Dear Friend,
I want to begin by saying that there is no encounter or experience we have in life with God that is accidental. Last Sunday, Jesus intentionally chose three of His disciples and led them up the mountain of the transfiguration to give them hope to endure the cross when it does come. Today, he intentionally goes to the well by Himself to encounter one who has been staying away from people because of her mistakes. Such is the reason she came at noon. If you have been to countries where people go fetch water at a common place, they always do so early in the morning or toward evening when it is cool, and not at noon with the scorching sun. To avoid people, the Samaritan woman went alone to search for water. Shame drove her to the well, but love moved our Lord to encounter her. I would like to suggest that her life is representative of us, and how Jesus comes to meet us as our Savior in these various circumstances and needs. The main question we shall be asking ourselves today is: What are you in search of? How does Jesus, the Savior of the world help you quench your thirst?
1) Jesus Meets Her at the Well as the Bridegroom
The well in the biblical world was the place of encounter. It was where many a man met his wife. This was true of Isaac and Rebecca, as it was of Moses and Zipporah. The encounter of the Samaritan woman at the well indicates to us Jesus’ mission from the beginning: to wed Himself to sinful humanity in order to save us. Jesus’ unconditional love for us in manifested in the fact that He loved us and died for us when we were still sinners (Rom 5:8). This woman is representative of the Samaritans who were considered by the Jews as unfaithful, because during the exile of 722 BC by the Assyrians, they that stayed behind and began intermarrying and worshipping their false gods, the Baals of five foreign nations (see 2 Kings 17:24-31). Their infidelity decried by Hosea is representative of fallen humanity as a whole. He who is the Good Shepherd comes in search of the lost sheep; the Divine Physician comes for the sick; the Bridegroom for His bride, not as a ready made, but to purify, sanctify and adorn her with His love. Such is the Good News that Jesus has come to encounter us as a Bridegroom in the ordinary places and necessities of our life such as at work, at home, at Church. Jesus is the unseen bridegroom in every marriage; He is the unseen friend in every friendship. He wants to lead us from the ordinary to the things that eternally endure, from our brokenness to our salvation.
2) Jesus Meets Her in her brokenness and Isolation
If the measure of a true friend indeed is a true friend in need, we would expect Jesus as the best of all friends to be with us in our greatest needs, and to love us unconditionally with our brokenness. This is exactly what He demonstrates. Having met her as a bridegroom, Jesus began to unfold her story in a way that does not shame her, but empowers her and takes her out of her current darkness of isolation. Jesus does so by telling her the truth of her life with love and respect. That is why she referred to Him as “Sir,” a term of respect. That did something truly beautiful and powerful to see – sent her as a missionary disciple to the very people she was hiding from. We are told, “the woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?” What a freedom! At the well, love and truth embraced shame and she was liberated. How true was Zechariah’s prophecy, “A Savior who will free us from our foes, free from fear so that we might serve in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life (Lk 1:74-75).
Jesus alone is the truth, the ground of all meaning. Jesus encounters us as a Bridegroom and speaks truth to us as a prophet. He meets us where we are but does not leave us there. He leads us to the truth of who we were created to be. The Good News is Jesus wants to retell each of us our stories, not as the world sees us, not even as we see ourselves, but truly as God sees us – His delight, His beloved, His bride with whom He wants to spend eternity forever. What is your story that is keeping you from others, and from God? From the divine perspective, the past is not what matters but how we embrace the grace of His truth and convert like the Samaritan woman and her people. We must learn like the Samaritan woman to entrust the past into God’s mercy and the future into His providence.
Conversion does take time and unfolds in stages. Notice how the woman gradually came to the correct identity of Jesus: From “Sir, to prophet, to the Christ, to the Savior of the world.” Faith is always a looking back with gratitude and seeing how God has helped us and led us and looking forward with hope with what He has in store for us. However, we too, like the Samaritan Woman, must leave our jars that cannot satisfy and seek the living water Jesus has for us. Lent is a time to identify the jars and the broken cisterns we continually return to but remain ever thirsty. Living in a hedonistic world, where pleasure is considered the greatest good, we are called to leave behind the jars of our phones and cisterns of the internet and media and seek God with our whole hearts who alone can satisfy our deepest hearts' desires. The greatest word of affirmation is not the latest text message we receive from a friend, but the latest message from God’s Word we read and pondered. Trying to satisfy every pleasure is like filling a basket with water; only the Bread of Life can satisfy us, can fill our baskets!
3) Jesus Meets her Deepest Longing
Jesus meets our needs like a King with the best quality and with superabundance. He promises us not a gift, but the very Giver of all gifts. God satisfies the longing of our hearts by giving us the love of His heart – the Holy Spirit. St. Paul puts it thus: “And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” The Holy Spirit was given to us first on the day of our baptism, and in His fulness on the day of our confirmation. Just as we can be given a gift and not make use of it, so sometimes we fail to let the Holy Spirit lead us to the fullness of the gifts we seek. Perhaps we fail to invoke His assistance and guidance because we fail to remember that He dwells in our hearts. Today, Jesus wants us to remember that the Holy Spirit dwells with us: “He who is in us is stronger that he who is in the world (1 Jn 4:4).
The paradox is God meets our deepest longings through the ordinary things we use – in the language of the Church through the sacraments, the signs of His graces. He gives us the supernatural help we need through these ordinary visible signs. In communion, He gives us His very self through the ordinary form of bread and wine. From the depths of our hearts, let us long for Him as our greatest desire as we sing: “You satisfy the hungry heart with gifts of finest wheat, o give to us o saving Lord, the bread of life to eat.”
Fr. Valery Akoh