Exodus 17:3-7
John 4:5-42
In the next three weeks as we journey towards Easter, our biblical imaginations are invited to explore three major baptismal themes: water, light and life. We have made the journey from desert to the mountain top. This week we find ourselves by a well. We enter a different world when we listen to John’s Gospel. There’s a play on the themes of light and dark, night and day.
In Ch 3 of John’s Gospel, Nicodemus, the Pharisee, comes to Jesus by night. Literally and figuratively, Nicodemus is afraid of being seen, so he seeks out Jesus under the protection of darkness.
By contrast the Samaritan woman comes to the well at midday. This is the hour of enlightenment and theological insight. It’s Jesus who takes the initiative here by venturing into Samaritan territory. We are accustomed to hearing that the Samaritan was ostracised and sinful. This isn’t borne out in the text at all. The woman’s robust dialogue with Jesus leads her to enlightenment. By the end of the conversation she recognises in Jesus someone who knows her intimately: ‘He told me all I have ever done.’
Such is the power of her testimony that ‘many of the Samaritans of that town had believed in him on the strength of that woman’s testimony.’ Through her courage and willingness to engage with Jesus, her life has been changed forever.
How is Christ calling you to engage with him this Lent?