Walking the bustling streets of New York City, you’re bound to pass someone you might characterize as “different,” but what really makes us perceive another as being different? Is it the color of their skin, the way they dress, or is it something else that causes us to pause? These categories of being different fail to witness the actual person and inhibit us from growing in love with them. When God created humanity, he created each of us in his image. In this way, he embraces our differences and accepts us as we are.
In the story of the Samaritan woman (John 4), we encounter a deeper understanding of God’s desire to be, and more precisely live, among his creation regardless of what others may say. You see in the case of the Samaritan woman, this scene is not only about Christ talking with a woman who is alone at the well, but is equally about a woman who has been married five times, is currently living with another man, and is from the region of Samaria, which would have in itself prevented many others from even approaching her. So why does Christ approach her? Christ realizes that just as he thirsted for the love of his creation (cf. Story of the Soul, Ch. XI), so did the woman thirst for the love of God. In this way, Christ sought to sit with a woman that many others would have cast off as being “different” and not “like them,” but instead Christ sat beside her, asked for a drink, and embarked on a conversation that changed the woman’s life.
Just as Christ fulfilled the woman’s eternal thirst, so the woman quenched Christ’s thirst for love. In her autobiography, St. Therese of Lisieux writes, “He was athirst, but when He said, ‘Give me to drink,’ He, the Creator of the Universe, asked for the love of His creature. He thirsted for love” (Story of the Soul, Ch. XI). Christ thirsted to be loved by the “different;” this is a profound testament to the love that Christ has not only for all of his creation, but also the love that he seeks from all without exception. Christ sat next to the woman of Samaria to let her know that she could choose to share in the waters of eternal life and commit her heart to the Creator.
Further, when Christ reveals that he knows about the woman’s five husbands and the current man that she lives with, the woman recognizes him as a prophet. After identifying Christ as a prophet she says, “Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem” (John 4:20). Again, Christ responds to the woman and says the “true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). In this way, Christ tears down a biblical Berlin Wall by declaring that worship will not be limited to a particular region or mountain, “but that those who adored the Father and were pleasing to Him were those that adored him in spirit and truth” (St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, Ch. XXXIX). In other words, differences will no longer divide worship, but rather the worship of God will transcend human boundaries and unite those standing on the mountain, praying in the valley, and those at the temple. In a single statement, Christ proclaimed a table of equality that welcomed all of God’s creation.
Although the story of the Samaritan woman helps us to better understand our relationship with God, I believe that it offers an equal opportunity for understanding how we, as humans, approach the “different.” In our world, there is a great famine that has struck our global community; it is a famine that tugs at our hunger for love. By merely turning on the television, we witness the cries for love pouring forth from Japan, but we also see this great need exhibited in Africa among the millions living with HIV/AIDS. Although some may see what distinguishes creation, we must look beyond what are perceived as differences and instead witness the image of Christ that lives in all. The opportunity to be a beacon of God’s love has never been greater. When we encounter poverty, when we come face-to-face with someone who has offended us, and when we sit by the bedside of the dying, we are being provided opportunities to bring love to others. Responding to these situations by feeding the hungry, forgiving our offender, and praying with the sick, we are witnessing the image of God that is found in all humanity. If we choose not to hear the cries of the thirsty, hungry, sick, and unsheltered, let us remember that we may be silencing the whispers of God: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).
And so, are the “different” really that different? Or do we merely apply a human understanding of creation to that which only God can understand? In the case of the Samaritan woman, it’s quite clear that Christ saw beyond her ethnic differences, beneath her human errors, into the soul of a woman that thirsted for the love of Christ. In following Christ’s example, let us be aware that thirsty souls, wells of a human nature, and people representing the spectrum of God’s image are all around us; therefore, it is up to us to bring the message of living water to all, so as to quench the world’s thirst for love.
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Image: The Israel Museum
Author’s Note: Thank you to a friend for being the inspiration behind this post.
Fides et Ratio 