Then,
leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the
people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this
be the Christ?"
//This woman is sometimes called the "first evangelist" in the New Testament. Do you recognize who she is?
The
story comes from John's Gospel. She is, of course, a woman ... hardly
what you would expect of a respected news-bringer. A woman's word in the
first century counted for little; they were not even allowed to offer
testimony in a court of law.
She
is also a Samaritan, a people hated by the Jews of Jesus' time. The
Samaritans were once Israelites, but they became polluted by
intermarriage with other nations (primarily the conquering Assyrians)
and thus were considered half-breeds.
She is slow to understand. It seems impossible for her to grasp the idea of living water.
And she is disreputable, having had five husbands, and now living with a man who was not her husband.
Yes, the person selected by Jesus to first carry his message is the anonymous "woman at the well." Who'd a thunk?
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