September 18, 2023 • 17 mins
What if the greatest satisfaction you've been seeking is not in material wealth, but in a divine encounter? Imagine Jesus, breaking the barriers of his time and reaching out to a Samaritan woman, an outcast, to quench her spiritual thirst. This episode will take you on a deep exploration of the story of Jesus and the Woman at the Well, shedding light on the societal norms of that time, and how Jesus challenged them. We, your hosts, Jordan Whiteko, Father Andrew Hamilton, and Father Christopher Pujol, aim to bring to you a fresh understanding of this tale and what it signifies about God's boundless mercy.
Now, let's break down the well-known phrase, "God is love". Are we taking its profound implications for granted? As we grapple with this query, we’ll share insights on how the immense love of God reaches out to us, especially during our deepest struggles. We’ll discuss how Christ meets us at the nadir of our lives and how these special encounters can alter us in profound ways. Moreover, we’ll reflect on the idea that, in a world overflowing with material wealth, the true meaning of life is unearthed in God. This episode is a gentle reminder, a nudge, to never hesitate to turn to Jesus during tribulations.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jordan Whiteko (00:00):
You're listening to the Catholic Accent Podcast.
In this podcast, we discuss theacts and miracles that Jesus
performed that stunned hisdisciples.
Today's topic is the Woman atthe Well.
I'm Jordan Waiko, along withFather Andrew Hamilton and
Father Christopher Pujol.
Ready guys, ready, and we'reback, just kidding.
Fr. Chris Pujol (00:23):
Thanks Jordan for that round of applause.
Jordan Whiteko (00:26):
In our studio.
Okay, let's just jump right in.
The Woman at the Well.
I know the stunned disciplescome a little bit later, so set
the stage of who the woman atthe well is In the gospel.
The disciples were surprisedthat Jesus was talking to her.
Fr. Chris Pujol (00:41):
Oh, everyone would have been because you know
she first of all was aSamaritan and even before we get
into her questionable livingsituation, Now, can you explain
first what a Samaritan?
Absolutely so.
The Samaritans were an offshootof the Jewish people and they
intermarried with theirconquerors when Rome came in,
(01:03):
and so they weren't clean.
They weren't seen to be cleanby your mainstream Jews.
They had their own temple.
They didn't worship with them,they did their own sacrifices,
so it was almost like twoparallel religions.
But they were definitely seenas lower people, unclean and
your average.
You could not contact them.
It's like two rival highschools.
(01:24):
They really hate each other.
Jordan Whiteko (01:26):
It's like valiant.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (01:28):
One of the ways that we would know this,
too, is because, for example,when they would go on pilgrimage
to Jerusalem, which you had toat the main feasts of the year
in the Jewish calendar, theJewish people in Galilee, where
Jesus was from, would go around.
They'd go across the JordanRiver, jordan, and then down and
then they would come back upthrough Jericho.
So we know basically exactlywhere John the Baptist was
(01:49):
baptized, because that's Jesuscoming up through there and then
up to Jerusalem.
But they would go aroundSamaria.
Fr. Chris Pujol (01:55):
So they literally take a long route
around Samaria so as not to cometo them, just so they didn't
even come to get close to it.
Jordan Whiteko (01:59):
All right, thank you.
Fr. Chris Pujol (02:01):
Go on.
Jordan Whiteko (02:03):
Explain who she is and why they would be
surprised Jesus was coming.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (02:06):
She had an interesting past, as Father had
alluded to.
She was building the scenethere.
Fr. Chris Pujol (02:11):
She would be what we would say a little
promiscuous Gotcha, butsomething that should give pause
, I think and Father feel freeto chime in she's going to the
well in the middle of the day.
Now we're in Israel, it's hot.
I mean, we've been havingrecord heat waves here right,
(02:32):
and here she is out in thedesert going for water at the
hottest point of the day.
Anyone else would have gonefirst thing in the morning or in
the evening, when it was alittle bit cooler.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (02:44):
So contextually, basically, it's
laying out for us that she'ssomewhat outcast from her peers.
Fr. Chris Pujol (02:50):
Even within the Samaritan group, she's out.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (02:53):
And this would have been work that
basically women had done to goget the water from the well to
then bring back to the home.
