Dear friends in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Sixty years ago, when Rodgers and Hammerstein’s television musical Cinderella was first broadcast a generation of viewers were enchanted by the unassuming conversation between Cinderella and Prince Charming. Standing at a stone well, the soot and ash covered servant girl offered the dashing noble a drink of water.  He responded politely, “Thank you most kindly” to which she replied, “You are most kindly welcome.” These lines evoked a charming, old-fashioned, and formal etiquette found only in fairy tales.

The evangelist St. John must have had a winsome, fairy tale sense of humor as he was writing his gospel. The place that Jesus is seated in Sychar, “tired out by his journey,” is repeatedly referred to as “Jacob’s well.”  While there are many accounts of Jacob in the book Genesis, there is no specific story of a well belonging to him.  There are, however, several stories about wells, and they are always romantic places where the biblical characters meet their future spouses. Abraham’s servant meets his master’s future daughter-in-law at a well.  Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, meets his wife Rachel at a well, at noon.  Even Moses meets his wife at a well. In all these stories, a man travels to a foreign land, where he meets a woman at a well, and they discuss water. It’s not surprising then, that the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman should lead to the discussion of marriage. Jesus is after all the Bridegroom. He’s just not ready for a wedding here and now.

My friends, how differently the story of the woman at the well unfolds when we see it as romantic, fairytale minus the fairy godmother. So humor me this morning, in this somewhat unconventional reverie, as we meditate upon this story where everyone lives happily ever after. After all, isn’t that your hope in life as well?

Let us begin in a land far away, Samaria. Samaria is the region between Judaea and Galilee. In 722 BC, the Assyrians conquered this area and brought most of the Israelites into captivity. According to Assyrian records, settlers were brought in from the east, forming a new population. That mixture of indigenous Israelites with imported Assyrians became the Samaritan people. Later, when the Jewish people returned to Jerusalem in the south after their captivity to rebuild their temple, the Samaritans in the north weren’t invited to participate. They were considered “half-breeds,” with an impure mix of Judaism and “outside” religious customs. So, after being snubbed, the Samaritans built their own temple on Mount Gerizim in Samaria.  This became their holy mountain, and they changed some passages in the Hebrew Scriptures to reflect that. Therefore, Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along or share things in common.

Historically, the poor Samaritan woman has been grossly distorted.  And I am just as guilty as many pastors.  A single verse spoken by Jesus has been misinterpreted throughout the history of the Western church.  Jesus said, “You have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.”  And ever since knowledgeable theologians and common preachers have repeatedly taught that this sinful, Samaritan woman was longing for forgiveness for her loose, immoral life.

If we read St. John’s gospel closely, however, we discover that neither the Evangelist nor Jesus ever says that the Samaritan woman’s low estate was the result of her sinful behavior.  Nor does Jesus admonish her to repentance or speak of sin at all. There is no doubt that she suffered greatly. She might very easily have been widowed or have been abandoned or divorced. Five times would be heartbreaking, but in the ancient world, not impossible.  Further, she could have been living with someone such as her late husband’s brother who had taken responsibility for her.  She was at a cultural and social disadvantage in her encounter with Jesus.

And yet, in spite of their differences, Jesus came to Sychar, to the well of Jacob, to speak to her.  The two gazing into the waters spoke in riddles. They gazed at their images side by side on the water’s surface.  Jesus told her her life story. Gazing into the shimmering waters, she envisioned herself as Jesus saw her, and listening to Jesus’ voice, she realized that before her very own eyes she was changing.  She felt herself letting go of everything she had been.  She felt herself bathed in a gentle stream of calm and peace and forgiveness. “Why, is this happening to me?” she asked herself.  Why, indeed? Gazing into the waters, she discovered who she was, and yet more profoundly, she discovered who this unknown Jewish man was as well, “I am the Messiah. The one of whom you speak. The one who will proclaims all things.”  All along she thought that Jesus was talking about water.  It was at that moment that she understood that he was talking about something more. The Holy Spirit.

