A
woman who came to the well for some water
found
someone she did not know;
a
man sitting there all alone with no pail, and
wondered
why he sat there so.
As
she drew out water and then turned to go,
he
said to her "Give me a drink."
The
Samaritan woman was thrown for a loss
and
she no longer knew what to think.
"How
do you, a Jewish man, speak to me here,
much
less ask me now for a drink?"
"If
you knew who I was,!" you surely would ask me
for
living water, I think."
"Sir,
give me this water, I ask you, so I
would
never need come here again!"
But
he told her, "Go, call your husband" as if
he
did not know her history with men.
She
knew that he must be a prophet, at least,
yet
questioned him more, nonetheless.
He
answered her more and with prophetic vision,
and
still she continued to press:
"I
know the Messiah will come to us all,
and
proclaim all things that will be."
And
he said, "Do you see I am here talking to you?
Yes,
I am the one; I am he."
She
ran to her village to tell all the people
"There
is a man you must see!
He
told me of everything that I have done!
Could
he the Anointed One be?"
They
came and they heard and believed every word,
and
asked him to stay two more days.
And
so, this one Samaritan town knew the wonder
of
Jesus and his saving ways.
TEXT:
Charles Spence Freeman, March 2026, after John 4:1-45.
MUSIC:
Tune SAMANTHRA (MAJOR), American folk melody, alt.
A hymn on the "woman at the well" story, tightened up just a little bit (the disciples get left out). Those who pay attention to the tunes chosen for these texts will note that this American folk tune, found in Glory to God at #77, is here flipped to major instead of the minor tune as it appears in the hymnal. Will probably need some polishing in the future, but it does fit to Lent 3A, so here it is just in case.
