Today is Women's Day. Across the world speeches are made, flowers are distributed, and social media becomes a garden of inspirational quotes written by men who still cannot locate the kitchen sink.
It is a beautiful day.
But as I thought about Women's Day, my mind did not travel to the famous women of the Bible. Not Deborah who judged Israel. Not Esther who saved her people and must have had nerves of steel while doing so.
No.
Today, my mind wanders to a far more controversial lady.
The Samaritan woman at the well.
Now this woman had what polite society calls a complicated life. She had gone through husbands the way some of us go through mobile phones. Upgrades had clearly been happening.
And if the town gossip network of Samaria had existed in the age of WhatsApp, her name would have been permanently trending.
But here she was, walking to the well in the middle of the day. Not in the cool of the morning like respectable women who travel in groups, exchange recipes and discuss whose goat had eaten whose vegetables.
No.
She came alone.
Which tells you something about her courage. Or her reputation. Or both.
And there she met Jesus.
Now there were two very good reasons why that conversation should not have happened. First, she was a Samaritan, and Jews and Samaritans avoided each other with great enthusiasm. Second, she was a woman and respectable rabbis did not sit around wells chatting with women who had complicated marital histories.
But Jesus had never been particularly impressed with social barriers.
Nor is He now.
So, the conversation began.
And the remarkable thing was that this woman was not timid. Bold women are not. She questioned him. Challenged him. Debated theology right there between two buckets.
She obviously was not the quiet obedient type who said yes to everything. She had opinions. Strong ones.
Which is probably why Jesus trusted her with something extraordinary: Living water.
Now watch what happens next.
She arrives quietly with a water pot. She leaves loudly with a message.
The woman who had probably been avoided by half the village suddenly becomes the town’s most enthusiastic public relations officer. She runs back announcing that she may have just met the Messiah.
And the same villagers who had spent years discussing her past now follow her to meet Jesus.
Which tells us something very interesting. People might call them loose, blemished, used.
But know they are honest and truthful.
Look around you, and you will realise there’s truth in what I say.
So today on Women's Day, let the ‘respectable’ speeches continue.
But somewhere out there, there are Samaritan women. Women who have been judged, misunderstood, labelled radical, rebellious, or worse.
But when such Samaritan women, labelled unfairly, find Living Water, they do not merely change their own lives, they change a whole village..!
