AS THE BODY needs food and drink for maintenance of physical life, so even moreso does the spirit need nourishment. On a journey south of Jerusalem, Jesus has had an encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well outside the town. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ disciples had gone into the town to buy food, and left Jesus resting at the well, weary, thirsty, and though not recorded here in scripture, no doubt hungry. The disciples come back, and in response to their offer of food, Jesus answers “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” (John 4:32) They, puzzled, wonder “Could someone have brought him food?” (John 4:33)
The town was known at this time by Samarians as Sychar, but in the O.T. as Shechem, and has an important place in Israel’s history. Here, at the end of Abram’s journey from Haran, “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’” (Gen. 12:7) Here also is located Jacob’s well, where Jesus is now resting, and here Dinah’s rape was avenged by her brothers. (cf. Gen. 34:1-31) And here, after Joshua brought the tribes into the promised land and the Lord had given them victory after victory, “Joshua built on Mt. Ebal an altar to the Lord. In the presence of the Israelites Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law.” (Jos. 8:30-34) Israel renewed their covenant with the Lord, and Shechem became the first capital of Israel.
Here and now, before the disciples return, Jesus overwhelms a woman, now celebrated as St. Photini (the “Luminous One”) by Eastern Orthodox churches, first saying “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14 ) The woman listens, and responds, “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” (John 4:25)
And now, incredibly, here at this dusty desert site backroads site, outside of the realm in which the religious culture is so heavily controlled by the scribes and the Pharisees, with his disciples absent, he is found unexpectedly by a seeker soaked in sin. Or, has he come looking for this particular seemingly unimportant person? Jesus reveals his true self to an outcast woman—he is the long-awaited Messiah. “I who speak to you am he.” (John 4:26) Amazed, “The woman went back to the town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?’” (John 4:28-29)
Then, the words so puzzling to the disciples: “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” (John 4:32) Much later the disciples will remember this and think of the food that Jesus provided in his sacrificial offering: “Take and eat; this is my body. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:26-29) From the Father to the Son; from the Son to his followers.
In the spiritual realm there is a reality not tangible to all, but in fact potentially available to all. To some, who have entered by an unauthorized door, this realm is dark and twisted, and it twists out of shape the life that engages with it, and darkness spreads throughout the interior landscape that is now the habitation of the one who is captured there, deceived by what they have coveted. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:22-23)
Many on the broad road (cf. Matt. 7:13-14) have attempted to steal heaven, only to find themselves in a very dark place with no way out. The food and drink for the spirit of this person is toxic to their soul, and once there, it is the only nourishment available. Such it was with the woman at the well—just another day of trudging out for the daily water to sustain her physical body and that of the man who is not her husband. (cf. John 4:18) In a moment not in time, but out of eternity, and at just the right time, her destiny changes. Imagine those who have known her in all her circumstances as they suddenly hear her speak in a new voice, with a vibrant energy totally inconsistent with her history and personality. ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?’
The food of heaven is the nourishment that the soul and spirit of man is designed for. It is the only food that the Spirit can digest, and the only food that can truly nourish the soul. It is a heaping helping of hope, and the first taste of it realigns the neural pathways of the central nervous system of the physical body, recalibrates all the dopamine receptors in the hippocampus, and re-energizes the endocrine glands to produce, amongst other compounds, serotonin—and from this a feeling of well-being spreads throughout the body. The food of heaven is for Spirit, soul, and body. “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” (Psa. 34:8)
And so it was for “St. Photini,” if indeed her new identity could be so labeled. Earlier in his gospel, John says of Jesus, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” (John 1:4) In a brief encounter with the Lord of Light, her life changed, and because of her excited testimony, so did many others. “And because of his words many more became believers.” (John 4:41) And their testimony also speaks across the ages to us: “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” (John 4:42)
Hearing life-giving words (cf. John 6:68) for ourselves is an essential element of grounding our faith in the bedrock of spiritual reality. Each one of us needs to find a time of ‘just me and Jesus.’ It’s true for our initial salvation, and it’s true for our maturation spiritually.
Don’t be downtown when you should be at the well—you might miss something really important.
Q. How far to the next oasis?
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