One of the experiences that inspired me
to be a missionary was the time I spent as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea,
West Africa. When I arrived at my site
on Kassa Island off the coast of the capital city, I learned that I would be
living in a little hut made out of mud bricks.
I also learned that I would have to walk over a mile on a steep, narrow
path in order to draw water from a well for my drinking and bathing needs. The first time I went to the well, I saw this
large group of about 25 women gathered there, waiting their turn to get
water, chatting and socializing. All of
a sudden, several of the women started laughing and screaming and pointing to
the bucket that they had just pulled out of the well. I wondered what the
commotion was about. Finally, I saw a
large turtle coming up in the bucket of water, wiggling and squirming
trying to get out, quite a surprise to the women who weren’t expecting anything
unusual. As I got my water and started
on the way back, I realized that I was the only man present, surrounded by
all these women with huge buckets of water that they carried on their heads. From that first day I moved into that village in Africa and starting doing my chores, I realized that I was then living in a very
different culture, with different rules and traditions than what we have in the
US. In fact, I was the only Christian living on this island of approximately
3,000 inhabitants, most of whom were Muslims or followers of various African
tribal religions. Out my faith and my
own experiences, I served the people of that island as a Peace Corps volunteer.
I thought about my experiences in
Africa as I read about the Samaritan
woman at the well in today’s Gospel.
Jesus meets her in the midst of her reality, just as he meets us in our
own reality as well. Jesus is tired and
thirsty from a long journey; he meets the Samaritan woman at the well and asks her
for a drink of water. This may not be
shocking to us, but viewed through the social norms of ancient Israel, it was a
very bold act.
The well was the source of water and
the source of life for the small communities of ancient Israel. Women
gathered at the well a couple times a day to get water for their families. The mid-day sun was very hot, so this task
was performed in the early morning and evening hours as the women all came
together at the well at about the same time.
Getting water at the well was not just a chore; it was also a social
gathering for the women as they took a break from the hard work of running a
household.
In today’s Gospel, the Samaritan woman
at the well was alone in the hot mid-day sun, suggesting that the other women
were shunning her. It isn’t shocking
that Jesus was with her at the well at the same time, but it was daring that he
spoke to her in public, since men in that society didn’t speak to women unknown
to them in public places. Boundaries and barriers were set up in biblical times to keep certain people apart. Jewish law and tradition kept the
Jews of Judea from having contact with Samaritans, since the Samaritans had intermarried
with the local people and were seen as having corrupted their Jewish heritage. Jesus
breaks through this barrier, willingly sharing a drinking vessel with the
Samaritan woman, which would have been seen as unclean by the Pharisees due to
the strict Jewish purity laws.
Sometimes life does not turn out the
way we expect – we know that from our own experiences. Sometime we are hit with adversity or tragedy,
with challenges or struggles. Jesus
senses that there were such things going on in the life of the Samaritan
woman. He reaches out to her. She, in turn, reaches out to him, giving him
a drink of water. Previously, she had
been unable to turn away from the hurts and sins that had held her back in her
life of faith, but now she has a conversion through her interaction with
Jesus. She becomes his disciple in the
context on her lived reality. In turn,
her conversion and testimony are instrumental in converting her entire town
into believers in Jesus. What started
out as Jesus reaching out to a woman in a way that was condemned by traditional
Jewish law turned into a significant interpersonal interaction that brought
about her own conversion and the conversion of an entire town.
We are to seek God in all things. We seek him in the midst of adversity and
struggle, in the midst of challenges and tragedies. I am currently reading a book by a Jesuit
priest from India – Paul Countinho. The
title of this book asks a very interesting question: How Big is Your God? Is our God just a theology or a set of rules
or a bunch of writings in Scripture? Or
is our God an experience and a relationship?
Does our God challenge us to live out of faith, not just study it and
read about it? The Samaritan woman used
her relationship with Jesus to change the way she lived, to go out to
evangelize others. Are we willing to do
the same?
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