From Darkness to Light
At the Well
John 4:5-30 & 39-42
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
[walk in carrying water jug, at first not noticing the congregation] Oh, good morning. Have you come to the well for a drink? I'm sorry I don't have cups for all of you. But maybe I have something better, maybe I have something that will fill your soul and quench the thirsting of your heart. I found that something at this well many, many years ago; and every time I come to draw water, I remember. I think I heard someone telling you the facts of what happened that day, but let me tell you the rest of the story.
When I was young, I was just like most of the other women in my village, my parents arranged my marriage to Simeon. I was terrified and excited all at the same time. Thankfully Simeon was a kind and gentle man and I grew to love him very much. As time went by, however, things became more and more strained because no matter how hard I prayed and hoped and dreamed I could not give Simeon a child. Then, one day there was a terrible accident and I received word that Simeon had been killed. I was devastated. But, before I even had time to grieve, Simeon's parents insisted that I marry his brother Samuel, so that I could give Simeon the son he would have loved. It was so very difficult. But what choice did I have. It was, after all the law.
Samuel, as you might imagine, was not too happy about this arrangement. The first son I would bear would have his brother's name and birthright. But, as it turned out he had nothing to worry about. No matter how hard I prayed, I was still without child. I could hear the whispers beginning about me.
"God must be punishing her"
"She must have done something terrible for God to deny her a child."
"She must be a sinner!"
When I came to the well to draw the water we needed for the day, the other women even avoided talking with me, if they could.
Then one day Samuel presented me with papers of divorce. "I don't have to stay married to you," he said. "You are barren, empty, worthless. Get out! Get out of my house!" But Simeon had three more brothers, Jacob, Andrew and Mathias and Simeon's parents and the elders of the village insisted that the law be followed so that Simeon could have an heir. With each new husband I tried to hope and pray and tried to be a better person so God would smile on me. If only I could conceive a child, then my life would have meaning and my future would be secure. But no matter how hard I prayed no child came. What the others said, must be true, I must be a terrible sinner. But, for the life of me, I didn't know what I had done or why God would be punishing me so.
Somewhere in the midst of all those husbands, both my father and my mother died and I was truly alone. After Matthias divorced me too, I knew it was the end of the road. No decent man would marry me. By this time, if men wanted me at all, they just wanted to use me for their pleasure. I wanted to die. But God wouldn't grant that prayer either. I had no way to support myself, so I started living with any man who would take me in, even for a night, just to have food to eat and a roof over my head. It was a horrible, difficult and very lonely existence.
Of course, I couldn't go to the well in the morning, when the other women went. I was an outcast and it hurt too much to see the way the women avoided even looking at me for fear my sinfulness would somehow contaminate them. So in the heat of the day, I made my lonely trek to the well, each step reminding me of what a worthless person I was. That's how I came to meet him, that Jew sitting by the well in the middle of the day. I was startled when he asked me for a drink. I was a woman and a Samaritan. To the Jews, we Samaritans were the scum of the earth. Besides that, no Jewish man was supposed to talk with a woman in public. So as you might imagine, I was puzzled and frightened. But then he started talking about Living Water and I thought, "maybe he knows of another well or a stream bubbling up through the sand, then I wouldn't have to come to this well again."
I was wrong; but when I didn't seem to understand what he was talking about, he was patient and kind and tried again to explain it to me. It was amazing. It seemed as if I was important to him. But, then I thought, if he really knew me, he'd wipe the dust off his feet and get away as soon as possible. But, he did know me. And when he told me what he knew, he said it with such love and compassion that I felt loved for the first time in years. When I dared to look into his eyes, something deep within me began to stir. So I dared to ask him some questions about God. After all, he must have been a prophet.
As he talked, it didn't seem matter whether I was a Samaritan or a Jew or anything else for that matter. As he talked, I came to know a God whose love was available for anyone who wanted to receive it. As he talked, I began to sense that my life had value because God had some purpose for my life. As he talked, I began to sense the compassion of God embracing me, healing me, filling me. That's when I understood; I could feel it, this well of joy bubbling up inside of me. It was so powerful that without even thinking I ran back to the village. I had to share what I had experienced. I didn't even care what the people would say or how they would react. I just knew that they had to meet this man. I didn't know if he was the Messiah or not. All I knew was that in his presence I felt whole. In his presence I felt alive. In his presence my life had meaning and value and worth. In his presence I knew that I was a beloved child of God. And nothing.....nothing....nothing else mattered.
Amazingly the others listened to me and went to the well where they too discovered God's love and compassion and grace.
We asked him to stay with us and during those next few days he taught us, all of us, the women as well as the men. He told us that the ever-flowing streams of Divine compassion and love bubbled inside of each person, just waiting for them to drink from the well. He explained that all we had to do to be nourished by those Living Waters was to open our hearts and minds and spirits and allow the streams of love to flow to us and though us to touch and heal others the way he had touched and healed us.
What was true for us is true for you as well. No matter who you are or aren't; no matter what you've done of failed to do he loves you and it is his heart's deepest desire to enfold you in his love and quench your thirsty soul with his life-giving water. It is his heart's deepest desire to lead you beyond your fear, beyond your pain, beyond your uncertainly and doubt into the fullness of all that you have been created to become. All you need to do is open your heart, your mind, and your spirit and drink his love. He's here at your well, waiting for you.....
Could he be the Messiah? the One sent by God to bring you life? Taste and see.........
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