Basically, the story is this: Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. And his disciples had gone off in search of food, leaving him there by himself with no means of drawing water from the well.
Now keep in mind that the Samaritans practiced a religion very similar to Judaism with a shared history—and they hated each other. That's why Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan—to the minds of most good Jews, there was no such thing. Keep in mind also that the Jewish purity laws have some strict rule regarding when and how a man can be in contact with a woman. So it is absolutely strange when a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." And she says so!
But Jesus replies, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that 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 have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?"
Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."
The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."
What Jesus is describing does sound like magic, doesn't it? It sounds like the Fairy's Fountains from the classic video game franchise, The Legend of Zelda.
The Fairy's Fountains are beautiful, serene sanctuaries—safe places of healing.
But best of all, if you have an empty bottle, you can catch a fairy and keep it with you. If Link falls in battle, the fairy automatically revives him!
Ok, so it's not water that makes you never thirsty again, but it's still pretty handy!
Of course, Jesus was using water as a metaphor for a spiritual reality. I'm pretty sure that poor woman will have to continue hauling water from that well every day. But he revealed something much more important to her that day, and through her testimony, many more came to believe.
The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."
...Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world."Pretty cool huh? But what makes it especially awesome is that thing I asked you to keep in mind—these were Samaritans, hated to the point of complete physical avoidance. And Jesus is there teaching them about their salvation as well as the salvation of the Jews.
And on that note...
Be good to each other,
Rev Josh
031814
The scripture lessons for March 23rd—The Third Sunday of Lent Year A—are:
Exodus 17:1-7—Psalm 95—Romans 5:1-11—John 4:5-42
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