Chapter 12:The Centurion, Part Two

When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.

We will take a short intermission from our drama. There has been a significant change in our wayward friend's life and she needs to make some decisions.  We're going to move forward a couple of years before we catch up to her . Let's catch up with our soldier!  There is our soldier.  He's right over there.  Let’s find out what he has discovered since we last saw him.  

Sir!  A word with you.

Ah, my mysterious interrogators.  How have you been?

Still looking for the unusual.  How has your quest been?

Unexpectedly wonderful.

How so?

The man I followed is definitely a threat, but not to Rome.  He threatens the way we see the world and how we live in it.

And...?

And he has changed me forever. I have seen magicians and holy men do seemingly amazing things.  They work with great fanfare and show.  Sometimes what they do is real.  Most of it is not.  But this man... With just a word, he healed someone I cared a great deal for.  No show, no fanfare.  He asked for nothing more than that I would believe.  By his authority, I have a new direction in life.  I know all things are possible and nothing is impossible for me.

And he did all this with a single act?

No, he has done and said much more.  I have been following him for almost three years now, since the time with the baptist.  I have heard him speak again and again.  I have seen him do amazing things, all with humility and in his humanity.  This moment, however, was for me.  To cement something inside me that has been growing steadily.

And that would be?

Faith.  I believe in something greater than what I can see.

We are very happy for you.  I think we will meet again, though.

---

Miracles are wonderful and terrible, all at once.  They are often associated as a product of faith.  If you just believe hard enough, anything can happen.  But miracles have a tendency to set unrealistic expectations and foster a false sense of control over your environment.    Remember this:  While miracles may be a product of faith, they are not the substance of it.  We will meet our centurion again.  It’s time to get back to our drama.

Chapter 11: A family-Act One, Scene Three

Here in Sychar’s marketplace, the day is coming to a close.  The merchants and other townspeople are scattered about, working at various things and chattering among themselves.  Esau arranges his priduce as justifies the latest turn in his busy life to his friend Gad

Esau - Well, it just wasn't working out.  Besides, Deborah is still a fine woman, in her own right.

Gad -And the fact that she still has a large inheritance doesn't hurt either.

Esau -See here, my friend.  It's not like that at all ...

Gad - No.  Of course it isn't.

After a beat they burst out laughing.  

The group of women from the well enter the market 

as the continue their gossip as the enter the town while .

Esther - So how did you do it, Deborah?

Deborah - Why, I was just the perfect, submissive wife.

Esther - No, really.

Deborah - Really.  Before he left for work I submitted the profit I'd made from the grape harvest... from the field my father still owns...that I manage... and that I will inherit...

Rachel - ...that he won't get unless he's married to you.

Esther - Excellent.  Did he grovel.  Please say he groveled.

Deborah - Just like a dog.

Mary bursts onto the scene quite out of breath.  

The women, demonstrating a traditional Sycharian 

gesture of hospitality, spit vehemently on the ground 

and begin hurling scraps of food and insults at her.  

The men turn sheepish.  Some turn their backs.  

A few others smile, wink and nudge each other.  

Mary, in contrast, seems oblivious to their welcome.

Mary - Come ... and see.  Come and... see ...

Esther - Go away, harlot!

Rachel - You're not welcome among decent people!

Mary - No. You don't understand... You must... you must ... (stops and gathers her thoughts) Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?

Gad - The Christ!  Not another one!  He’s just another traveling magician.

Mary  - No.  You don't understand. 

She pauses and looks each man in the eye 

as she delivers the message once again.

Mary - He told me EVERYTHING... I...EVER...DID.  

It was another moment for realizing true power.  

The men get the realization, 

seconds before their wives do.  

Mary smiles a bit too wickedly.

Mary - Come and see.

Chapter 10: A family-Act One, Scene Two

We've left our wayward husband to look into the scene he described:  Jacob’s Well, just outside the town.  It the afternoon of that same day.  A group of women are talking at the well, filling urns with water.  They are gossipy, lighthearted and confident.  A man enters unseen and sits nearby.  He carries himself with the weariness of a constant traveler; a man a long way from home.  He sits on a rock and listens to their conversation.  So will we.

