In ancient times the local water well served several purposes. First and foremost, it was the source of water and thus a valued commodity for the life of the people who depended on the well. It was a meeting place for the community as people gathered in the morning and the evening to draw water for their households or came by during the day to water their livestock. In addition to the daily and mundane function of the well, it also served as a place for courtship. In the Old Testament the local well plays an important role in the some of the great love stories of the Bible. Moses met his wife Zipporah when she came to water her father's sheep and he came to her rescue (Exodus 2). Abraham's servant found a wife for Isaac at the well where God answered the servant's prayer for discernment (Genesis 24). And Jacob fell in love at first sight of Rachel when she came to draw water (Genesis 29).
Given the central place that the well had in the life of people in Jesus' time, we shouldn't be surprised that He would engage people at the local water well. But in today's Gospel we find Jesus doing things at a well that turn the love stories of the Old Testament up-side-down. Rather than seeking out a pure and undefiled woman at the well for courting, Jesus seeks out a woman who is tarnished by and trapped in her sin. Yet it is Jesus' intention to court this woman. Of course, Jesus is not seeking a wife, but He is seeking to establish a relationship with her so that she would be a part of His Bride, the Church.
In the course of their conversation, the Samaritan woman and Jesus touch on several weighty subjects: Living water, worship, the Messiah. Through this discussion Jesus uncovers the woman's sinfulness and then shows her the means to having a relationship in which she is whole, pure, and undefiled. It's a conversation that continues to her entire village and even continues today to God's people who drink from the same Living Water as this sinful woman. Water has washed you clean and joined you to Christ as His Bride. You have been filled so that you will never be thirsty again. The Living Water of Jesus is the greatest love story of all.