So the other women of hersociety seemingly did not want
to associate with her, whetherthey felt guilty by association
or whatever it was, and so shedidn't feel welcome then, and so
that's why she's going towardsthe middle part of the day,
(03:13):
which then leads into herencounter with Jesus, who comes
to the well in the midst of theday, and she was surprised by
Jesus as well.
Jordan Whiteko (03:19):
It wasn't just one.
Fr. Chris Pujol (03:21):
Oh yeah, she would have been very surprised
because really, as a man, heshould not have been alone with
her and she should not have beenalone with him, because they're
not related, there's no contextthere with them.
And yet he goes to her and hewould know that she was an
outcast, not only that she was aSamaritan and he should stay
(03:41):
away, but that she's there byherself.
He should have gone nowherenearby in a cultural context.
And like we see this in today'sculture too.
Right, like we see groups ofpeople that are outcast and we
try to stay away from them, butin reality we're called to reach
out and go to them.
And so this is where Christ issetting that scene for the
Christian mission to go to allpeople.
(04:01):
And so he goes, and it's likegive me a drink of water, I'm
thirsty, like I just got backfrom the beach.
Jordan Whiteko (04:09):
It's the hottest point of the day Like I need
some water and that, like thesands blow and it's hitting you.
Fr. Chris Pujol (04:13):
I was just at the beach and it was blowing one
day and I'm laying there andthe sands pelt me in the face, I
thought, oh, I got to go inside.
Well, this poor woman, she'strying to get a cup of water.
It's going to be all sandy.
And yet Jesus goes and says I'mthirsty.
And what does she do?
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (04:31):
Well, she basically leads right into with
who are you Right?
That would be the first thingthat you would ask somebody
especially, and she already knew, when we get from the
scriptures, that he was Jewish.
So it's playing upon thatinteraction between the Jewish
people and the Samaritans.
Why would you, as a Jew, betalking to me, a Samaritan,
especially Samaritan woman?
(04:51):
And so then Jesus starts tobasically look into her life.
Well, who are you Right?
He kind of flips it around onus.
Often when we ask who God is,we start to learn actually our
own identity through that lensand he's picking up on the fact
that this is just water.
Your thirst will come back.
I'm what you actually want.
That will provide for youforever and you will go without
(05:14):
thirst then.
Fr. Chris Pujol (05:15):
But it doesn't end there.
So, as this whole scene isplaying out, we see that this
ancestral well right, it's thewell of Jacob and the well has
not run dry in a very, very longtime.
And so last episode you wereasking about all this abundance
of wine, and this plays rightinto that, that the abundance of
(05:37):
God doesn't run dry.
But in this life we continue tothirst and we continue to have
those earthly needs that we needmet.
But here Christ is saying tothis woman even though she's not
in communion with him, she'snot in communion with her people
that by drawing on himspiritually and by changing her
(06:00):
life, she will receive the graceas necessary.
And that's the whole point ofthe story, and not that it was
real nice that he shared withthis woman, but it was that
after he realizes and calls herout on her sinfulness, she stops
and her life has changed.
It's that whole experience ofmetanoia, that whole conversion
(06:25):
and there's a risk in both Like.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (06:27):
That's one thing to highlight, certainly
that God takes a risk right.
It says that we share nothingin common as Jews and Samaritans
we were talking about in thelast episode, with the water
jars being for ritual cleansingHuge context that we don't
really get in our modern day.
You had to do certain things tobe ritually clean so that you
could offer sacrifice at thetemple.
Their entire mindset was areligious one, an ancient
(06:50):
Judaism, Whereas, like you know,sadly we kind of have sometimes
people one hour on a Sunday.
That's maybe your religiousattitude or experience.
Fr. Chris Pujol (06:59):
And then these people lived the rest of the
week.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (07:00):
Right, this is what they did, and so if you
couldn't then be ritually cleanto go offer sacrifice, you were
really like in some sense setapart from society, so you
wanted to reconcile that oravoid things that would make you
ritualistically unclean.
Fr. Chris Pujol (07:14):
Being unclean separates you from God and from
your community, and we'll seethis all throughout the
scriptures.
I'm sure, as we continue thisseries, that in every miracle
there's a restoration of theindividual to the community and
the individual to God.
Jordan Whiteko (07:28):
So what was the miracle, if you will, of this
woman at the well with Jesus?
Just that he talked to her.
