We all know what it is like to be thirsty. We also know that the thirstier we are, the more we can feel our thirst being quenched. It’s very different to drink a sip of tea as we visit a friend, and taking a gulp of water after working outside on a hot day. There are times when a cool drink of water is the best drink in the world. But we live in a temperate climate and we do not often really thirst.

         In a desert climate the need for water is acute. Jesus sits by the well of Jacob and he asks for water. We do not easily see how extraordinary this is. First, he is asking a woman (not very proper!) Second, he asks from a Samaritan. We might only remember the “good” Samaritan and we might be apt to think of all Samaritans as good. In the first century, the Jews and Samaritans did not get along.

The Samaritans were a kind of intermarried race of half-Jews. These were the people left behind when the Israelites went into exile. These were the people deemed too inferior to be taken as slaves. They intermarried with the other nations and displaced people. They formed a religion based on the Torah (first five books of the bible) and the worshipped on Mount Gerazim – which the woman refers to. When the people first entered the Promised Land, Joshua had them sit between two mountains. He read all the blessings while facing Mt. Gerazim and he read all the curses facing Mt. Ebal. The Samaritans worshipped on Mt. Gerazim to remember the blessings.

         When the people of Israel returned, they thought of the Samaritans as idolaters and syncronists. They shunned and punished them. So it is extraordinary for Jesus to speak with this woman – let alone ask her for a drink of water. Much has been supposed about her. She has had five husbands and she lives with a man who is not her husband. Just what is she up to? She comes to the well at mid-day, when all the other women would be home in the shade. What is she hiding? Is she ashamed?

         Yet Jesus does not judge her. He speaks openly with her. He respects her ideas even as he shows her another way to think. I wonder about all those husbands. Did she leave them all? Did they divorce her? Perhaps she is an unfortunate widow several times over. No matter what we think of her she has experienced significant loss and she has been hemmed in by custom and convention. Maybe the others shun her because they fear her loss. I have seen this often enough. People who suffer are often isolated. We lack the courage to face the loss of others because we fear our own loss.

         Jesus doesn’t condemn her. He offers her something else. First, he asks for water. Then he speaks of water that he has. The water in Jacob’s well will only satisfy for a while. The water Jesus has will spring up into eternal life and that person will never be thirsty again.

         Jesus is speaking of the new life and good news he brings to anyone who will hear it. This is a story about a woman who is thirsty. She is looking for something that will satisfy her need. She doesn’t find it in the well; she finds it in the man sitting beside the well. Jesus is the water. Jesus is the messiah. She leaves her jug by the well, unfilled. She rushes into town and tells everyone she knows (even those who would rather not speak with her) that she has found the messiah. They meet Jesus and begin to believe as well.

         There are many lessons we can take from this story. We can learn to be open-minded towards those who are different from us. We can learn to be forgiving towards people who have not lived a perfect life. We can remember the privilege we have to share the good news that has been given to us. If the Samaritan woman can tell her village, what keeps us quiet?

         But finally, this is a message of the transformed life. This is not primarily a story about overcoming barriers to race and gender. It is not a nagging reminder that we have to tell the good news. It is a story about the result of the good news. This woman is changed. In the beginning, she is isolated and unimportant. Jesus speaks to her as if her needs and opinions are worth hearing. He almost lets her find her own way. With a little correction, he reveals who he is and his presence changes her whole outlook.

         She becomes the apostle to this village. She doesn’t share more than she knows. “Come and see the man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” She leaves it up to her neighbors to make what they will of him. In the end she is restored to God and she is restored to her village. They all believe, not because of her, but because of Jesus to whom she has led them.

         This is our job. God does not call us to convince anyone or correct his or her perceptions. All we need do is simply tell what we know and share what we have seen. It remains the work of God to save the world. Our job is only to share what we have, and let God use it to transform us and those we love.