Esther Deborah, you have the patience of Job.  I don't know how you put up with it.

Rachel She has to.  We all do.  But we have our ways to get back what's ours. 

They all laugh

.

Deborah – But you haven’t heard the latest.

Esther – Good news, I hope.

Rachel – Tell us, sister.  Don’t leave us waiting.

Deborah – He came home this morning.

Rachel –  He just walked right in?

Deborah – Like nothing had ever happened...

Esther – You're not serious.

Deborah – ... and started washing his hands and face.

Esther – That's not all he should be washing.  I mean.... he should be washing Deborah’s feet

Rachel – Oh, of course. 

Rachel winks and the rest of the women grin.

Deborah – Then he kisses the children and says, "I'm off to work.  I'll be home for dinner." Then he takes my hand and gives me those eyes.  "We'll talk later," he says.

Esther – So you'll take him back?

Deborah –Of course.  He's a good provider.  And like you said:  we have our ways.

Rachel – Make him grovel, Deborah!

Esther – Like the dog he is.

Deborah – Yes... just like a dog.

Esther – But what about that woman?

Deborah – What about her?  Have you seen her lately?  She's not what she was when she took my husband, just like she wasn't what she claimed when she came to Sychar.  She'll not be stealing many more husbands here.  In fact, I don't expect the town will allow her to stay much longer.  

All – That’s right!

The traveler watches as they gather their 

jugs and leave.  Mary enters shortly after carrying her urn.  

She looks around to see if she's alone and then begins filling the urn.  

The traveler observes her quietly for a moment,  and smiles as 

though recognizing a long-lost relative.  He calls out to her.

Traveler – May I have a drink?

Mary –  Oh!  I didn't see you there.  Wait.... You’re a Jew, aren’t you?  I am a Samaritan.  You are not supposed to be talking with me.  How can you ask me for a drink? 

Traveler – If you knew who I was and what I can offer you, you would have asked me and I would have given you living water.

Mary – I don’t understand.  You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water?   (Proudly) Just who do you think you are, anyway.  Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?

The traveler comes over to the well and 

looks down into its depths.  He shrugs, unimpressed.

Traveler – Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks my water will never thirst again.  If fact, my water will become in him a spring of water overflowing with eternal life.

Real prophets are in short supply in Palestine, 

but Mary knew they are capable of great miracles.

Mary – (mumbling to herself) If I can win his favor, he might be able to get God to give me my own well.  I would never have to come here again.  I could open my own inn.  I could leave this town.  (angrily) I wouldn't need anybody ... not even a husband!

Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.

Traveler – First, go get your husband and come back.

Mary – I ... I have no husband.

Traveler –Yes, I know.  The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband.  It's quite true, isn't it.

Mary has often been unclothed in front of a man, 

but she has never felt naked as she did now. 

She stammers and tries to change the subject.

Mary – Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.  

Searching for lost piety, she grasps for a fig leaf.

Mary – Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem...

Traveler – I am too weary to continue this dance.  Listen to me.  Soon you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  You Samaritans really don't know what you worship, but we do, for salvation comes from the Jews.  But today true worshipers are worshipping the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. 

She believes she is safe now, hidden behind a 

false robe of religion.  It is time to close 

this conversation and move on.  There will be be no 

miraculous provision this time.  Or so she thinks.

Mary -- I know that Messiah is coming.  When he comes, he will explain everything to us.

Traveler– The Messiah is talking to you now. 

When confronted by real power, it often takes a moment 

to come to full acceptance.  It takes Mary a full five seconds.  

She gasps and stares, open-mouthed, 

not realizing that the Traveler's friends are approaching.  

They are surprised to find him talking with this 

woman and begin to question him about her.  
Seeing an opportunity to escape this uncomfortable 

moment, she flees, leaving the very symbol of her 

shame and imprisonment in Sychar: her water jar.  

She runs for the marketplace

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.