He knew so much about her andbrought her to the faith.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (07:39):
I think, the acceptance of the community
of her through the message ofJesus.
So whenever she becomes,basically after meeting Jesus
and realizing that he is theMessiah, her going back into the
community that has ostracizedher and doesn't want anything to
do with her, but because of hermessage that she then takes to
them, she becomes a greatproclaimer of the good news and
(08:00):
from there then is accepted backinto the community.
And so that's really themiracle, because with all of her
husbands before in her past andeverything else like that and
baggage, she probably neverbelieved that she would be part
of the community anymore andthat she could have a future
with them.
But yet the Lord provided awaya path, even when it was unseen.
Fr. Chris Pujol (08:20):
And I think today too, we so often we hear
Pope Francis talking aboutaccompaniment and walking with
each other, and this is reallysetting a model for that.
But Bishop Kulik often remindsus that walking with someone
doesn't mean that we walk themover a cliff.
We meet them where they are, wewalk, and then they have to
have that changed experience.
(08:41):
But we can't force that onsomeone, and so you never see in
this passage Jesus forcing thewoman to do anything, but rather
, after that experience ofseeing Christ, her life has
changed, paused, and then shecan change the lives of others.
Jordan Whiteko (09:00):
And I think the quote is Jesus says my food is
to do the will of the one whosent me and to finish his work.
So he's referring what you justsaid, that this is the work of
God.
I'm here to do that work.
Follow me.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (09:15):
Which is a nice contrast, right, that he
says that.
But yet he sent his disciplesto go into town to get food,
presumably for him, right?
So they come back with all thisfood in hand and they're like
oh hey, you know, we got thisfor you.
Fr. Chris Pujol (09:28):
And then he's like look at my new friend and
he's like he's.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (09:31):
Basically, I'm not hungry.
I've already eaten.
This is the work that we'redoing right.
This is the food for thejourney that you're taking,
which is to save souls andpeople that are in maybe the
business of saving souls.
You understand there'ssomething that nourishes your
soul and ministry more thanhaving a really fine meal with a
good steak and a glass of wine,and it's people coming to you
and saying I found Jesus, Ifound something more here and my
(09:54):
life has changed for the better.
Fr. Chris Pujol (09:56):
I can live off of that for weeks on end and
reverse that and see that Christtruly is the food he becomes
the food he becomes theEucharist.
And so, in that he's nowfeeding this woman, he's feeding
with his life, with his mission, with his identity as the Son
of God, and all of this isplaying out in a way that this
(10:20):
is the great difference betweenChristianity and the rest of the
world.
Right, everyone else is man'ssearch for God, but in
Christianity it's God's searchfor man and he's the one who's
looking for us.
Somebody famous said thatbefore.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (10:34):
Yeah, not me.
Jordan Whiteko (10:34):
Don't quote me on that, so that woman becomes a
missionary of Jesus?
Does the woman have a name?
Is there a name?
Fr. Chris Pujol (10:42):
The Samaritan woman, I just was curious.
Jordan Whiteko (10:45):
I didn't want to just keep referring to her as
the woman, if she had a name.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (10:47):
Which in many ways helps to kind of just
say it's like a more wide termthat you read yourself into that
.
Fr. Chris Pujol (10:54):
Man or woman?
Jordan Whiteko (10:56):
Okay, yeah, is she accepted again once she
starts like, or is she stillkind of that outcast?
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (11:02):
They have to see in some way to accept the
message of Jesus, like after hecomes there, like she's
preaching to them, but then,like once they actually
themselves meet the Lord, thenthey realize, like what they've
been missing Absolutely.
And there's a community thatthen forms around that.
Fr. Chris Pujol (11:15):
And we even hear.
You know, the Samaritans beganto believe because of the
woman's testimony, and so if youlook at it like in a courtroom,
right, the Samaritan communitybecomes the jury.
And somehow now this testimonyof the woman is showing them
that not only she's been changed, but their lives are going to
(11:37):
be changed when they come torecognize who Jesus is.
And then the most scandalouspart is this woman.
The community that can havenothing to do with Jesus or his
disciples or your average Jewishcommunity, says to him come and
stay with us.
And what's he do?
Sure, I'd love to.
(11:58):
I mean, that would have blownthe disciples minds.
And guess what?
None of them became uncleanbecause they had community with
each other.
