Voice of Living Water

Some scripture scholars question the literal reading of this passage. They specifically look at the five husband line and suggest that it could be referencing to a practice of the region worshiping local deities. Unsurprisingly, this woman was more easily cast as a woman with a sordid past over the centuries. Her story served the purpose of upholding the comfortable understandings of hierarchies of male and female, different branches of religious understanding, which sins are worse than others. Eventually the point is made despite all these infractions, she spreads the Good News. She becomes lumped in with Mary Magdalene and countless other women in our history whose stories are twisted and changed. Like Mary Magdalene, the Samaritan woman is a woman who survives this manipulation to retain a voice.

I think of the Samaritan women today. Who are the voices that speak of truth and living water while others manipulate the narrative around them? Who are the voices that bring the news of salvation in the heat of the midday sun, even to those who despise them?

Am I one of those voices?

If today is a day where we speak of living water, where the Samaritan woman reminds us to bring that living water to others, no matter the cost, what is it that I am doing?

In these days that are darker, filled with more violence and death, may we look for new ways to bring the Living Water to those around us. May we challenge ourselves to bring truth, compassion, beauty, hope, light, and sustenance to those we encounter through our words and actions. May we do so, even when the words we speak and the actions we take in that truth, in that light, are manipulated by others. May we trust in the God of Living Water to keep refilling our cup so we may overflow into the cups of others.

Today’s Readings