In the second book of kings there is the story of how Samaria became a mixed race. The Assyrian conqueror sent people from 5 different countries to inhabit the land when he deported most of the Hebrews. Lions came and were destroying a good many of the people he sent there and the king was told it was because the people were not worshipping the god of the land-the Hebrew god. So he sent a priest of the Hebrews back to Samaria to teach the people how to worship the Hebrew God. The priest taught the imported peoples but they also continued worshipping their former gods as well. That somewhat explains why the teaching and laws were similar but not quite the same as the Jews. They worshipped the Hebrew God but also served their carved images.
Jesus transcended the cultural and ethnic customs of his times-talking to a woman and a Samaritan as well. Therefore she was surprised and commented as such. I’ve often been amazed by the knowledge the woman had of her own faith and where it veered from the Hebrews since her life style was not apparently in keeping with her religion. There are many valuable insights we now have due to this woman who had come to draw water from Jacob’s well. Two of them are: Jesus is the living water from which we will not thirst again, Jesus being the living water is one of those mysteries that only those who have truly experienced the living water who is Christ can know. Christ’s living water does not make life any easier, wealthier or physically healthier. Our challenges are not taken away but we are helped to deal with them with a different outlook, a more wholesome outlook. Another insight: Where we worship God.
We can still utilize temples, churches, synagogues, our homes and places of beauty but in all of them we need to learn to worship in spirit and in truth. God is Spirit and cannot be confined to a geographic location. We can and do worship our God anywhere.
This same Samaritan woman became the first evangelist, the first to proclaim to others that this prophet, who had just revealed her past to her, was the long awaited Messiah. It is not reported that Jesus worked miracles in the 2 days he remained there teaching but the people were hungry for the truth, for the living water he gave them. After listening to Jesus many believed in the truth of his words.
After Christ’s resurrection, according to some traditions, this woman was baptized and given the name Photini, meaning the enlightened one. She and her children then went to Carthage to spread the good news -- just as she had done in Samaria. They were arrested, taken to Rome and eventually martyred. Photoni had met the Messiah by a well and because of her faith in Him died by being thrown down a well.
How do we, like Photini did, spread the good news, not only in words but in the way we live? There are so many ways we can share our lives, our love, and our faith and be life givers, bringing love and peace to all with whom we come in contact. It is not always easy to see or realize the Divine in ourselves or in others. With what reverence though, we will hold the “other” once we do realize we are surrounded by the Divine in ourselves and in others.
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