2026-03-08 Lent 3

Scripture Readings

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!

“How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans)“ (JN 4:9). Ain’t that a dilly of a pickle?! A Jew, from Judea, travels north into Samaria and asks for a drink of water from a well. It has all the makings for a good joke, doesn’t it!? “A Jewish Rabbi walks into a bar in Samaria…” But this is really quite far from any kind of a joke. St. John gives us a hint that this really quite something. It’s extraordinary in every way. For the Jews, they don’t fraternize with the Samaritans. No meals, no wheels, no deals!

We are getting a glimpse here of the long standing, family feud between two groups of people. We’ve heard of similar things over the years like the Hatfields and the McCoys. Somebody stole somebody’s hog or kissed somebody’s cousin’s sister’s best friend’s girlfriend and then it quickly escalates to murder and ambush and vendetta killings across generations! The Jews and the Samaritans. This one goes way back. All the way back to the ancient Kingdom of Israel. Right after King David and King Solomon, the Kingdom splits in two. The Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The North was centered in Samaria. The South in Jerusalem.

This split was due to Solomon’s idolatry. His myriads of foreign wives convinced him to worship false gods, despite his great wisdom. As a result, God declared through the prophet Ahijah that the kingdom would be torn from Solomon’s son, but not entirely—for David’s sake and Jerusalem’s, one tribe (Judah) would remain with the Davidic line (1 Kings 11:9–13, 29–39). Ahijah symbolically tore his cloak into 12 pieces, giving 10 to Jeroboam (an official under Solomon) as a sign that he would rule over 10 tribes. He becomes King over the Northern tribes while Solomon’s son Rehoboam reigns over the South. And then, the fight was on. To prevent his people of the North from returning to Jerusalem in the South to worship, he established rival religious centers in Bethel and Dan, creating golden calves for worship. This act is consistently condemned in the Bible as a major sin leading to the spiritual downfall of the Northern Kingdom.

And fall it did! The Assyrians Empire rolled in around 722 BC and wiped them out, carting off their VIPs into slavery. These conquered Northern Israelites began to intermarry with the Assyrian newcomers which resulted in, yes, you guessed it, the Samaritans. They accepted only the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses as Scripture and insisted that Mount Gerizim was the sole place to worship God and give sacrifices. And to that end, they built a Temple there to rival the one in Jerusalem.

It wasn’t long until the Southern Kingdom was likewise conquered by a foreign army. The Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar wiped them out and carted them off into slavery. The same fate befell the South that happened to the North. Later, when the Persians let the Jews return Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, the “good Samaritan” Samaritans offered to help. Mighty neighbourly! But the Jews rejected their offer! “Helpers?! We don’t need no stinkin’ half-breed helpers!” As you can imagine, this led to how shall we say, further hostilities.

Then we jump forward a few more hundred years. The time between the Old and New Testaments. Our friend and mentor: Judas “The Hammer” Maccabeus! He was fighting against the Seleucid Empire, one of the Greek successor states after Alexander the Great died and his Greek Empire was divvied up amongst his Generals. Judas had a nephew named John Hyrcanus and guess what Johnny the “Jack Hammer” Maccabeus did? He burned down and destroyed the Samaritan Temple at Mt. Gerizim in and around 110BC! That Temple was never rebuilt and this event marked the final breach between the Jews and Samaritans! The final straw that broke the camel’s back! Generations and generations of deep-seated, long-felt hostility became a rift so wide and deep you couldn’t build a bridge big enough to span it.

“How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (JN 4:9). These words take on a whole new meaning now, don’t they?! Our Lord, a Jew, comes to Samaria. It’s high noon. It’s blazingly hot and He comes to Jacob’s well. Lo and behold here comes a woman to get water. Nobody does this kind of grunt work in the heat of the day in the desert. It’s got heat stroke written all over it. But here’s this woman, doing chores that are normally done in the cool of the morning, in the middle of the day. “Give me a drink” Jesus tells her.

Then there’s the famous interplay about “Living Water.” Physically, living water is flowing water, like from a stream. It’s fresh and clean. It’s cold and refreshing! It’s much nicer than drinking cistern water that you have to haul around, getting hotter and hotter in the sun with every step. Of course our Lord is speaking spiritually here, trying to elevate the woman’s heart and mind from earthly things. Living water symbolizes eternal life, spiritual satisfaction and salvation that Jesus alone offers as a free gift from God. This living water quenches the deeper, soul-level “thirst” for meaning, purpose, relationship with God, forgiveness and freedom from sin. This is contrasted to the ‘thirsts’ that ordinary earthly things fail to fulfill - worldly achievements, man made religion, possessions and consumerism, relationships … which brings us specifically to this woman’s multiple marriages.

The Elizabeth Taylor of Sychar they called her! Maybe not quite as many hubbies as Elizabeth, but pretty close. “You have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband” (JN 4:18). In other words, you’re life has become entrenched in sin. That’s why you’re there at the well, hauling water in the middle of the day. It’s so you don’t run into all the other women from town who do their chores early! No doubt they run you down and gossip and judge you and look down their noses at you. Jesus comes to the Samaritans and specifically to her.

She tries to divert the conversation away from her sordid past by bringing up the old divide over Mt. Gerizim vs. Jerusalem as the right place to worship God. But Jesus sees through the diversion. He reveals to her that He is indeed the Promised Messiah. The One who will make possible the Trinitarian true worship of God the Father in Spirit and in Truth. The One who will call His people to repentance. The One who will build bridges and heal conflicts. The One who makes living water spring forth in the desert.

Jesus invites her and all who read the scriptures to recognize exactly who He is. He is the Messiah and source of divine life and true living water. He makes His journey to the cross to give His life for the life of the world. He comes to shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins, the ultimate sacrifice for the Jews, the Samaritans and the Gentiles. He causes the living water of Holy Baptism to flow and wash away sin. He causes salvation by faith, drinking deeply of His living water that fulfills what worldly pursuits can never provide.

In Gospel of John the woman doesn’t have a name. But we now know her as St. Photini. She left the well and proclaimed Jesus, evangelizing her town! “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 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” (JN 4:39–42). She becomes one of the earliest and most effective evangelists in the New Testament!

This is what happens when the living water of Jesus flows to thirsty souls. Complete transformation. From a ‘Liz Taylor Level Sinner’ to an incredible Evangelist and proclaimer of the Gospel of Christ that brings the living water of life to all who believe. In the woman at the well we see that there is no rift too wide or too deep that Jesus can’t build a bridge big enough to span. His cross and resurrection spring forth with living water that washes, refreshes and makes us never thirst again. Thanks be to God now and forever! Amen!