Give me a drink!
In the Garden of Eden, harmony and abundant happiness reigned. Unfortunately, humanity chose to find happiness on its own path. Sin destroys relationship and creates separation. Exemplified by the Samaritan woman in John 4, by offering her living water at Jacob’s well, Jesus restores peace between God and people of all races and classes. Just as centuries earlier Abraham’s servant created the conditions for the marriage between Rebekah and Isaac at a well, Jesus now does the same for the relationship between God and man.
Almost exactly three years ago, a group from seetal chile travelled to Israel. Among other things, we visited a church in Nablus (formerly Sychar) – in the midst of Muslim Palestinians. The priest of the Orthodox Church there holds up the flag of Christianity in the city. In his church, a staircase goes down to Jacob’s Well. It is the well where the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is said to have taken place. So we stood as a group devoutly around the well and read the story from John 4. Afterwards, the priest blessed me and gave me a small souvenir jug filled with water from this well steeped in history.
Historic fountain
At that time, the time of Jesus, a woman approaches who is merely a Samaritan is known, Jacob’s well. The unnamed woman is alone with her water jugs at midday. Usually the women do not do this work under the hottest desert sun, but either in the early morning or at dusk. Although it is a rigorous job, the women enjoy doing it. It is an opportunity to have a little chat on the way or sitting on the edge of the well.
Why does this woman walk such a lonely path? We find the answer in John 4:16–18. The nameless woman has had five husbands and the man she is now living with is not her husband. She has given herself to five men and five men have put her out on the street. Five times she hoped for happiness in her life, five times she was disappointed. How empty, how needed, how hurt and worthless she must feel! Five times she had hope, a home, food and shelter; five times she was set aside. For the men, she is nothing more than a brief pit stop. Probably, she thinks, she is not worth it.
Because she can no longer stand the glances and whispers behind closed doors about her worthlessness, her infertility and her inability to have a relationship, she separates herself from the other women. Yet she wants nothing more than to quench her thirst for happiness and meaning in life. She is left empty. So this persona non grata approaches Jacob’s well, but instead of the solitude she was looking for, she meets a Jewish man. Jesus was travelling with his disciples from Judea to Galilee. «But he had to travel through Samaria» (John 4:4 LUT). Jesus had to travel through Samaria, although the Jews basically took the alternative route to avoid meeting Samaritans. Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies. It was in 722 B.C. that the northern kingdom of Israel was sacked by the Assyrians and the inhabitants dispersed throughout the Assyrian empire. In return, they settled people from other areas with other gods in Samaria. This resulted in a religious mishmash. The Jews who remained violated the Mosaic Law by integrating the gods of the new inhabitants. This made them enemies for the Jews who kept the Law. The biggest difference was in the Samaritan belief that Mount Garizim, not Jerusalem, was the place to worship God. For centuries there were violent clashes between Jews and Samaritans. That is why the Samaritan woman was so surprised when the Jew Jesus addressed her.
Why does Jesus nevertheless take the route through Samaria? As Jesus approaches Sychar with his disciples, they go shopping in the village. Meanwhile, Jesus sits down by Jacob’s well despite the hot midday sun. Three times it is expressly written Jacob, the name of the Archfather, in the text. What is happening now is of outstanding historical significance. The nameless woman represents a cross-section of ethnicities and life on the margins of society.
Jesus opens the conversation with four words: «Give me a drink!» (V.7 LUT). These words must remind the original listener of a story recorded in Genesis 24. Abraham sends his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac. The servant fulfils his mission at a well. When Rebekah came to the well, his first words were: «Please give me something to drink from your jug!» (Genesis 24:14 NLB). Rebekah later becomes Isaac’s wife.
When Jesus asks the Samaritan woman to give him water, he sets the stage for marriage. As Jesus waits at the well asking for water, the God of all creatures crosses space and time to make an offer to humanity. By addressing the question to a Samaritan woman, Jesus showed that God’s love is not limited to one ethnicity, gender or social status.
