Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

I love music, and one of my favorite artists is Sara Bareilles. My affection for her began when I recognized some part of God’s invitation in my life through her lyrics, and two lyrics in particular - “so I learned to listen through silence,” and “gather your strength and rise up.” I’m certain that my enthusiasm has gained her some additional fans. By playing her music for people, they came to understand for themselves...she's really good.

Today’s Gospel points out that many came to know Jesus by the witness of the woman at the well. What Jesus reveals stirs her heart so completely that she cannot help but share with others the reality of who he is. And by her witness, more people began to believe. 

God’s invitation to me today is simple: reflect on what—and whom—I love most. Jesus is at the top of that list. Loving him means sharing that love freely, so that others, too, might be drawn into friendship with God.

—Fr. Eric Immel, SJ, is a vocation promoter for the Midwest Jesuits. To learn more about how to become a Jesuit, visit beajesuit.org. 

Jesus, I am coming to the well.
 I didn’t invite you to my home because
 I’d be busy like Martha tidying up
 thinking everything had to be just so
 and I just want to be Mary,
 taking in the fullness of your presence.

Unlike the Samaritan woman
 I already know you are there
 at the well waiting for me
 hoping today will be the day
 I come.

I’m glad you already know
 everything about my life
 because I’m feeling like the woman
 looking for the lost coin
 that is my life.

The I of my life feels
 like it’s been drowning, lost
 in the ravaging flood waters
 hurricane, tornado,
 tsunami, if you will
 of_____________.

Like the sky this morning
 my mind is full of clouds.
 The first responder in me
 is tired, soul-weary from
 being in the eye of the storm,
 the trauma center
 day in and day out
 performing triage.

I’m coming to the well
 with eager longing,
 deep, yearning intensity,
 so absolutely thirsty
 to be filled with
 your living water
 to reach the depths again
 of who I am.

I don’t even want to recount
 what has happened
 in my life this year.
 I just want to be with the One
 who already knows.
 who knows me through and through
 better than I know myself.

And I know you ARE the well.
 YOU are the Divine Well
 of compassion, extravagant love
 and understanding
 that I desperately need.

You are the healing water
 overflowing, unlimited
 to shore up my weakness.
 You are the calm I need
 in the storms of my life.
 You are the patience
 the courage to risk
 the faithfulness
 the wholeness
 the gracious presence
 to others
 I so deeply desire.

Heal me; heal ________.
 Give us the grace to
 be your healing presence
 healing the hatred, racism,
 hurt and grief, injustice,
 violence in this world.

Give us the grace to
 heal your beloved planet, Earth,
 to restore the beauty
 of your creation.
May it be so. 

—Sister Donna Butler, S.P.