John 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” — For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritan. — Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drink from it himself with his children and his flocks?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty, or have to keep coming here to draw water. I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hours is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.” Many Samaritans of that town began to believe in him. When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

What strikes me most about this account of the woman at the well, is the process of her transformation during her encounter with Jesus. At first, he is nothing more to her than a Jew, and that is what she calls him. Because of the historical hostility between Samaritans and Jews, we can be assured that her calling Jesus “a Jew” was not intended as a compliment, or even a neutral recognition of who He is. It would have been hostile, in the tradition of “dirty Jew” we too often here even today. He is nothing more to her than a dirty Jew, barely worthy of her attention. As Jesus goes on and claims that He could give living water, so that those who drink never thirst, she becomes intrigued, if only with the prospect of lessening her daily chores. So, she calls Him, “Sir,” perhaps hoping that her being more polite will inspire Him to share this living water with her. This particular Gospel pericope does not include the portion of the reading where Jesus asks her to bring her husband, but when He does, she replies that she has no husband. He tells her that she is correct, that the man with whom she lives now is not her husband, and that she has had five husbands. Stunned by His knowledge of her, she now regards Him as a prophet. So, she has moved from “Jew” to “Sir” to “prophet” in her encounter with Jesus and in her regard for Him. Finally, when Jesus tells her that He is the Messiah, she rushes off to town to tell others. “He told me everything about me. Could He not be the Messiah?” Now, she is convinced that He is no mere Jew, or Sir, or even prophet. He is the Messiah. The town folk come out to see Jesus for themselves, and His words so impress them that, not only do they do the unthinkable is asking a Jew to stay in their Samaritan town for two days, but they come to believe in Him, no longer because of the testimony of the woman, but because they have heard His words for themselves.

We cannot encounter Jesus without eventually realizing who He is. We cannot realize who He is without eventually feeling impelled to tell others.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.