Who Are The Samaritan Women Today

Something to ponder about from today’s Gospel reading is,

who are the Samaritan women today??

Who are the Samaritan women in your life?

They don’t’ just have to be people who have had a number of partners.

Think about who are the people who you believe are not acceptable.

Maybe they are people who you are not comfortable relating to?

Perhaps they are people with a different set of values?

And maybe they are people who do not seem to live as you believe they should.

Or perhaps they don’t carry on their business as you think they should?

Often such people are shunned.

We often avoid such people.

Partly because of how they live their life, the habits they have developed over time.

And partly because of the exaggerated stories that are sometimes told about them, usually by people who don’t really know them or their situation

And partly because we are worried about our reputation.

Who can you think of who could be a Samaritan woman today?

The homeless on the street.

The drunk.

The person who is constantly swearing

The business person you suspect is making money immorally if not illegally.

The person who you think is a bit strange…

Who are the Samaritan women of today??

When we look at today’s gospel reading, we see a woman who is broken.

She has experienced rejection.

She knows that people around her love highlighting her flaws to each other.

She knows that she shouldn’t be mixing with men or people of another culture but she still needs to live.

So she approaches the water well to get some water.

This will at least give her some short term refreshment.

And she does this at a time when she thought no one would be around, to avoid her having to experience any embarrassment.

Do you know anyone like this?

Will avoid a situation or people so as to avoid feeling ashamed?

Some years ago a Lutheran congregation in Adelaide decided to do something out of character.

They decided to physically introduce themselves to the people living around the church…by visiting their neighbours.

They told them where the church was, what a Lutheran is, invited them to a meal, gave them a brochure of their activities and invited them some other events.

So in small groups congregational members,

walked around the streets close to the church building knocking on doors and they received a variety of responses.

From amazement.

To I always wondered what that building was.

Ahh we ain’t into that religious stuff.

To what’s the catch.

However there was one instance that stood out for this congregation.

They knocked on the door of an elderly lady.

On hearing who they were and they were inviting her to something she was overwhelmed.

She said “I used to go to a Lutheran Church, however I got divorced,

so I just stopped going because I was worried about what people would say

and that I would be constantly judged by people and that God wouldn’t want me there.”

She now is a regular worshipping member of that congregation,

simply because the people of that congregation took the time with her.

They not only told her but they also showed her that Jesus constantly loves her and wants her to be part of the congregation and his family.

And that is what Jesus did at the well for the Samaritan woman.

Jesus demonstrates this love to the Samaritan woman in at least 3 ways.

First of all Jesus was resting at the well.

But he wasn’t there by chance.

Although Samaria was the direct route between Judea and Galilee

Jesus had to make a deliberate decision to go to Samaria,

because it was the Jewish habit to bypass Samaria taking a longer route

so as to avoid the unclean and unacceptable Samaritans.

So Jesus went out of his way to be in a place where he will meet people in need.

Meet people who are hurt and broken…

And didn’t he do that for us?

Remember he came to earth for us.

People infected by sin.

Sin which brings hurt into our lives.

At times we are often hurt because of our sin and the sins committed against us.

But Jesus came to us despite of these problems we have.

Secondly, Jesus takes the initiative.

He does something, which even this woman knows is not on.

He talks to her and asks her for a drink of water.

Now in today’s climate this may sound like nothing.

But in that world it was not appropriate for man and woman who did not know each other to talk to each other, no matter the circumstances.

It was not acceptable.

And those who are Jewish, like Jesus, would have nothing to do with the Samaritans.