He's taking the laws of thetime and showing that that's not
the end will be.
Oh yes, they're important and Ithink the whole point of law.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (12:20):
Right is kind of you need these
guardrails when you're kind of alittle bit of a swerve.
Fr. Chris Pujol (12:24):
Just like when father drives.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (12:26):
Yeah, a little bit of the wedding yeah
after the wedding again.
But so, basically, when you'reyoung, you know and you don't
have the skills, you needsomething to kind of hone you in
.
Fr. Chris Pujol (12:36):
Just like good parents right.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (12:37):
It's like the bumpers on, like if you're
at a bowling alley get yourselfa little bit of confidence with
the bumpers.
it gets you down the lane andthen, when you come to a better,
mature, fuller sense of bowling, you don't need them anymore
and you're throwing strikes.
So this is what Jesus is doingwith the law that the law was
placed for an immature Israelthat needed all of these things,
and to help them, and then nowthey have to see what the law
(12:58):
was actually for, which wasguiding them towards the
principle of gathering thenations together To himself
because Christ is the law.
Fr. Chris Pujol (13:05):
The last line of this passage is so critical
Because it's not the Jewishpeople recognizing who Jesus is,
but it's this outcast group whosays quote this truly is the
savior of the world.
They've seen now the completionof the covenants and they see
(13:26):
him as the one who is the law,the prophets altogether, while
his own people continue toreject him.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (13:33):
I think it's like tongue in cheek
sometimes from.
John and some of the otherwriters that what's given as
examples of faith in Christ arepeople that would be least
likely to accept the message orthey're outside of what is the
house of Israel or understandingof people, and so they kind of
shame those Jewish believersthat grew up with Jesus that are
around them all the time, thatthe familiarity has led to.
Jordan Whiteko (13:56):
The woman from the well was amazed by Jesus.
When have you been amazed byJesus that you want to share the
good news with others?
Fr. Chris Pujol (14:05):
I think every morning I'm amazed.
Some days I wake up and thinkhow could this kid be a priest
now?
And I know Father probablythinks similar.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (14:14):
Do you?
Yeah for sure.
Yeah, I didn't see myself beinga priest whatsoever.
I was amazed by, like, thesimplest line, which also comes
from the Gospel of John right,god is love essentially, and
that's something in catechismyou're taught and it's told you
all the time and it's like, okay, what's that really mean?
It becomes cliche.
You hear it so often.
Which cliches are somethingthat has a truth to it, but it's
(14:36):
said so often that you justdiscard it essentially.
And for me, the great love ofGod reaching out, as Father
Chris talked about before, thatGod comes into this world so as
to be with us and try to save us, even though he doesn't need to
.
God's perfect in himself,doesn't need us, but rather
comes into this world to raiseus up, even in the midst of
suffering, taking that on forhimself.
(14:57):
That's what changed my life,and so from there, that's where
I start to pray, that's where Istart to actually talk to people
about Jesus and not thinkreligion is just like some weird
thing that people that needmental help do or something else
like that, right.
Fr. Chris Pujol (15:11):
It's not like a self-help group or yeah, just
like a club for us to hang outin and ring bells and burn
incense, but it's alife-changing reality and I
think for me, every day thereare moments that stun you right,
whether it's in theconfessional saying mass or
simply encountering someone onthe street.
(15:32):
And then, when you start toreally live out the gospel, you
start to encounter Christ inthese profound ways, just like
the woman at the well met.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (15:42):
Christ, and I think the woman at the well
meets Jesus at a low point inher life, and I'm big on this,
that sometimes, even in themidst of darkness, you meet the
light of the world and you findyour way forward.
And I think that that's reallytrue and speaks to a culture
where we seemingly haveeverything that we would need.
We're the most material wealthycountry in the history of the
world, in the United States, andwhat are people still doing?
(16:04):
Looking for meaning.
It's obviously not found inmoney, it's not found in things
that we could possess or have.
It's found in God, and so wehave to have kind of this
religious reawakening to lookback to the person that really
matters in the midst of all ofthis world, which is Jesus
himself, who then gives us ourmission and from there we have a
purpose and we have to stoprunning from those dark moments.
Fr. Chris Pujol (16:26):
You know, we overmedicate ourselves just so
we don't have to feel thatdarkness or feel alone.