The early church father, St John Chrysostom wrote on this story, “Scripture calls the grace of the Spirit sometimes ‘Fire,’ sometimes ‘Water,’ showing that these names are not descriptive of its essence, but of its operation.”  It was at that moment, that the women encountered the power of the Holy Spirit.  It gave her a peace of mind, a comfort she had been longing for, a solace that had seem impossible to grasp, – and nothing could prevent her from telling others about the gift she had received in Jesus.  Nothing could hold her back, not even the water jar which she left at the well. She ran back to the city, and said to the people, “Come and see man who told me everything I have ever done!”

My friends, the story of the Samaritan woman should remind us that regardless of how overlooked, distant and forgotten we may feel, God sees us and comes to us.  In the ancient world, many devout Jews would have gone out of their way to avoid Samaria, but Jesus walked straight through it. Others would have avoided foreigners and engaging in conversation with them, but Jesus went directly to the place where he knew people must go.  There at Jacob’s well in the brightness of the noontime sun, the good news spoken at night to the privileged Pharisee Nicodemus became real, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should have everlasting life.” That is your promise as well. No matter how suspect, subordinate or second-class you feel, Jesus will come to you. And that is only the beginning.  He will offer you gifts of forgiveness, grace and mercy and meaning. He offers them freely in the living water so that you can your life around.  Yes, in the parched moments of life he comes as a living, flowing stream of water bringing encouragement and a promise of new life, so that you may leave your burdens behind.

I remember once browsing in a Christian bookstore, where I discovered a shelf of reduced-price items.  Among the gifts was a little figurine of a bride and groom, their heads lovingly tilted toward one another.  “Happy 10th Anniversary” read the inscription.   To me, it appeared to be in perfect condition, yet its tag indicated Damaged.  Examining it more closely, I found another tag underneath that read, “Wife is coming unglued.”  It could have just as well said “Groom is coming unglued.”  After all, aren’t we all searching for that something that truly makes us whole again, something that will quench our thirst and satisfy our hunger?

What are the water jars which are weighing you down that you would like to leave behind?  What are the past tragedies, burdens and present challenges that are holding you back and preventing you from enjoying Christ’s promise of living happily ever after?  Come to the water. Come to the Lord’s table and font and experience the gift of his Holy Spirt. Come to his Word and discover the promises of life whispered into your heart by his Holy Spirit.

According to tradition, the unnamed Samaritan woman at the well was baptized after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and given the name Photini or the Enlightened One, In the Slavic world she is knows as Svetlana, one of the most popular names among Eastern Orthodox women.  Even today, Photini is celebrated as a saint, “Equal among the Apostles.” In a continuation of that earnest, heartfelt call begun at the well of Jacob, to share the Gospel of Jesus with others, Photini preached in many areas, including Northern Africa.  In Carthage she was arrested and taken to Rome in the time of Emperor Nero. Ironically, Photini, who first encountered the living waters of Christ by a well in Sychar, was cruelly cast into a well in Rome, where she died a martyr.

My friends, God’s love for you is not a fairy tale. So great is his love for your that you offered you his only Son Jesus.  Still, every day we meet men and women who sullenly return to the same well, burdened by the fears and sorrows, seeking a water that ultimately does not satisfy.  They have no room for the story of God’s love in in their lives. As followers of Jesus, we need to guide them to the life giving, living waters. The woman at the well didn’t have all the answers.  She wasn’t even sure of all the questions, but she knew that this man, this Jesus understood. You never know where and when you will meet the stranger, but your life cannot read like the unfortunate sign board outside one church. “We care about you. Sundays 10 am only.”  Instead let it be said of your life as St. John wrote of the Woman at the Well that “Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.”  What a privilege that was for her. Then like Cinderella or Prince Charming, you can turn to God and say, “Thank you most kindly,” and God will reply to you, “You are most kindly welcome.” Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus.  Amen.