The Woman at the Well

His journey required that he pass through Shomron nwrmc; and beyond that watch station, he came to the city of Sh’khem mkc, whose name invokes sympathy for those who face weighty spiritual decisions in their lives about matters with no clear distinctions.

Like a head upon its shoulders, Sh’khem lies close to the Amori land Ya’akov gave to his son Yosef.

A pivotal city, it had become a center for diversions under the Amori, a people so enamored of their pedigree that they neglected posterity, wasting their substance on anything and everything that supported their sole conviction, which was that the universe answered to their thoughts.

Turning this delusion to Y’sharAL’s benefit, Ya’akov had been able to purchase the land for a good price; and he gave it to Yosef, the son that had earned a double portion.

Now, Ya’akov’s well was at Sh’khem, and Y’shua had grown weary because of the journey and the stress of settling back into quieter life after spending so much time fielding intense
interactions under the watch of so many. As noontime approached, he reached the well; and he decided to sit on its casing to rest for a moment.

By and by, a woman of Shomron came to draw water; and Y’shua asked if he might drink of her water, because his disciples had gone into the city to buy food, leaving him on his own, so to speak.

And the woman of Efrayim’s watch station asked of him, “How is that you, being of the Yehudim, ask me for a drink, seeing I’m a woman of Shomron?

“The Yehudim have nothing to do with the people of Shomron.”

Sensing that her words could easily become sharp, he teased her, “If you knew of the gift HaShem has reserved for you and who it is that asks for a drink of your water, you would have asked him for a drink of Living Water, and he would have given it you.”

Intrigued, the woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing with which to draw water, and the well is deep. Where might that ‘living water’ come from? Are you greater than our father Ya’akov, who gave us the well and who also drank of its water: him and his children and, also, his cattle?”

Y’shua addressed the question hidden in his cousin’s words, saying, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but any who drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; for the water that I give becomes a cistern of Living Waters that will well up from within him, bringing everlasting Life.”

Disarmed by his gentle advances, she said, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty again!

“Besides, it would also mean that I would no longer have to come here every single day to draw water!”

Y’shua said to her, “Go. Call your husband and return here.”

Deflated, but amused, the woman protested, “I have no husband.”

Y’shua reached out to her, “You have well said, that you have no husband! You have had five husbands, and the one that you now have isn’t your husband, either! In saying this, you are truthful.”

Interested, now, the woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you’re a prophet. Perhaps you can explain to me which is correct!

“Our fathers worshipped here, in this mountain. There were two worship centers, and the sons of Efrayim could choose between them as befit their needs; but the Yehudim say that in Yerushalem is the place where men ought to worship.”

Y’shua answered her, “Woman, believe me! The hour is coming when you shall worship the father neither in this mountain, nor even at Yerushaliem.  You don’t know what you worship, but we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Yehudim.

“But the hour is coming, and is upon us, when true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and in truthfulness; for the father seeks such to worship him.

“HaShem is a spirit; and those who worship him must worship him within their own, truthful spirits, and not by traveling to some particularly hallowed place to perform an approved mantra or ritual.”

The woman artfully replied, “I have heard that the Rabbi who will be king under King HaMashiyach is coming, a man called the messiah. When he comes, he will tell us all things.”

Y’shua said “I that speak with you am he.”

While they yet talked, his disciples returned and marveled that Y’shua talked with the woman, and they wondered what it was all about.

Yet no man asked of her, “What is your business, here?” Nor did they press Rebbe Y’shua to ask, “Why are you talking with her.”

Coming to her senses in the presence of the new arrivals, the woman left her waterpot on the well’s casing and made her way back to the city, where she told the men of Sh’khem, “Come! See a man who told me all I ever did! Is not he the messiah?”

Then the people of Sh’khem set out, leaving the city to take care of itself, and made their way back to the well, hoping to see Y’shua, while his disciples were entreating him, saying, “Master, eat.”

Setting a hook, Y’shua said, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”

In the consternation that followed this remark, his disciples asked one another whether any of them had given him food, and they traded theories about what the rebbe was talking about.

Watching them the way a fisherman studies the bobber, Y’shua allowed them to bicker among themselves for a while, then he reeled them in with the teaching: “My food is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.

“You have heard everyone say that there are four hard months after Pesach, and then comes harvest time? Look! I say to you: just look! Lift your eyes and look at the fields! The tips of the grain are already whitened, ready for the harvest!

“And he that reaps will receive wages, gathering fruit unto everlasting life, so that both he who has sown and all who reap can rejoice together. Therein lies the truth of the saying, ‘One sows; another reaps.’ I send you to reap that for which you have bestowed no labor. You have joined into the labor of those who sowed. Honor the seed; for it sustains us all.”

Hearing this, the people of Shomron had gathered around Y’shua and implored him, urging him to stay; and he rested there two days. Many more believed on him because of the things he said.

And they congratulated the woman, saying, “Now we believe, but not because of what you told us. We have heard him, ourselves; and we know that this one does, indeed, speak in the room of HaMashiyach, the Savior of the World.”