But it's in those very momentsthat Christ came for and that's
where he wants to seek andthat's where we can reach out
and find him so immensely, witha great love and a great hope.
But I think also we have torealize too that Jesus, through
(16:49):
this woman, is showing us thatwe should never be ashamed.
We should have a feeling ofmaybe regret, a feeling knowing
that we did something wrong.
But there's an inherent dignityto us as people, as sons and
daughters of God, and so weshould never be ashamed to go to
him in our problems, even whenit seems that everyone has cast
(17:12):
us out.
It's that great point of.
He'll accept you, and then weaccept him, and then the great
love story continues.
You're listening to the Catholic Accent Podcast.
In this podcast, we discuss theacts and miracles that Jesus
performed that stunned hisdisciples.
Today's topic is the Woman atthe Well.
I'm Jordan Waiko, along withFather Andrew Hamilton and
Father Christopher Pujol.
Ready guys, ready, and we'reback, just kidding.
Fr. Chris Pujol (00:23):
Thanks Jordan for that round of applause.
Jordan Whiteko (00:26):
In our studio.
Okay, let's just jump right in.
The Woman at the Well.
I know the stunned disciplescome a little bit later, so set
the stage of who the woman atthe well is In the gospel.
The disciples were surprisedthat Jesus was talking to her.
Fr. Chris Pujol (00:41):
Oh, everyone would have been because you know
she first of all was aSamaritan and even before we get
into her questionable livingsituation, Now, can you explain
first what a Samaritan?
Absolutely so.
The Samaritans were an offshootof the Jewish people and they
intermarried with theirconquerors when Rome came in,
(01:03):
and so they weren't clean.
They weren't seen to be cleanby your mainstream Jews.
They had their own temple.
They didn't worship with them,they did their own sacrifices,
so it was almost like twoparallel religions.
But they were definitely seenas lower people, unclean and
your average.
You could not contact them.
It's like two rival highschools.
(01:24):
They really hate each other.
Jordan Whiteko (01:26):
It's like valiant.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (01:28):
One of the ways that we would know this,
too, is because, for example,when they would go on pilgrimage
to Jerusalem, which you had toat the main feasts of the year
in the Jewish calendar, theJewish people in Galilee, where
Jesus was from, would go around.
They'd go across the JordanRiver, jordan, and then down and
then they would come back upthrough Jericho.
So we know basically exactlywhere John the Baptist was
(01:49):
baptized, because that's Jesuscoming up through there and then
up to Jerusalem.
But they would go aroundSamaria.
Fr. Chris Pujol (01:55):
So they literally take a long route
around Samaria so as not to cometo them, just so they didn't
even come to get close to it.
Jordan Whiteko (01:59):
All right, thank you.
Fr. Chris Pujol (02:01):
Go on.
Jordan Whiteko (02:03):
Explain who she is and why they would be
surprised Jesus was coming.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (02:06):
She had an interesting past, as Father had
alluded to.
She was building the scenethere.
Fr. Chris Pujol (02:11):
She would be what we would say a little
promiscuous Gotcha, butsomething that should give pause
, I think and Father feel freeto chime in she's going to the
well in the middle of the day.
Now we're in Israel, it's hot.
I mean, we've been havingrecord heat waves here right,
(02:32):
and here she is out in thedesert going for water at the
hottest point of the day.
Anyone else would have gonefirst thing in the morning or in
the evening, when it was alittle bit cooler.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (02:44):
So contextually, basically, it's
laying out for us that she'ssomewhat outcast from her peers.
Fr. Chris Pujol (02:50):
Even within the Samaritan group, she's out.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (02:53):
And this would have been work that
basically women had done to goget the water from the well to
then bring back to the home.
So the other women of hersociety seemingly did not want
to associate with her, whetherthey felt guilty by association
or whatever it was, and so shedidn't feel welcome then, and so
that's why she's going towardsthe middle part of the day,
(03:13):
which then leads into herencounter with Jesus, who comes
to the well in the midst of theday, and she was surprised by
Jesus as well.
Jordan Whiteko (03:19):
It wasn't just one.
Fr. Chris Pujol (03:21):
Oh yeah, she would have been very surprised
because really, as a man, heshould not have been alone with
her and she should not have beenalone with him, because they're
not related, there's no contextthere with them.
And yet he goes to her and hewould know that she was an
outcast, not only that she was aSamaritan and he should stay
(03:41):
away, but that she's there byherself.
