“St. Photini and Springs of Living Water”

Main point: Hope springs eternal from the living water gushing up to eternal life.

Introduction

History tells us the woman we meet in our gospel today is St. Photini - the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. You might not know she has a name, but she does. She is an example to us of an apostle who carries the good news of Jesus to others. Her Feast day on February 26th (10 days ago).

So who is Photini and what can we make of this interaction with Jesus at a well in Samaria?

The Encounter at Jacob’s Well

One point right off the bat: this story is often taken as an exchange between Jesus and a woman with moral failing. They jump quickly to the bit of the conversation about her having 5 husbands and now living with a man who is not her husband - in order to make this the problem Jesus was addressing. Before we make the same mistake, consider this…

• Women in this time and place in the world were not permitted to initiate a divorce. And lawfully, when a divorce was granted - both parties were permitted to remarry. The five husbands Jesus references were not so much a testament of moral failure, but of social disgrace.

• This is likely why she hiked out to the well at the hottest part of the day - because no one else would be around to point and laugh… or at least to avoid the awkward glances when you’re trying not to meet the eye of the people around you. She chose the hottest part of the day to avoid the other women of the town.

• But a woman who had been married 5 times and whose options were reduced to the 6th man who wanted all the benefits of marriage without the commitments, carries a certain social shame. Even if she knows she’s doing the best she can with the hand she has been dealt, others don’t necessarily see it that way. And if you’ve ever been on the losing end of an embarrassing social situation, you know that you don’t often get a chance to explain your side of the story - especially in casual comings and goings which is most of our lives.

• At the playground while the kids play with other kids

• At the school pick up and drop off line when the other parents are standing there awkwardly on their phones.

• At the sporting events when you’re watching your kids play soccer. 

• At the laundry mat 

• Or, can I say it, at church, when it sometimes feels like you have to have your, um, “stuff” together just to come for an hour on Sundays to worship God.

Photini is certainly living in sad conditions - conditions she certainly wouldn’t pick for herself. But turning this into a moral problem misses the point. Photini is a person who is hurting. Photini is a person in need. Photini is a tragic character much like Brandy, the 1972 hit from the band Looking Glass. You know the song… Brandy, you’re a fine girl, what a good wife you would be, but my life, my love, my lady is the sea.

Or like Fantine from Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables who was unjustly fired from her job at the factory and sacrificed her hair, her teeth, her body to provide for her daughter. 

Photini is a tragic character. Photini is hurting. Photini is in the worst circumstances of her life. And Jesus meets her there.