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February 27, 2005; The Third Sunday of Lent, Year A
    The Rev. Harold "Skip" Comer, Rector

One thing that intrigued me in the Gospel reading this morning was the water jar that the Samaritan woman brought to Jacob’s well. John states in his Gospel, “Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city.”[i]   It really wasn’t anything spectacular – just a water jar – (set a bottle of bottled water on the pulpit.) shaped something like this, only larger.  Now I know what you are going to say, “This looks nothing like a water jar that people used in the first century.  This is a twenty-first century water jar.”  But believe it or not the basic shape, except for the screw on lid has not changed very much over the centuries. 

This woman’s water jar was very important, because it was the only means that the Samaritan woman had to transport water from the well to her home.  She needed water for all of the same reasons that we do – for drinking, cooking, bathing, laundering, and cleaning.  Even though this jar was not spectacular in the physical sense, it was a perfect jar for the work it had to do.

Now we may think that this is just a jar, but then, what do we really know about water jars?  When ever we want water we just walk to the sink and turn the handle on the facet and the water comes to us.   That is most of the time.  Last year when we had problems with our pump and had to have a new well drilled, we were inconvenienced by having to bring in bottled water for several weeks.  And then there are the times when the electricity goes out and we are without water for hours or days at a time.  Yet in all of this we do not have a sufficient appreciation of the daily journey that this Samaritan woman, and thousands of other people, made to the well and back with their water jars.

The water jar had a narrow top so that it could be filled easily; yet small enough to prevent water from sloshing out as the woman carried it home.  This jar was fragile, being made of clay, yet it was durable enough for the task, so long as it was treated with care.  This was the Samaritan woman’s jar.  More than likely it was the only one that she owned.  Yet, after her conversation with Jesus, she left the jar at the well!

Perhaps this is just a meaningless detail that shouldn’t draw much attention.  Or perhaps this little comment about the water jar being left behind is intended to reinforce not only the impact that Jesus had on her, but also the theme of the story.

In order to really appreciate this story we need to remember that Jesus broke social and religious laws of his day by speaking to this woman.  First of all a rabbi did not talk to strange women in public.  And then there was the animosity that existed between Jews and Samaritans.  A comparable situation would be the animosity that existed between whites and blacks fifty or more years ago.  It was more than not just socializing with blacks.  They had their part of town that they lived in and they weren’t allowed to move into white neighborhoods.   So it was with Jews, they did not socialize with Samaritans and Samaritans were not allowed to live in Jewish cities.

Certainly the lady must have been somewhat bewildered by this Jewish man’s willingness to talk with her.  He even had the audacity to ask her for a drink of water – why that was unheard of.  But as they talked she became confused when Jesus talked about the water that would quench her thirst forever.

Bewildered the Samaritan woman asked Jesus, “Where do you get that living water?”[ii]  Like Nicodemus in our Gospel reading last week the woman struggled to understand what Jesus was talking about.  She was thinking of H2O, and wanted to know where the well was so that she could draw some of this water and put it in her jar.

Jesus continued, “The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”   The woman replied, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”[iii]  The woman still didn’t get it.

Her head really started spinning when Jesus told her that he knew all about her five previous husbands and the man she was now living with.  How could this man, a total stranger know so much about her.  As the conversation continued she began to sense that this man must be a prophet.  Still trying to sort it out, the man said something about those who worship God “must worship him in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as there to worship him.   God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”   Who was this man?  Could he be the messiah?  Jesus responded, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”[iv]

Can you imagine meeting a perfect stranger at the grocery store while you are filling your cart with bottled water and striking up a conversation with them like the Samaritan woman had with Jesus?  What would you do when the stranger said that he was the messiah?  I believe that most of us would have some extreme doubts – wondering if the guy wasn’t some sort of quack.  We would probably look for the quickest way out of the store.

Can you imagine being like the Samaritan woman and going back to town and telling all of your friends that you think that you met Jesus?  Just think about the response you would get for a moment.

The Samaritan woman became the vessel for the living water.  That may well be the meaning of the water jar that she left at the well.  The living water that Jesus offered could not be carried in a jar or a bottle.  And just like the woman, we are meant to become the vessels by which this living water, the Holy Spirit, is carried into the world.

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