Kathleen Rushton discusses the story in John 4:4-45 of the Samaritan woman meeting Jesus at the well.

The scene of the Samaritan woman meeting Jesus at the well in John 4:4-45 is found often in early Christian art. This woman, whom I shall call Photini as she is known in the Eastern Church, became a symbol for baptism and the “living water”, the new life which Jesus promises. In a third-century fresco in the Catacomb of St Callistus, Photini is pictured bucketing water from an overflowing well. I shall focus on three aspects of the story: the water, the woman and Jesus’s invitation.

Water

A three-tiered cosmology underpins water imagery in the Scriptures: the waters of the heavens — rain and snow; the land (earth) surrounded by water — rivers and seas; and the waters below earth. This understanding is evident in the story of Noah: “On that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens opened. The rain fell on the earth…” (Gen 7:11-12). The waters bring life to people and all creation.

In John 4, there is a distinction between “still water” (phrear 4:11-12) and “living water” (pēgē 4: 6,14). In 407 CE, Augustine explained: “Water issuing from a spring is what is commonly called living water. Water collected from rain in pools and cisterns is not called living water … if it collects in some place and is left to stand without any connection to its source. Water is designated as ‘living’ when it is taken as it flows.”

The significance of living and still water is found throughout the Scriptures: “My people … have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer 2:13).

Living water is life-giving: God “made springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills, giving drink to every wild animal” (Ps 104:10); God’s people will be “like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail” (Is 58:11). God is the “fountain of living water” (Jer 17:13).

Jesus promises Photini this living water: “The water I will give [to those who ask for it] will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14).

John 4:4-25 is proclaimed during the liturgical season of Lent as catechumens prepare for the waters of Baptism at Easter. All the baptised will be invited to renew their baptismal promises as the catechumens are baptised at the Easter Vigil.

The Woman

This story is one of several in John 1-11 in which Jesus is presented as engaging in a barrier-crossing ministry to bring about social reconciliation between groups, in conflict with each other, by calling them into God’s new inclusive community. Jews and Samaritans had been in conflict for over 700 years. On his way back to Galilee, Jesus “had to go through Samaria” where while resting at Jacob’s Well, he met Photini. They represent their two peoples, Jews and Samaritans. Photini speaks of “our ancestors” and in their conversation with each other, “you” is in the plural.

The well is named for Jacob, the ancestor of both peoples. Traditions abounded about this well which, as pictured in the fresco, was understood to be overflowing.

Another tradition tells that when Jacob left his father Isaac’s house, the well went with him. The well had so much water that it flowed into the wilderness to keep the people and their animals alive on their nomadic journeys.

That Photini came to the well to collect her own daily supply of water (Jn 4:7, 11, 15, 28) and carried it over a great distance (4:8) indicates that she was poor.

Augustine wrote: “She longed … to be spared her hard labour, because she was coming to that fountain day after day, burdened with that heavy load on her shoulders … Her poverty obliged her to work beyond what her strength could handle.” At that time, water-carrying from wells in villages and towns was women’s work in poor households and in others the work of servants and slaves.

This encounter evokes other biblical meetings at wells. Rebekah was approached at the well to marry Isaac (Gen 24) and Jacob met his future wife Rachel at the well at midday

(Gen 29:7).

Jesus’s encounter with Photini suggests not just a change of life for her as an individual but for her whole people.

The “five husbands” recall the five nations that had colonised Samaria (2 Kgs 17:24). The sixth husband (“the one you have now”) refers to the current Roman occupation. Whereas the colonisers subjected the Samaritans to their will, Jesus is promising new life.

The Invitation of Jesus

Through the waters of Baptism, Jesus invites the People of God to participate with him: “to do the will of God who sent me and to finish God’s work” (Jn 4:34).

This invitation is found throughout John’s Gospel where in the prologue, Jesus is inserted into the sacred cosmic story of God’s unfinished universe to enable the People of God to participate with him in finishing the works of God by hearing “both the cry of Earth and the cry of the poor” (Laudato Si’ par 49).

In the ancient world, “good works” were a precise term referring to helping those in need in their particular context.

The “works of God” are not just “good works,” they are the work of a Messiah who ministers to the marginalised.

There is work for Christians to do today to ensure access to clean water for everyone. According to the United Nations, over 733 million people live in countries with high and critical levels of water stress. United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 is to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Caritas is partnering with groups in the Pacific to protect their water reserves from contamination due to rising sea levels. Our donations during Lent contribute to their access to “living water”.

The northern regions of Aotearoa have recently been ravaged by unprecedented rainfall, a cyclone and flooding, with vast damage to land and property. Some people lost their lives, many lost everything they had. Alongside the enormous damage we witnessed the good works of so many to protect and support people — and now their help to clean up after the floods.

Maybe we saw the promise of a life-giving community become a reality in that time of crisis and beyond — love in action participating in “finishing the works of God” fed from the “fount of living water”.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 279 March 2023: 24-25