Shunned

“If you knew who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you life-giving water.”(John 4)

Imagine you are this Samaritan woman, shunned by society because you live a life of pleasure. You are a subject of gossip. You reside in an era where men and women never mingle; however, you’ve managed to find five husbands and are presently living with a man who’s not your husband. Womenfolk so envies you that they don’t include you in their activities.

You’ve come to a well at noon because you know that no one in their right mind would visit at that hour, and you don’t have to suffer their contempt. Your pathway is rocky, the sun is beating down your back, and your feet are tired. You’ve finally reached your destination, and all you want to do is take your pail of water and escape. But a man is waiting for you near the well. He asks you for a drink, and by his accent and clothes, you can tell that he belongs to a community that avoids yours like the plague. How would you react?

Here’s presenting the most beautiful encounter between a vibrant Healer and an isolated soul in the famous passage, The Samaritan Woman.

The woman is genuinely astonished. “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan. How can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)

In her very first words, she erects barriers— barriers that she’s lived with and suffered under for years.

But Jesus has come to Sychar for her. He breaks the rules to meet her. He’s not about to let caste, creed, race, religion, ethnicity or colour come in the way.

He replies, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

Now the woman becomes interested. To have living water meant no more long, tedious trips to the well, no more fear of condemnation. But wait a minute, how was this Man going to get that living water when he didn't have a pail to draw the water?

Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.”

Now she wants this water. She has to have this water. She asks for this water.

Jesus says, “Go and bring your husband.”

The woman hesitates. “I have no husband.”

He replies, “You are right when you say you have no husband. You’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.”

Note: Jesus was not condemning the woman. He was merely telling her of that constant need she had and was trying to fill. He was offering a solution to her thirst. He was not accusing her of having that thirst. He knew that she was human and, therefore, prone to error. But that did not mean she had to remain in that error. He was giving her a way out.

The woman was so fascinated that she forgot why she came to the well. She left her pail behind, ran into town, and called out to all those people she was once afraid of.

“Come see the Man who told me everything I ever did. Could He be the Messiah?”

How surprised those people must have been to see this shunned personality in her transformed self, campaigning for a Jew. How convincing she must have been for those people to listen to her, leaving whatever they were doing and hurrying to meet the Master behind that transformation and beg Him to stay with them.