Lent 3 Samaritan Woman at the Well: Called to Satisfy your Thirst with Living Water

This Blog Post is the gospel excerpt of Week 3 of the Lenten Bible Study I'm writing for Good News Adult Sunday School Class at Ashford United Methodist Church.  We will study this lesson together on March 27, 2011.  If you would like to have the entire 5-day Bible Study, for your own study or for a small group, which integrates all four lectionary passages see the sidebar E-Blast for a link to my email address.  Send me an email and I'll send you a full printer-friendly PDF File as an attachment each week of Lent.  Thanks!    
 
•    Have you ever been thirsty? 
•    Think about a time that you were truly thirsty and were unable to satisfy that longing for water. 

12th Century Artist Unknown Public Domain

Read John 4:5-42 and simply savor the beauty of the story before beginning your study.  You may want to read it in your own preferred version,

So he 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.  A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."  (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)  The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)  Jesus answered her, "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."  Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back."  The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.  What you have said is true!"  The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet.  Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."  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."

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?"  Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city.   She said to the people, "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?"  They left the city and were on their way to him.  Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something."  But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."  So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.  Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.  The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.  For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."  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 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."

This week as we ponder the labyrinth as metaphorical journey we find Jesus sitting by the well at the center of the winding path.  The first movement of the labyrinth journey is release … letting go.    Jesus the human being himself has walked the path to the center, hasn’t he?    What physical boundary did Jesus the weary traveler need to cross in order to sit at Jacob’s well?   As the woman approaches the well she sees Jesus.  Suddenly we have a culture clash.  Samaritans were born of intermarriage between Israelites and people from Babylon and other parts of Mesopotamia and Syria.  What social boundaries did Jesus the Jewish man have to cross in order to ask this Samaritan woman for a drink?   What social boundaries did the Samaritan woman cross in order to answer the question that Jesus asks her … with a question?   What kind of social boundaries do you encounter today?  How do you handle those boundaries?

Jesus and the woman meet in the center at the well.  When we reach the heart of the labyrinth, we receive.   Jesus offers the Samaritan woman “living water.”   Clarke’s Commentary says living water was common to the inhabitants both of the east and of the west, and meant spring water, full of life, in opposition to dead, stagnant water contained in ponds, pools, or cisterns.  In your own words, describe the living water that Jesus offers as you understand it.  (See John 7:37-39) The woman seems unable to accept it yet.    What holds the woman back?   What hold you back?
  
The woman continues her conversation with Jesus with questions which arise from their own shared patriarchal history … the history of Samaritans and Israelites.  Samaritans believed and claimed theirs was the true religion of the ancient Israelites before the time of the Babylonian exile.  It is said that the most notable difference between their beliefs concerned the proper place to worship God.  The Jews believed God must be worshipped in Jerusalem, which was the dwelling place of God on earth, Mount Zion.  But for the Samaritans it was Mount Gerizim.  This woman asks Jesus the prophet THE theological question that separates their religions – the “proper” place to worship God ... it is a real “worship war.”   Why do you think Jesus chose to engage this woman about spiritual things?   Are you surprised that this woman of her time knows this history and uses it as she talks with Jesus?    Is there a possibility that she has deeper understanding of spiritual things than many give her credit for?    What do you think is the source of the woman’s deep thirst?    Can you describe your own thirst for God?     

Suddenly Jesus brings up the woman’s living situation.   Why now does he decide to challenge the woman’s character?    Does it seem like an abrupt transition?    What does Jesus want from her?    Was it a test?  Did she pass?

Jesus knows the woman … he looks deep into her life and her soul.   In response to his deep knowing, she recognizes him as a “prophet.”   A prophet is a truth-teller, someone who knows God and speaks for God to people.    What “truth” do you need to hear from God?

