Conversation and Conversion

mid 4th century catacombs When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ …The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘What? You are a Jew and you ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink?’ – Jews, in fact, do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus replied:
‘If you only knew what God is offering
and who it is that is saying to you:
Give me a drink, you would have been the one to ask,
and he would have given you living water.’
‘You have no bucket, sir,’ she answered ‘and the well is deep: how could you get this living water? Are you a greater man than our father Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle?’
Gospel Jn 4

Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman was extraordinary. Not only was she a woman and a Samaritan, her history could suggest that she was of questionable character, having had five husbands and presently living with a man who was not. That she came to the well alone might be interpreted as her lack of acceptance by other women of her town since drawing water was a social as well as a practical task.

Reading their conversation, one gets the sense of friendly banter. As the priest at Mass this morning commented: “He said, then she said. He said, then she said.” Jesus was not put off by her past or present for that matter. He seemed to enjoy the conversation and offered to her the truth that his disciples did not yet know: He was the Christ.
The woman believed Jesus and ran to tell those in her town about him. She is sometimes called the first evangelist, bringing others to belief through her words and enthusiasm. I doubt those in the town had seen her in quite this way before. People who may have held a low opinion of her before, found themselves listening to her compelling story and hurrying out to talk to the man who talked to outcast women and said he was the Christ. Her encounter with Jesus had changed her, made her word persuasive.

It began with friendly banter that turned into conversation and honest sharing. The woman admitted her past, Jesus revealed his identity, and the woman believed.

Sometimes we may be tempted to think that dramatic action is required to touch a heart or help it open to receive the love of Christ to another, but God is present in the quiet whisper of a breeze as well as a burning bush.