Thirsty for More

John 4:1-42 2026

Lent 3, March 8, 2026

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“Thirsty for More”

Lent is the season of close encounters with Jesus.  Through our gospel stories in the Sundays leading to Holy Week, we meet individuals who question, challenge, and are changed by our Lord.  Even Satan is surprised!  Last week it was the insider, Nicodemus.  And today it is the outsider, a woman of Samaria.  In seeking her out and engaging with her, Jesus crosses social boundaries. More importantly, he offers salvation to all who come to him in spirit and in truth.  If you too are thirsty for more, come to the water of life!

Jesus was born a Jew.  That’s stating the obvious, but it is a good starting place.  From the Jewish people came the idea that there was to be a Messiah, an anointed one, who would be their Saviour.  Salvation comes from the Jews, but it is not only for the Jews.  There’s a reason that John 3:16 proclaims, “God so love the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”  And that, my friends, is why Jesus and his disciples were travelling through Samaria.  In John 4:4, the gospel relates that Jesus “had” to go through it from Judea to Galilee.  No, he didn’t. It was not the only road.

Most of the Chosen People would cross to the other side of the Jordan River and then transit up to recross it in the north to avoid coming into contact with Samaritan towns.  The boycott was religious, political, and cultural. They didn’t like or trust each other.  But the kingdom mission to save the world extends beyond the Jews, so Jesus had to go there.  He knew they were thirsty too.

The setting for the encounter is at the well near a Samaritan town called Sychar.  The older name for the place was Shechem, and it was near here on Mt. Gerazim that the Samaritans built a temple to worship God, rather than go down to Jerusalem.  Doubly important is that this is also the site of a very famous well. Tradition says that it was dug by their ancestor Jacob, who is revered by the Jews and the Samaritans.  This aquifer had been supplying the physical needs of the community for almost two thousand years, a proof of God’s care for them.  Everyone needs water, and the well is the common ground that brings everyone in the community to share in the resource. 

Except that when Jesus and his disciples get to the well, it is noon.  The hottest part of the day.  The locals all come at dawn or dusk to water their flocks and draw enough for their households.  They don’t venture out in the blazing sun.  Jesus’ followers go into town for supplies and leave him alone by the well.  It is then that a woman comes and meets him. 

This is a very different encounter than with the religious teacher Nicodemus.  He was a man; she is a woman, not be spoken to alone.  He came by night; she is here in the light of midday.  He came in private; she is in a very public space.  He was a member of the observant Pharisees; she is a Samaritan, looked down upon by Jews.  And yet, Jesus engages her in conversation and treats her questions with equal courtesy and seriousness as he would another rabbi or scribe. 

Both Jesus and the woman need water.  Jesus has spiritual water, but asks her for a physical drink.  She has a bucket for the well, but is looking for something more satisfying than the task of coming every day in her isolation to draw water.  In sharing a drink from her vessel, Jesus accepts her.  And then he offers her living water.  

She is thirsty for more.  “Sir, give me this water so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water” (John 4:13).  On one level, this is an intercession for her physical needs.  But considering the theological conversation the two have together, there is a deeper ask here.  This unnamed woman lives on the margins of her society.  She never even gets a name recorded in Scripture.  Because she comes alone at midday, she is often judged as an outcast.  Jesus is testing her motives when he tells her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” But she answers with honesty: “I have no husband”.  What Jesus says next is not said in a judgmental manner but merely a statement of the situation: “you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you say is true” (John 4:19).  The reason she is marginalized is that she does not have the protection of a family around her.  The likelihood is that she has been widowed successively (yes- lives were often short!), or that she has been divorced successively.  And that latter would not have been her choice but the husband’s, especially if she were barren.  There may be no children to help take care of her. Even the man she is living with now has not offered her the legal protection of marriage.  She is subsisting, not living fully.  Not valued or accepted.

The reasons for her situation are not important to Jesus, however.  He is the one who promises that those who worship in spirit and in truth belong to God.  When the woman affirms her faith in the Messiah who will proclaim all things to us, Jesus answers, “I AM he!” And from that moment, when she recognizes him as Lord and Saviour, her life changes.  She finds true love.  In turn, she wants to share the good news. She becomes the apostle of Christ to the Samaritan people.  In that first day, as she testifies to her neighbours, many more come to believe than any of the other disciples have managed to convince.  They don’t just rely on her word.  They, in turn, are invited to come and see and hear for themselves.  They too are thirsty for acceptance, love, and salvation.

In her encounter with Jesus, the woman at the well brought her honesty and her questions.  She acknowledged the truth of her life and found in Jesus spiritual truth and acceptance, purpose and salvation. We are all thirsty for more in our lives.  Today, the invitation in the gospel is to come to the well and be filled. Amen.