He should have gone nowherenearby in a cultural context.
And like we see this in today'sculture too.
Right, like we see groups ofpeople that are outcast and we
try to stay away from them, butin reality we're called to reach
out and go to them.
And so this is where Christ issetting that scene for the
Christian mission to go to allpeople.
(04:01):
And so he goes, and it's likegive me a drink of water, I'm
thirsty, like I just got backfrom the beach.
Jordan Whiteko (04:09):
It's the hottest point of the day Like I need
some water and that, like thesands blow and it's hitting you.
Fr. Chris Pujol (04:13):
I was just at the beach and it was blowing one
day and I'm laying there andthe sands pelt me in the face, I
thought, oh, I got to go inside.
Well, this poor woman, she'strying to get a cup of water.
It's going to be all sandy.
And yet Jesus goes and says I'mthirsty.
And what does she do?
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (04:31):
Well, she basically leads right into with
who are you Right?
That would be the first thingthat you would ask somebody
especially, and she already knew, when we get from the
scriptures, that he was Jewish.
So it's playing upon thatinteraction between the Jewish
people and the Samaritans.
Why would you, as a Jew, betalking to me, a Samaritan,
especially Samaritan woman?
(04:51):
And so then Jesus starts tobasically look into her life.
Well, who are you Right?
He kind of flips it around onus.
Often when we ask who God is,we start to learn actually our
own identity through that lensand he's picking up on the fact
that this is just water.
Your thirst will come back.
I'm what you actually want.
That will provide for youforever and you will go without
(05:14):
thirst then.
Fr. Chris Pujol (05:15):
But it doesn't end there.
So, as this whole scene isplaying out, we see that this
ancestral well right, it's thewell of Jacob and the well has
not run dry in a very, very longtime.
And so last episode you wereasking about all this abundance
of wine, and this plays rightinto that, that the abundance of
(05:37):
God doesn't run dry.
But in this life we continue tothirst and we continue to have
those earthly needs that we needmet.
But here Christ is saying tothis woman even though she's not
in communion with him, she'snot in communion with her people
that by drawing on himspiritually and by changing her
(06:00):
life, she will receive the graceas necessary.
And that's the whole point ofthe story, and not that it was
real nice that he shared withthis woman, but it was that
after he realizes and calls herout on her sinfulness, she stops
and her life has changed.
It's that whole experience ofmetanoia, that whole conversion
(06:25):
and there's a risk in both Like.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (06:27):
That's one thing to highlight, certainly
that God takes a risk right.
It says that we share nothingin common as Jews and Samaritans
we were talking about in thelast episode, with the water
jars being for ritual cleansingHuge context that we don't
really get in our modern day.
You had to do certain things tobe ritually clean so that you
could offer sacrifice at thetemple.
Their entire mindset was areligious one, an ancient
(06:50):
Judaism, Whereas, like you know,sadly we kind of have sometimes
people one hour on a Sunday.
That's maybe your religiousattitude or experience.
Fr. Chris Pujol (06:59):
And then these people lived the rest of the
week.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (07:00):
Right, this is what they did, and so if you
couldn't then be ritually cleanto go offer sacrifice, you were
really like in some sense setapart from society, so you
wanted to reconcile that oravoid things that would make you
ritualistically unclean.
Fr. Chris Pujol (07:14):
Being unclean separates you from God and from
your community, and we'll seethis all throughout the
scriptures.
I'm sure, as we continue thisseries, that in every miracle
there's a restoration of theindividual to the community and
the individual to God.
Jordan Whiteko (07:28):
So what was the miracle, if you will, of this
woman at the well with Jesus?
Just that he talked to her.
He knew so much about her andbrought her to the faith.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (07:39):
I think, the acceptance of the community
of her through the message ofJesus.
So whenever she becomes,basically after meeting Jesus
and realizing that he is theMessiah, her going back into the
community that has ostracizedher and doesn't want anything to
do with her, but because of hermessage that she then takes to
them, she becomes a greatproclaimer of the good news and
(08:00):
from there then is accepted backinto the community.
And so that's really themiracle, because with all of her
husbands before in her past andeverything else like that and
baggage, she probably neverbelieved that she would be part
of the community anymore andthat she could have a future
with them.
But yet the Lord provided awaya path, even when it was unseen.
