John 4:9

"Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans" John 4:9

The third detail or element in our story of the Samaritan woman is the woman herself. Not only did the Jews avoid Samaritans, they especially avoided female Samaritans. The woman's opinion of herself was apparent in her statement as well. She didn't like herself very much. Note the hour in which this exchange takes place. It is not early in the morning when all the other women visit the well for the day's fresh water. Nor is it in the evening when they return
for the evening's rations. It is midday when no one is near the well. She recognizes that she is an outcast and she would rather not suffer the stares she had endured in times past. No, she had learned her lesson well.

We find that her opinion is not only demonstrated by her timing at the well, but by the fact that she was a four-time loser at marriage, and she had even given up on the attempt at number five. Being a live-in companion was much easier. Divorce would not be necessary when the new man in her life found her boring and moved on. Yes, it was indeed easier this way.

With all of this tossing about in her head, is it any wonder that a Jew, a Jewish rabbi by the looks of him, would ask her for a drink of water? Her reaction was much like that of the lepers who loitered around the city dump: "Unclean! Unclean! I am unclean. Stay away from me or you will be contaminated too." Her disease was not as visible. She still had some semblance of beauty, at least the new guy in her life told her she was attractive. But she was just as unclean as the feared unmentionables. The only difference was that she could live inside the city walls. They lived without them. She could sleep in her own bed, well her lover's bed. They slept in the caves and pits of the dump. She dined well. They subsisted on what they could find in their neighborhood.

No, all was not well for this woman, a Samaritan, and she was not in the least comfortable in the presence of this Jewish man. It seemed that He could look into her soul, and she didn't like what He read, though it didn't seem to bother Him too much.

The world is composed of two kinds of people: outcasts or accepted society. You and I are one or the other. Actually, we are both. I am not welcome in the Chief Excutive Officer's quarters. I can't call the President of China and tell him to send me a plane to the Hong Kong International Airport and take me to Shanghai for a weekend vacation. I am an outcast from that society. But then again I am not an outcast. I can go to my Church where I am welcomed with open arms.

But there is one place where I really am welcome at all times. That place is far more important than my Church, or the Chief Executive Officer's Office. I am welcome in the presence of the Living God! It wasn't always that way. At one time I was an outcast. My garments were soiled. My life was a shambles. Like the flesh of the leper, my soul was consumed with the disease of sin. But then one day sometime ago, I asked Jesus to forgive me of those sins and wash them away. He, through baptism, applied the Blood He shed on Calvary to my sinful soul and cleansed me. That is why I am free to enter into the household of God.

If you are like the woman at the well, you can be freed from your sins as well. Go ahead and ask the Master your questions. He is patient. He will answer them one by one. Then, like the woman, He will tell you all that you ever did, in love, and He will wash you in His Blood, and you will be make part of the Family of God. You will never again be an outcast. Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.