I tell you the truth. Photina . the Holy Samaritan

QF# 2nd part from: The Life of Jesus (Gospel of John)
"Full-length feature film (3:02:49 / produced in 2003) that depicts the life of Jesus Christ as it was written by his disciple John. "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." - John 17:3 "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." - John 10:10 "And truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith you may have life in his name. -John 20:30-31 LUT
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The woman at Jacob's well
A woman who experiences first-hand that Jesus does not condemn her finds faith.
The land of Samaria lay between Judea and Galilee on the west bank of the Jordan and had once belonged to the northern kingdom of Israel. When Israel fell in the 8th century BCE, the Assyrians deported most of the Jewish population and settled people from other countries on the vacated land. These new settlers adopted the god of the land, namely Yahweh, but also kept their old gods.

The Samaritans of the 1st century A.D. were descendants of these settlers. For this reason, they were firmly rejected by the "pure" Jews, and some Jews preferred to take a long detour east of Samaria on their way to Jerusalem, even having to cross the Jordan twice, rather than travel through Samaria.

Jesus did not do that. Traditional prejudices could not challenge him. The woman who came to Jacob's well was not just a Samaritan, she was a woman. For this reason alone, she was extremely surprised when Jesus spoke to her and asked for water. It was unusual for a Jewish rabbi to speak to a woman. In fact, he was not even supposed to look at her. If we think of the many deeply veiled women of the Muslim faith, we unfortunately still encounter this attitude today. So we can easily imagine this encounter.

From the Bible text in John 4 we can see that the woman came to the well alone, around midday. This says a lot about her relationship with the other villagers. Was she excluded from the village community? Normally the women went together early in the morning to draw water and visited each other in their houses on the way back.

Jesus turns to the woman and tells her many details about her personal life: "You have had five husbands, and the one you now live with is not your husband." We can well imagine the woman's astonishment. She had never experienced this before. In her eyes, Jesus must be a prophet. She hurries back to her village and tells everyone who wants to hear it: "This man knows everything I have done."

How did Jesus structure the conversation with the woman? He was tired and thirsty, so his request was quite natural. That's how he got the conversation going. With his request for help, the two of them spoke to each other as equals. That was very unusual at that time.

And then Jesus draws her attention to what God wants to give, namely "living water," and reveals himself as the Messiah. "Living water" at that time meant flowing water, such as water from a river. Jesus compares God's gift of being freed from all guilt through faith in him with this image, which was familiar at the time.

When the woman reacts with irritation, he speaks to her again in images. The person who is given living water by him would never be thirsty again, but would have a source that bubbles forever, that is to say, that reaches into eternal life. The water here represents the Holy Spirit, who is promised to all those who accept God's offer.

The woman asked for this water, but did not yet understand what Jesus was trying to tell her. She simply took his comparison literally. And then he revealed to her everything that had made up her life up to that point. This revealed her situation as that of a person to whom Jesus can give everything he needs: forgiveness of sins, eternal life and a new, fulfilling life here on earth.

But the woman still hesitates: "Yes, I know that the Messiah will come one day. He will explain everything to us." "You are speaking to him, I am the Messiah." And then the woman believes. She sees herself as a needy, sinful person and recognizes Jesus as someone through whom God speaks.

She, who had lived ashamed and isolated for a long time, now hurries back to the village and tells with glowing enthusiasm everything that Jesus had told her. There, the change in her was evident, and some believed on the basis of her testimony. Others wanted to hear Jesus for themselves, and after that, many more people believed in him.

The courageous Samaritan woman took the decisive step to faith when she realized that Jesus was not condemning her. Then she knew that she was freed from all her guilt and could begin to live a new life.

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