The woman replied: «You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan. Why do you ask me to give you a drink?» (V.9 NLB). In other words, you can’t be serious. You can’t want to be with me because no one wants to be with me! But Jesus answers: «If you knew what gift God has in store for you and who he is who says to you: «Give me to drink», you would be the one to ask him and he would give you living water»(V.10 NLB).
Cracked cisterns
Again, about seven centuries before this well event, God was already speaking about living water through the prophet Jeremiah. There, the connection between conjugal love and water already emerges. God reminds the Israelites that they are his people and compares their relationship to that of bride and bridegroom (Jeremiah 2:2). In human terms, there is no greater love than love in the context of marriage. It is the highest commitment, the union of two into one. Two people, two families, two kinds of dreams, of vocations, of successes, of problems, of memories, of humour become one. A marriage has the potential for heaven on earth and at the same time for deep hurt. From the deepest attachment comes the terror of the deepest loss. The break-up of a marriage feels like the break-up of one’s life. If this is already so painful between two people, how much worse is the breakdown of the relationship between creation and creator. Our entire existence depends on God. God’s breath, the Ruach, makes us living beings. God’s imagination brought us into being and God’s hands formed each of us in our mother’s womb. To be whole is to be in a loving relationship with God.
The description of the Garden of Eden offers us a glimpse of man’s loving relationship with God and of living water. It gushes from a spring and spreads out in four directions over the whole earth. Water promotes lush landscapes, security and successful work. Then came the break. Adam and Eve ate from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They did not trust God and chose their own path to happiness. This is exactly what the term Sin. Sin is trusting something other than God. Later, God enters the garden to check on his beloved people. Adam and Eve hide because they are unsure what God has in mind for them. The rupture takes its toll. In one fell swoop, all the relationships that God had declared «very good» were broken. Man’s broken relationship with God is the fundamental cause of all other fractures. Because all creation is interconnected through God’s love, the breaking of one relationship means the breaking of all others.
Sin separates and destroys relationships. When sin entered the world, it separated man from life itself, from each other, from the rest of creation and from God. Death is the ultimate form of separation. In Genesis 3 there were three winners: death, sin and separation. The people were driven out of the garden so that they would not still have the Tree of life visit and eat from it. For then they would have lived forever in the deteriorating circumstances. Since that time, man has been on a long search for living water.
The Samaritan woman seeks her happiness and peace in male relationships. It reaps separation and isolation. Other people drink from the well of success, status or wealth. They remain empty. The prophet reproaches the people of Israel, God’s beloved bride: «For my people commit a twofold sin: Forsaking me, the living fountain, they make themselves cisterns, which are cracked, and hold not the water.»(Jeremiah 2:13 LUT). Every human being tries to quench his thirst for peace and happiness.
Living water
Jesus promises the Samaritan woman: «But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again. The water I give him will become in him a never-ending spring that flows unceasingly into eternal life.»(John 4:14 NLB). Jesus as the bridegroom creates the basis for the «marriage» between God and human beings. The event at Jacob’s well is Jesus» offer to all people to come back into loving communion with God. It is the restoration of relationship, shalom, with God. When Jesus began his ministry in this world, he was tempted to quench his thirst from cracked cisterns. He struggled against the temptation to satisfy his own hunger, to usurp power and to doubt God’s ability to give life (Luke 4). In the end, Jesus chose God’s way to peace and the reversal of the Fall began.
Do you believe that Jesus has overcome all barriers to love you and be with you? Have you said YES to Jesus? If not yet, what is still holding you back?
Questions for the small groups
Read the Bible text: John 4:1–30
- Why did Jesus go the route through Samaria and not around it as usual?
- Why might the person of the Samaritan woman have been important for the message of restoring relationship with God?
- The prerequisite for the marriage of Rebekah and Isaac was also laid at a well (Genesis 24). Why does Jesus make this association at Jacob’s well?
- What is sin and what does it do?
- The episode at the well stands for the restoration of peace between God and man. What is your attitude towards this offer?
