03.08.2026 - 3rd Sunday in Lent - Kris Perkola
In this passage, Jesus converses with a Samaritan woman at a well, and she comes to believe he is the Messiah. While traveling through Samaria, Jesus stops at a well in the heat of the day and the disciples go off to buy food. As the passage states, Jews and Samaritans did not interact with each other if possible because of severe animosity between the two groups. Both groups believed in the God of Abraham and followed the Law and the Prophets, but they disagreed on the importance of Jerusalem and on who was and was not part of God’s chosen people. The conflict between the two peoples had even resulted in war in the past, and only Roman occupation kept them from fighting in Jesus’ day. All this is to say, the woman’s shock that Jesus would ask her for water makes a lot of sense.
We don’t know much about the woman, but it’s possible that because of her history with men, having been with several and currently living with one with whom she isn’t married, has caused her to be shamed by her community. That shame might be why she goes to get water when the well won’t have people around it during the heat of the day. We can see that the woman is quite capable of some verbal sparring in how she talks to Jesus. Like Nicodemus from last week, she’s skeptical of Jesus’ claims about spiritual life, but eventually she is respectful in her disagreement, referring to Jesus as “sir”.
Eventually, Jesus' words, including his knowledge about the woman’s life, cause her to begin to believe in Jesus. She goes into town to tell everyone about his ability to know her history and suggest that he might be the Messiah. This evangelism from the woman brings the town to Jesus who stays with them for two days. It is interesting that they admit to the woman that their belief started with her, but spending time with Jesus himself has transformed their curious faith into something more substantial.
Our faith, too, can be enhanced and strengthened by spending more time with Jesus. This time spent with him can fortify us in times of trouble, but also give us the courage, like with the woman, to share our story of faith with others and invite them to “come and see” what the fuss about Jesus is all about. This can be true even among people we might never expect to be open to the message, like the Samaritans, so we should try to invite everyone we can! God’s love is for everyone!
