Chapter 9: A Family, Act One, Scene One

So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour when a Samaritan woman came to draw water.

  The greatest enemy of faith is each other.  We tend to look at others as resources or challenges when we should be looking at them as fellow travelers.  Our inability to see our people as people is the single largest barrier to and individuals ability to achieve that vision that leads to faith.  We are seemingly intent on keeping each other in check, rather than encouraging each other to success.

  We’re about to visit with a woman that you may actually know quite well.  She’s the subject of many of your more important life lessons, yet  you probably have never really noticed her.  Let me tell you a little about her. 

  She has a brother and a sister.  In youth, both sisters were lovely, flirtatious and full of life.  One day the younger one said, "Brother, I have found someone I can make into my image of a man.  Give me my dowery from our estate, so I may marry him."  And though the older sister had not yet married, he did as she asked.  

  So, the young woman married.  But it was not long before she grew bored with this man she had made and returned to her flirtatious ways.  That vexed her husband beyond pliability and he divorced her, returning to her what was left of the dowery.  Now that she had shamed herself and the family, she got together all she had, and set off for a distant country that cared little about the religious issues of divorce.  There she married again ... and again ... and again.   

  Several years later, she finds herself unmarried, not as lively and lovely as she once was, and her wealth squandered by her own choice.  She longs for companionship, intimacy and commitment, but no one gives her anything.  It is a desperate time.  She lives now in a small home in a relatively large but unimpressive city.      

  We’re standing outside that home now.  There is a man emerging.  He is clearly frustrated.  He stands with hands on hips, a deep scowl on his face.  

Good Morning, sir.

Not from where I’m standing.

The day not starting our as anticipated?

Hardly.

What seems to be the problem?

All I wanted was some water to wash my face and get ready for the morning.

Seems reasonable.

I thought so.  Yet she throws me out. 

Are you sure there wasn’t any other rmotive behind her anger?

Oh, he said something about not being able to go to the well in the morning.

Why’s that?

Because she says the other women hate her.

That's a strong statement.

Yeah, well... she has this ...habit.

What habit?  

Taking other women’s husbands.

That could wear out one’s welcome in a small community pretty quick.

I suppose.

So why did you marry her?

I didn’t.  I’m married to someone else.

Oh.

Hey, I’m only human.  Oops!  Gotta go.

  The woman emerges from the home, disheveled and grumpy. As she adjusts her clothing and pushes her hair away from her face, we see a still lovely but once beautiful woman.  She is not what she was, but has not yet become what she sees herself to be.  She watches the man hurrying down the street and gives him a stare that could melt lead.  She knows the signs and stages of relationships.  She recognized the death rattle for this relationship.  She ambles about  briefly, picks up a pitcher, wraps her arms around it, then slumps into a chair.  She buries her hands in her face.  This seems to be a private moment and we have some other people to meet.