Posts
“The Samaritan Woman came to the well in/by faith; she saw You, the Water of Wisdom, and drank abundantly she inherited the Kingdom on High and is ever glorified!” (Kontakion, Sunday of the Samaritan Woman)
How is it that the Samaritan Woman came to the well “in faith” or “by faith” (πίστει / верою)? Did it take faith to perform a vital, daily chore, like coming out to this well in the middle of the day to draw water? Not necessarily. But the author of this hymn is saying that she already had faith, even before she encountered the One in Whom she believed. As she said to Christ: “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” (Jn 4:25) So, although she was not from the ‘orthodox’ Jewish tradition, but a Samaritan, she did receive the seed of faith in the Coming One, from a ‘not-orthodox’ tradition in which she was raised. And this is a phenomenon to which our Lord points, when He says to His disciples (right after the departure of the Samaritan Woman) that they “will reap where they have not sown...,” where ‘others’ have labored.
As we prepare for the upcoming Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, this morning I’m inspired by her also to have faith and hope, as I go about my daily chores and responsibilities, so that I am ready to recognize Christ in our midst; also in the midst of the ‘not orthodox’; and to “drink abundantly” of the Water of Wisdom that He offers us in our various blessings and challenges. “Lord, give me this water, that I may not thirst!”
