I Ran Out of Water
Another contemplation, in the spirit of Fr. Matthew the Poor, that explores the story of the Samaritan Woman from her voice, but from the writer's mind.
After running errands around the house, I noticed I am out of water. It was about eleven o'clock in the morning. I decided to wait until the afternoon when it is usually hot and no one will come to draw water in that hour. That is better, I do not want to deal with people of the town; they all look down upon me. Samaria is no longer a habitable place. Frankly, no place in all Israel and Judea is any good anymore with the Romans pilfering every denarius we earn all year. Come to your senses, I pull myself together, there is no point of being in self-pity; no one hears and nothing can be done about it. I better get going now; the well is not simple walking distance. Here is the water pot and oh, the robe and the bucket. Those kids dropped the bucket in the well, so we have to bring our own buckets now.
I carried my water pot on my shoulder and walked towards Jacob’s well. As I walked fewer meters to the well, I noticed this man sitting on a bench by the well. What is this man doing here? my mind wondered. Wait a minute… I do not recognize him; he is not from around this area. Could he be a Jew? What would bring a Jew over here anyways? Are not we worse than filth in their eyes? It is like they are the only ones who know the truth about everything; anyways, what a bunch of hypocrites. I decided to ignore him, as if he is not there, and go fill my water and leave. I need water to live, but who has a need of a Jew?
"Give me a drink." (Jn. 4:7) said the man. At this point I recognized his accent and was sure that he is a Jew. I had the urge to tell him Go away. Why should I give you anything knowing that, afterwards, you will turn your back and bash us with your words?. But he did look quite weary, as of someone who walked a long distance. I pulled my emotions together as I was dropping the bucket in the well and addressed him saying: "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (Jn. 4:9) As much as I did not want to deal with him, I was curious to know the answer to this question.
As he started saying "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him …" (Jn. 4:10) I thought to myself, Another lecture about how privileged I am to talk to a Jew, how we abandoned God and all that. These Jews have serious attitude issues. The guy is thirsty and he is still arrogant enough about being better than me. My thought was interrupted as he continued his sentence "… and He would have given you living water." (Jn. 4:10)
What a fool! What water is he talking about? If he is able to give me water, why is he not serving himself rather than asking me? I seriously do not like this type of overconfidence; if you are bold enough to claim that you can give me water, where is your bucket? Ha, good point! And so I replied, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?" (Jn. 4:11) Who do you think you are? … "Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" (Jn. 4:12)
"Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again." (Jn. 4:13) the man said, "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (Jn. 4:14) At the time, I did not understand what he meant by this; in fact, I hesitated between these being some words of wisdom and him being a madman. Of course, my second assumption seemed more probable and so I determined to entertain myself: "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw" (Jn. 4:15), I said.
With a smirk on his face, he looked at me. I suddenly felt at that moment that this man is going to challenge my mind in a very different way. His smile felt like it lasted for hours where in fact it was a mere few seconds. He opened his mouth with these words: "Go, call your husband, and come here." (Jn. 4:15)
This was like sword passing through my chest.
I knew that he was going to challenge me but I never expected this! What can I do? I tried to live like every other woman and it just did not work out. It is as if someone had cast a spell on me where no husband would live with me long enough. In a time like this, I need a man, someone to protect me, and if God does not want anyone to be with me, then I have no other choice. Life is tough and I need the money. I thought about all this in about five seconds, then looking to the dust by the well. As I sat down with my back leaning on the stones of the well, I said in a broken voice "I have no husband." (Jn. 4:17)
The smile never abandoned his face as he left the bench by the well, approached me, reached down, put his hand on my shoulder, and whispered "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly." (Jn. 4:17,18) I looked at him with my eyes half filled with tears and amazement. As I stood up, my brain was consumed; how does he know about this? He knows about the stranger in my house?! But the man at the house had never been outside Samaria and this Jew is definitely not from here. This man must be involved in witchcraft of some sort. No, no, he is not - he seems like a man of God. Wait a second … a prophet, yes, a prophet.
Without noticing, I became louder as I said: "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet…" (Jn. 4:19) O, how have I always wanted to meet a real man of God! I had so many questions to ask him, but I did not know where to start. Given that he was a Jew, I can ask the question that has puzzled me for years: who is right? Those Jews or us Samaritans? I waited few seconds before I ask to see his reaction, but he said nothing and just kept smiling at me, so I laid the question on him "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." (Jn. 4:20)
"Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father." (Jn. 4:21) he said. This puzzled me; I did not know how to react to that. What hour is he talking about? And why is he talking about abolishing worship in Jerusalem and Israel? Is he coming up with a new religion? Whom does he worship? And as I was about to say "I worship God on the mountain tops, where do you worship?" He said, "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews." (Jn. 4:22) This was the first time he spoke like a Jew praising his own people, but it did not seem that he is attacking me, but rather reminding me of the history of Israel after we broke away from the reign of king Rehoboam. He continued, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (Jn. 4:23,24)
What he said was a mouthful; I could not get a grasp of what he was getting at, but I tried to put few things together; 'an hour coming', 'salvation of the Jews', and 'worshiping God'. The more these words came together the more my mind kept thinking of one word; 'The Messiah'. His words were confusing and I wished that he would have explained further, but I was hesitant to ask, so I said "I know that Messiah is coming, when He comes, He will tell us all things." (Jn. 4:25) At this time few men in the background, about twelve of them, started walking towards him. "I who speak to you am He." (Jn. 4:26) came the man’s voice to my ears. I do not know what made me walk back two steps, then turn back and run into the city. I ran so fast, but my mind raced with thoughts as I was approaching the city.
I started my day running errands, exhausting myself in vain seeking after water and even that was a burden to obtain. I know that eventually I would have come to the well again to draw more water. But this man offers me living water as of a neverending and continually fresh stream. He offered me water that will always quench my thirst. I need not a bucket for the water flows through me and overflows to others now and through eternity. Who is it that can satisfy my yearning like that? No one can but the anointed one whom God has sent that all nations, even Samaria, can embrace and worship. That river is not confined to pits dug by humans like Jacob’s well but is rather running freely on the face of the earth: that all can approach . Hence the Messiah also is not restricted to a place; lo, he has destroyed the Temple and the mountain altars made by men to allow people to worship him wherever they are. Those who will approach that river are the ones who are truly thirsty and their desire is to drink of what God has sent.
Yes Lord, I thirst for you. I have longed to enjoy your presence and have watched earnestly for you to save me not from the Romans, but from my own captivity within my desires. I will leave the mountains. I will leave the Temple. And I will come to you in order to establish your temple in me and dwell in it. Yes, people, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" (Jn. 4:29). Yes, I am sure he is the Christ, the Savior of the world, who has not just told me everything about my past, but has opened the gates of eternity to me and showed me my place in him. I have touched him and I have tasted! Here, take my hand and come taste him for yourself and savor his everlasting love.
