We Can’t Hide

“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” With these words, the Samaritan woman gave witness to the people of Sychar. Jesus met this woman at Jacob’s well. He was by himself, his disciple had gone off to buy food in the city and he strikes up a conversation with her. The manner in which He converses with her and the way in which He reveals for her eternal truths is fascinating. Simply by asking for a drink of water from the Samaritan woman he teaches her that he can provide her with eternal life. The conversation is honest and revealing.

First, we learn that Jesus was not intimidated or constrained by societal expectations. While alone, He speaks with an unknown woman who was a Samaritan and beaks societal restraints. The Jews and the Samaritans did not look upon each other with much respect, yet Jesus did not see cultural identity as a limitation, but presented her with an opportunity to learn and understand more fully God’s relationship with humankind.

The conversation went from asking for a drink to the Christ providing the woman with ‘living water’, that is, the way to eternal life. Humankind cannot live without water. We can go a long time without food, but we must have water. Jesus is telling her that He can provide for her spiritual life that, which will continually sustain her. To show her that He can do this He tells her, a woman He has never met, all about her life. This prompts her to leave her water jar and go into the city to tell her people what has just happened inviting them by her testimony, “Come, see a man who told me all I ever did.”

Just like Jesus knew and understood the Samaritan woman, He knows each one of us. Do we think that Christ only knows what we tell others or ourselves to hide our errors and inadequacies? Through this conversation by Jacob’s well, we come to find out that we think we can, but we can’t. God knows us. He understands us. He revels in our successes and comforts us in our disappointments. The only person we are hiding from is our self. He understands our shortcomings and frailties just as He knows our strengths and talents.

Each week, as we gather together for worship, we are provided the opportunity to not just see or hear about God’s eternal love for us, but to intimately experience it through the Eucharist as He has invited us to do. God provides us with the nourishment we need, the ‘living water’, to live our lives in this world so that we can, one day, enter into His Eternal Kingdom. This is the message he offers to the Samaritan woman and to all who went out to hear him teach. This is the message He offers to us today.