Meditations from Zion

John 4:9
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

A couple of weeks ago, Mike and I watched the movie, Being John Malkovich. Now, that’s a strange film, but intriguing. Today, I began wondering what it would be like to inside the head of the Samaritan woman.

I have known what it feels like to be an outcast. As a first generation Latvian, I never felt part of the American community as a child. My father didn’t speak English and my mother had a pronounced accent. We were different. I did everything I could to blend in. On the converse, I wasn’t particularly accepted into the Latvian community either. My father died when I was nine and my mother raised my brother and me as a single mom. I discovered (years later) that she wasn’t really embraced by the Latvians after my father died because she was half German. She was on her own until other women became widows and sought her out for advice. So, while she was ostracized (for both her heritage and her widowhood), so were we.

In the end, both my brother and I became over achievers in an effort to find place. But, much like the Samaritan woman, I was still desperate for relationships. Before I met the Christ, I wandered in and out one relationship after another. Thankfully I didn’t marry each of them, but there is one divorce in my history.

By the time I met Jesus, I needed what she needed: acceptance, renewal, hope, connection, promise, change, transformation.

Upon my conversion, I found no need for drugs or alcohol, that was amazing. I even quit smoking. And then, I tried the great experiment, I became celibate. (Big discovery: those guys weren’t dating me for my mind.) And so, it was just Jesus and me. What a honeymoon.

I wonder why we never learn the Samaritan woman’s name. Perhaps she is a metaphor for all women. Perhaps the details are different, but the feelings and thoughts are ours. I’m glad Jesus was direct with her, telling her specifically who He was. I needed that too. And I believed Him. Thanks be to God.