This woman is waiting on Messiah.  Along with her deep thirst, she has a deep trust that Messiah will come and explain everything to her.  She says, “I know.”   How does she know Messiah will come?    How does Jesus the Messiah satisfy her thirst with living water?   How does Jesus satisfy your thirst with living water?   

After we receive the living water that God has for us in the center of the labyrinth, we get up and go ... we respond.  We take the winding path bath in the direction we came from, satisfied, restored and energized.  Immediately after Jesus tells the woman he is Messiah, she leaves!  She runs!  She leaves her water jar!  This was a woman in a hurry.   Why do you think she is such a rush to get back to town?   How do you think she is feeling as she runs “home?”   When she encounters the villagers, she says, “Come and see.”  The woman asks, “Could he (Jesus) possibly be the Messiah?”    What does it mean to you that Jesus is  “Messiah”?

In this woman’s witness, we hear the expression “He told me everything I ever did!”  This tells us how important “story” is.  There is a longing deep within us to be known, heard, and accepted as we are.   There is a deep thirst within us to connect with God in the larger story of life.   Think about your “story.”    What memories are important in your faith journey?   How well do you know yourself?   Where does your story connect with the larger story?   How?

Finally the villagers claim they believe from their own experience.  How important is it for us to trust people to live their own story and walk their own path?   Using one word or phrase, describe your “path?”

Read Psalm 95:1-11, reread verses 1-7 (adapted slightly) as a Prayer …

¹ Come, let us sing to the Lord!
      Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
 ² Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
      Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
 ³ For the Lord is a great God,
      a great King above all gods.
 ⁴ He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
      and the mightiest mountains.
 ⁵ The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
      His hands formed the dry land, too.

⁶ Come, let us worship and bow down.
      Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
    ⁷ for he is our God.
   We are the people he watches over,
      the flock under his care.

If only you would listen to God's voice today!

 ⁸ The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,
      as they did at Massah in the wilderness.
 ⁹ For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
      even though they saw everything I did.
 ¹⁰ For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,
   ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.
      They refuse to do what I tell them.’
 ¹¹ So in my anger I took an oath:
      ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

¹ Come, let us sing to the Lord!
      Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
 ² Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
      Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
 ³ For the Lord is a great God,
      a great King above all gods.
 ⁴ He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
      and the mightiest mountains.
 ⁵ The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
      His hands formed the dry land, too.

⁶ Come, let us worship and bow down.
      Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
    ⁷ for he is our God.
   We are the people he watches over,
      the flock under his care.

[Let us] listen to God's voice today!

This week our lectionary readings challenge us to listen to God’s voice today!  We are called to satisfy our thirst with living water.   As you make your way through Lent, seek God in your everyday life.  As you look back and consider this passage from John’s Gospel, think about where you may be noticing God offering living water to satisfy your thirst?   As you ponder the possibilities, what will you need to release … to let go of … in order to take the next step in your spiritual journey?    Why not try to find the beauty of a labyrinth to walk with these questions ... God is waiting!

Perhaps the call to satisfy your thirst with living water resonates with you but perhaps it doesn’t. If not, how have you been called by God this week?  How will you respond to God’s call with specific action?

Watch this youtube clip of the encounter that Jesus has with the Woman at the well.  It is an excerpt from a movie, but I'm not sure of the name of the movie.  Comment if you know!


Lately I've found that good Christian "rap" is quite amazing.  I've often thought, "Well, this must be the way the Psalms were first heart.  Watch this amazing "monologue version" of the woman at the well by a very talented young woman who gives it a contemporary feel.  I didn't find her name but she touches me.


If Art is a pathway to God for you, view this painting of the Jesus and the Woman at the Well by Daniel Bonnell and this compelling image of Jesus and the Woman at the Well from Mario Sironi from 1947.

Remember ... If you would like to receive the full 5-day printer-friendly PDF version with all 4 lectionary readings integrated, see the Email Blast sidebar for email link.  Email me and I'll put you on my weekly distribution list.  Thanks!