Sermon: Sunday of the Samaritan Woman
The pre-eternal Logos, God Himself took on flesh and dwelt among men in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. He came unto His own people, that is the Jews and preached the Gospel of salvation unto them first and then to the rest of mankind. As a man Christ lived as a Hebrew in a Jewish society and as such we must understand something of this culture in order to understand more clearly the events described in today’s Gospel.
The Samaritans were idolaters who had been converted to Judaism while the Israelites were being held captive in Babylon but they accepted only the five books of Moses; that is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers, they refused to accept the Prophets and the other books of the Old Testament. These people were called Samaritans after Mount Samaria where they lived. They were despised by the Jews when the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity because the Samaritans appeared to be only half Jewish. The Jews refused to have anything to do with them, considering them unworthy.
Once as Christ was passing through Samaria He came to a city called Sychar, it was the sixth hour of the day; that is about noon, and He was tired from His journey and He sat down by the well of Jacob to rest, His disciples had gone into the city to buy food and He was alone. A certain Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well and Christ said to her “Give me to drink”. The woman was shocked because Christ spoke to her and she answered “How is it that Thou, being a Jew, asketh a drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria?” For, as we said, the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. Christ then answers her. “If you knew who I am, you would have asked me for water and I would have given you living water, those who drink of it shall never again thirst but shall have eternal life.” Naturally she wants this living water which Christ offers her and she says, “Sir, give me this water” and Christ tells her “Go call your husband and come here.” She answers, “I have no husband” Christ then answers her, “You are correct in saying that you have no husband, for you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband.” She responds “Sir I perceive that you are a prophet” Then she opens up a religious conversation with Christ. She has a firm grasp on the religious issues of the day and what it was that separated the Jews from the Samaritans. The Jews said that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship and the Samaritans worship on Mount Samaria. All this from a woman who was a fornicator! She had had five husbands and the man she was living with now she didn’t even bother to marry. But despite this she was still religious. This could be interpreted as hypocrisy in that she believed but did not fulfill the commandments. But Christ does not see it this way, He answers her “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Christ is not ambiguous, even though He says that the dispute over where to worship is non-essential He qualifies His statement by saying “salvation is of the Jews”. Christ is no ecumenist who blurs the line between truth and falsehood but very clearly states which road leads to salvation; “salvation is of the Jews”. She then answers Christ “the Messiah is coming and He will tell us all things” Then Christ tells her something which He never told any one, not even His disciples. Whenever Christ speaks of Himself He speaks in the third person, for instance, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” He is of course speaking of Himself but He says it in such a way that it’s not clear about Whom He is speaking. But to this Samaritan heretic, this fornicator, He says in the clearest way possible “I Who speak to you am He”, that is the Messiah. She did not even come to Christ in repentance for her sins like the woman who anointed His feet in the house of Simon the leper but she was at that very moment living with a man who was not her husband. Christ is God however and he knows the secrets of men’s hearts and how they truly feel. In His infinite wisdom he clearly revealed unto the Samaritan woman that He is the Messiah. However, let it never be misunderstood that Christ in any way condones sin, in no way! It is said that He is a friend of sinners and tax-collectors. St. Paul asks “is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.” In His infinite wisdom He does all things in order to bring each and every one of us unto salvation.
At the very moment that Christ told the Samaritan woman “I Who speak to you am He”, His disciples returned from the city and found Him speaking with her and were amazed, although they dared not question Him. The woman then went into the town and told everyone what had happened to her and the Samaritans asked Christ to stay with them, and He stayed with them two days and many Samaritans believed in Christ. The Samaritan woman was later named Photeine which means illumined and together with her seven children received a martyrs crown during the reign of the Emperor Nero. For her faith in Christ she was whipped, her breasts were cut off, her arms were crushed, chips of wood were driven under her nails, melted lead was poured down her throat until finally she was thrown down a well and thus was crowned with eternal life by Christ, the Water of life Whom she met by a well.
Through the prayers of Thy holy martyr Photeine, O Christ our God have mercy on us and save us. Amen.