The Woman at the Well

She came at noon.

Most women came in the morning, when it was cooler. When others were there.

She came when the well was empty.

There was a man sitting there. A Jew.

He asked her for water.

She was surprised he spoke to her at all. Jews didn't speak to Samaritans. Men didn't speak to women alone at wells.

He talked about living water. About a spring that would never run dry.

She asked for that water so she wouldn't have to come back to the well.

He told her to go get her husband.

She said she had no husband.

He said: You have said well. You have had five husbands. And the one you are with now is not your husband.

She stopped.

He hadn't asked anyone. There was no one else there. He had never met her.

And he knew.

She said: I perceive that you are a prophet.

She deflected into a theological question. About where people should worship.

He answered it honestly. And said something more.

He said: The hour is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

She said: I know that the Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will tell us all things.

He said: I who speak to you am he.

She left her water jar.

She went into the city and told the people: Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.

Not his teaching. Not his kindness.

He told me everything I ever did.

That was the thing she couldn't stop talking about.

Not the miracle. The knowing.

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