Fr. Chris Pujol (08:20):
And I think today too, we so often we hear
Pope Francis talking aboutaccompaniment and walking with
each other, and this is reallysetting a model for that.
But Bishop Kulik often remindsus that walking with someone
doesn't mean that we walk themover a cliff.
We meet them where they are, wewalk, and then they have to
have that changed experience.
(08:41):
But we can't force that onsomeone, and so you never see in
this passage Jesus forcing thewoman to do anything, but rather
, after that experience ofseeing Christ, her life has
changed, paused, and then shecan change the lives of others.
Jordan Whiteko (09:00):
And I think the quote is Jesus says my food is
to do the will of the one whosent me and to finish his work.
So he's referring what you justsaid, that this is the work of
God.
I'm here to do that work.
Follow me.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (09:15):
Which is a nice contrast, right, that he
says that.
But yet he sent his disciplesto go into town to get food,
presumably for him, right?
So they come back with all thisfood in hand and they're like
oh hey, you know, we got thisfor you.
Fr. Chris Pujol (09:28):
And then he's like look at my new friend and
he's like he's.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (09:31):
Basically, I'm not hungry.
I've already eaten.
This is the work that we'redoing right.
This is the food for thejourney that you're taking,
which is to save souls andpeople that are in maybe the
business of saving souls.
You understand there'ssomething that nourishes your
soul and ministry more thanhaving a really fine meal with a
good steak and a glass of wine,and it's people coming to you
and saying I found Jesus, Ifound something more here and my
(09:54):
life has changed for the better.
Fr. Chris Pujol (09:56):
I can live off of that for weeks on end and
reverse that and see that Christtruly is the food he becomes
the food he becomes theEucharist.
And so, in that he's nowfeeding this woman, he's feeding
with his life, with his mission, with his identity as the Son
of God, and all of this isplaying out in a way that this
(10:20):
is the great difference betweenChristianity and the rest of the
world.
Right, everyone else is man'ssearch for God, but in
Christianity it's God's searchfor man and he's the one who's
looking for us.
Somebody famous said thatbefore.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (10:34):
Yeah, not me.
Jordan Whiteko (10:34):
Don't quote me on that, so that woman becomes a
missionary of Jesus?
Does the woman have a name?
Is there a name?
Fr. Chris Pujol (10:42):
The Samaritan woman, I just was curious.
Jordan Whiteko (10:45):
I didn't want to just keep referring to her as
the woman, if she had a name.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (10:47):
Which in many ways helps to kind of just
say it's like a more wide termthat you read yourself into that
.
Fr. Chris Pujol (10:54):
Man or woman?
Jordan Whiteko (10:56):
Okay, yeah, is she accepted again once she
starts like, or is she stillkind of that outcast?
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (11:02):
They have to see in some way to accept the
message of Jesus, like after hecomes there, like she's
preaching to them, but then,like once they actually
themselves meet the Lord, thenthey realize, like what they've
been missing Absolutely.
And there's a community thatthen forms around that.
Fr. Chris Pujol (11:15):
And we even hear.
You know, the Samaritans beganto believe because of the
woman's testimony, and so if youlook at it like in a courtroom,
right, the Samaritan communitybecomes the jury.
And somehow now this testimonyof the woman is showing them
that not only she's been changed, but their lives are going to
(11:37):
be changed when they come torecognize who Jesus is.
And then the most scandalouspart is this woman.
The community that can havenothing to do with Jesus or his
disciples or your average Jewishcommunity, says to him come and
stay with us.
And what's he do?
Sure, I'd love to.
(11:58):
I mean, that would have blownthe disciples minds.
And guess what?
None of them became uncleanbecause they had community with
each other.
He's taking the laws of thetime and showing that that's not
the end will be.
Oh yes, they're important and Ithink the whole point of law.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (12:20):
Right is kind of you need these
guardrails when you're kind of alittle bit of a swerve.
Fr. Chris Pujol (12:24):
Just like when father drives.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (12:26):
Yeah, a little bit of the wedding yeah
after the wedding again.
But so, basically, when you'reyoung, you know and you don't
have the skills, you needsomething to kind of hone you in
.
