The Paradox Par excellence
Our Lord has cleansed the temple. He has wrought many miracles in Jerusalem. He has plainly told Nicodemus that He has come to die for those bitten by the “serpent of sin”. He, now, leaves Jerusalem, for it has callously rejected Him. For the time being He is in the “galilee of the gentiles”. As against the Jewish custom, Jesus takes the route via Samaria. Already He has declared that the temple (of Jerusalem) is for all nations. He is called to minister to all races and peoples. “He had to go through Samaria on the way” (Jn. 4:4).
Between the Samaritans and the Jews there was a long-standing discord. Somehow the Samaritans accepted the five books of Moses and some of the prophecies. But they rejected all the other historical books as they recounted the story of the Jews whom they despised. Their worship was in a temple on Mount Garzim. For a Jew the word “Samaritan” was so hateful to pronounce. On the other hand, the most offensive term the Jews could apply to anyone was to call him a “Samaritan”. So they called our Lord once. He ignored the charge then. Nevertheless, in the story of the good Samaritan, In fact, Jesus Himself is the good Samaritan. It points to the Paschal Mystery itself. Besides, it implies the humiliation and the contempt to be heaped upon Him later.
Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, does not avoid anyone. He cannot either as He is the Lord and saviour of all. Hence He must needs pass through the abode of the Samaritans. It is sovereign Love that lays this necessity upon Him. The time now is noon. Certainly He is tired. After all, He is not only God but also Man. Naturally, He sits down at Jacob’s well and relaxes. Sitting there, in His omniscience, He reads the heart of a Samaritan woman. He is weary in His work, certainly but not of it. The Syro-Phoenician woman and this woman are two of the greatest converts won by our Blessed Lord made at a tie when He was dead tired. The willing heart always creates its own opportunities.
“A Samaritan woman came to draw water” (Jn. 4:7). A woman in the heat of day, comes there, to draw water. It is rather unusual. A woman in the East, more often than not, keeps indoors to avoid the heat of the sun. Certainly it was one of those ordinary, day-to-day providences of God which help to reveal the riddle of a soul. The great benefit she is going to get is hidden from her now.
It is like Our Lord finding Zacheus, but Zacheus not finding our Lord. Paul, too, was found at a time when the latter least expects it. “For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up” (Jn. 6:44).
As the Samaritan woman fills her pitcher, she must have been trying to avoid Our Lord. For, she must have recognised in Him just a man. To her surprise Our Lord addresses her with a request: Give me to drink (Jn. 4:7)
Whenever Our Lord wishes to do a favour, He always begins by asking for one. He never begins with a reproof, but with a request. To fill someone with the Divine, there must necessarily be a “self-emptying”. Jesus He empties Himself to fill the human (the Samaritan woman). The water, uppermost in her thoughts becomes the common denominator between the sinless and the sinful. The woman is quite surprised. “For the Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink” (Jn. 4:9).
In this long conversation there is a progression of spiritual development. It, finally, ends up in her coming to know Christ, the only Saviour of the world. Naturally, her understanding was imperfect. At first He is just “a Jew”. Now the Lord makes clear that He is not at all the receiver but the giver. The women is completely mistaken to think that He needed her help. Far from it. Rather, she needs His help. “Jesus replied, If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water. But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket, she said, and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? (Jn. 4: 10,11).
