Praying Together 8th March 2026

So the commandment is a challenge. To love those who betray you. Those who jeer. Those who wield the whips embedded with flint, hammer in the nails, pierce your side.

Lent 3 2026

Collect

Merciful Lord, Grant your people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing that you have made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may receive from you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 4: 5-30

⁵So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. ⁸(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)^* ¹⁰Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ ¹¹The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ ¹³Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ ¹⁵The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

16 Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ ¹⁷The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ ¹⁹The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you^* say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ ²¹Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ ²⁵The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ ²⁶Jesus said to her, ‘I am he,^* the one who is speaking to you.’ the one who is speaking to you.’

27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ ²⁸Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ²⁹‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ ³⁰They left the city and were on their way to him.

Reflection

We probably know the story of the Samaritan woman at the well – it’s a favourite text when we talk about people meeting Jesus. But like many familiar stories we can easily miss some of the detail that adds to its significance.

v.6 Jesus, tired out by his journey. Jesus is fully human. He gets tired and thirsty on the road, and the sun is at its hottest when He stops to rest and get a drink of water

v.7 A Samaritan. There was a religious dispute between the Samaritans and the Jews going back centuries causing antagonism and sectarian division. They share the Pentateuch but not the later prophets. They simply would try to ignore each other

v.7 Jesus said to her. Never mind that relations between Jews and Samaritans were frosty at best, Jewish men did not consider even Jewish women in any way as equal or worthy of conversation, certainly not a heretic

v.10 ‘If you knew the gift of God’ Because of their different religious ideas, a Jewish man would consider Samaritans to be heathen and excluded from God’s covenant relationship with Jews

v.11 you have no bucket. The woman is thinking rationally in worldly terms

v.13 Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, Jesus is talking in spiritual terms – a different rationality altogether

v.14 the water that I will give them Jesus doesn’t suggest His gift is exclusive – the water is available to all who desire it

v.14 a spring of water … eternal life.’ He refers to the inclusive cleansing act of salvation

v.17,18 …you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. A Samaritan woman living in an extramarital relationship, perhaps even bigamously with others

v.26 Jesus said to her, ‘I am He. The Christ, in whom even Samaritans believe

v.27 the disciples came…. but no one said, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ The disciples are used to Jesus behaving unconventionally, but this transaction renders them speechless

v.28,30 the people… left the city and were on their way to him. And this, for me, is the most important lesson from the scriptural story. Jesus will accept all who come to Him without prejudice. He chooses the most unlikely messengers to proclaim His coming as the Messiah. People hear them and their message and they come to Him.

And in turn, we are challenged to become messengers ourselves, however unsuitable or ill-equipped we might feel.