jesus helped the disciples to pass through the rough waters. He told them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” We will now focus on Jesus as he is heading towards Jerusalem; he is heading towards the cross. He came for this mission. On his way to Jerusalem, he will be facing new challenges.

Jesus is going with his disciples from Judea to Galilee. The Jews usually took the longer way, because the short way passed through Samaria. Please note that the Jews did not want to have any relationship with the Samaritans because they considered them impure Jews. Jesus took the short way that meant passing through Samaria. Why? We don’t know but after reading the encounter with the Samaritan woman we have enough reason.

Jesus was tired and thirsty. He found a well and sat down. The disciples went to bring food. He was alone. “It was about the sixth hour” (6) which means it was noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well. What is unusual?

Women came together around the well to draw water. They usually came in the morning. Why did this woman come at this time and alone? I think she was avoiding the gossip. Her lifestyle was not welcomed in the town. She came alone and at a time when no one would interact with her.

The woman has an encounter with Jesus. What is unusual here?

Those days, men did not speak with women in public. One should not speak with women who are not relatives. Another taboo was that Jesus was a Jew and the woman was a Samaritan. They did not speak to each other. Jesus broke to important taboos. Why? Because Jesus believed that salvation was not for an elite group. He came for all nations and all cultures.

The first question I would like to ask you this morning is, “Who is the Samaritan woman today?”

Think about the people who you believe are not accepted.
Perhaps they are people who you are not comfortable relating to.
Perhaps they are people with a different set of values.
And maybe they are people who do not seem to live as you believe they should.
I am not trying to justify the lifestyle of the Samaritan woman. She had an empty life, married and divorced for five times and lived with a man who was not her husband. Yet, Jesus had a way to minister to all kinds of people. He ministered to the cast out, and, on the other hand, to a “righteous” Pharisee like Nicodemus. He ministered to the people who were in “the boat”, like the disciples who saw the miracles and could not understand, and to the Roman Centurion who believed in Jesus. He ministered to two thieves who were crucified next to him; one believed in him and the other rejected him.

Let’s come back to the well. A conversation started between Jesus and the woman. Jesus was thirsty and asked for water. The woman tried to find excuses not to give him water. Jesus entered into a deeper conversation with her. The woman asked whether Jesus was greater than Jacob. Jesus started talking about the Living Water, water that satisfies our inner person. The woman asked more questions that only turned around the bush.

We do this in our lives. We do not face our inner problems. We talk about things that cannot change our lives. Jesus challenged her and gave real solutions about the real thirst in her life.

We will continue in English.