When Jesus was going from Judea to Galilee he had to pass through Samaria, so he went to Sychar, a city close to Nablus. There, was Jacob’s well that still exists today and an Orthodox Church was made next to it. So, Jesus sat down by the well…
It was about noon when a Samaritan woman arrived- which means a foreigner that is also split from the Jewish religion- and one of the finest conversations in the Gospels was held between Jesus and that woman. The Lord asked her to give him a drink as she was carrying a jar, but she was surprised from his request because Jews did not associate Samaritans. Jesus went beyond what separates people and promised her to give her the living water. She did not understand that this was something different than the water found in the well. So, she said: “Where can you get this living water?” and Jesus took her into another level saying: “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life”. This is, therefore, water with a different nature than that in the well. What is this water? How is it?
She wanted it, but Jesus couldn’t give her immediately water from his kingdom because she was an adulteress. She did not deserve a gift from heavens because she insisted on the bad behavior she’s behaving. This is why the Lord changed the path of the conversation and told her: “Go, call your husband”. She confessed that she had no man and then she confessed to her people that Jesus is a prophet. She wanted to enter into a theological discussion; so she said: “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem”. Christ abolished the doctrine of the Samaritans concerning worshiping in their region and also abolished worshiping in Jerusalem: “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth”. Their hearts would worship if they knew the Father, his Son and his Spirit. The old temples coming from Moses have no value anymore. God does not live anymore in Jerusalem’s temple after the Jewish return from the Babylonian captivity. After that, Jesus called himself the Temple, and we have become an extension of this temple after his resurrection. “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?”
This woman moved after the words of the Lord into the way he thinks and the behavior he wanted for her and preached all the people of Samaria about the Master. When the Samaritans asked him to stay at theirs, he stayed for two days and a lot of people believed in him after seeing and talking to him. The woman took them to the savior and they confessed saying “we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world”. The idea of the Messiah being the Savior of the world was not known for the Samaritans or for the Jews. The Content of the Bible descended on them, and then after the resurrection of the Savior, the people that followed him knew that he is the savior of the whole world and goes beyond Jews, Samaritans and all nations. The Holy Spirit revealed for people that Jesus is the savior of the world through his death and resurrection.
When our heart discovers Jesus, we become attached only to him and not tied to anything, any place, family, memory or sins. Jesus takes off us all the weights and makes everyone of us a beloved disciple lying on his chest and a great in the Kingdom.
Translated by Mark Najjar
Original Text: “السامرية” –Raiati no21- 22.05.2011