Fr. Chris Pujol (12:36):
Just like good parents right.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (12:37):
It's like the bumpers on, like if you're
at a bowling alley get yourselfa little bit of confidence with
the bumpers.
it gets you down the lane andthen, when you come to a better,
mature, fuller sense of bowling, you don't need them anymore
and you're throwing strikes.
So this is what Jesus is doingwith the law that the law was
placed for an immature Israelthat needed all of these things,
and to help them, and then nowthey have to see what the law
(12:58):
was actually for, which wasguiding them towards the
principle of gathering thenations together To himself
because Christ is the law.
Fr. Chris Pujol (13:05):
The last line of this passage is so critical
Because it's not the Jewishpeople recognizing who Jesus is,
but it's this outcast group whosays quote this truly is the
savior of the world.
They've seen now the completionof the covenants and they see
(13:26):
him as the one who is the law,the prophets altogether, while
his own people continue toreject him.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (13:33):
I think it's like tongue in cheek
sometimes from.
John and some of the otherwriters that what's given as
examples of faith in Christ arepeople that would be least
likely to accept the message orthey're outside of what is the
house of Israel or understandingof people, and so they kind of
shame those Jewish believersthat grew up with Jesus that are
around them all the time, thatthe familiarity has led to.
Jordan Whiteko (13:56):
The woman from the well was amazed by Jesus.
When have you been amazed byJesus that you want to share the
good news with others?
Fr. Chris Pujol (14:05):
I think every morning I'm amazed.
Some days I wake up and thinkhow could this kid be a priest
now?
And I know Father probablythinks similar.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (14:14):
Do you?
Yeah for sure.
Yeah, I didn't see myself beinga priest whatsoever.
I was amazed by, like, thesimplest line, which also comes
from the Gospel of John right,god is love essentially, and
that's something in catechismyou're taught and it's told you
all the time and it's like, okay, what's that really mean?
It becomes cliche.
You hear it so often.
Which cliches are somethingthat has a truth to it, but it's
(14:36):
said so often that you justdiscard it essentially.
And for me, the great love ofGod reaching out, as Father
Chris talked about before, thatGod comes into this world so as
to be with us and try to save us, even though he doesn't need to
.
God's perfect in himself,doesn't need us, but rather
comes into this world to raiseus up, even in the midst of
suffering, taking that on forhimself.
(14:57):
That's what changed my life,and so from there, that's where
I start to pray, that's where Istart to actually talk to people
about Jesus and not thinkreligion is just like some weird
thing that people that needmental help do or something else
like that, right.
Fr. Chris Pujol (15:11):
It's not like a self-help group or yeah, just
like a club for us to hang outin and ring bells and burn
incense, but it's alife-changing reality and I
think for me, every day thereare moments that stun you right,
whether it's in theconfessional saying mass or
simply encountering someone onthe street.
(15:32):
And then, when you start toreally live out the gospel, you
start to encounter Christ inthese profound ways, just like
the woman at the well met.
Fr. Andrew Hamilton (15:42):
Christ, and I think the woman at the well
meets Jesus at a low point inher life, and I'm big on this,
that sometimes, even in themidst of darkness, you meet the
light of the world and you findyour way forward.
And I think that that's reallytrue and speaks to a culture
where we seemingly haveeverything that we would need.
We're the most material wealthycountry in the history of the
world, in the United States, andwhat are people still doing?
(16:04):
Looking for meaning.
It's obviously not found inmoney, it's not found in things
that we could possess or have.
It's found in God, and so wehave to have kind of this
religious reawakening to lookback to the person that really
matters in the midst of all ofthis world, which is Jesus
himself, who then gives us ourmission and from there we have a
purpose and we have to stoprunning from those dark moments.
Fr. Chris Pujol (16:26):
You know, we overmedicate ourselves just so
we don't have to feel thatdarkness or feel alone.
But it's in those very momentsthat Christ came for and that's
where he wants to seek andthat's where we can reach out
and find him so immensely, witha great love and a great hope.
But I think also we have torealize too that Jesus, through
(16:49):
this woman, is showing us thatwe should never be ashamed.
We should have a feeling ofmaybe regret, a feeling knowing
that we did something wrong.
But there's an inherent dignityto us as people, as sons and
daughters of God, and so weshould never be ashamed to go to
him in our problems, even whenit seems that everyone has cast
(17:12):
us out.
It's that great point of.
He'll accept you, and then weaccept him, and then the great
love story continues.
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