May 10th, 2026: Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

Christ is risen. He is risen. In the name of

the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to God. The Church

has wisely, very carefully, given us this reading

and all the readings that we've been hearing

since, well, every week. But especially since

Pascha, for a specific reason, and that is to

remind us, each of us, about the meaning of our

baptism, what's been given to us. The meaning

of the reception of the Holy Spirit in chrismation

as a gift, the gift of the Spirit. The meaning

of what it is to be joined to the Church, the

body of Christ, with Him at His head. and the

fellowship of one another. The reading from Acts

during this season tells us about the incredible

deeds of the apostles, their travels, the persecutions

that they just went through after the stoning

of Stephen, and the growth of the church, the

explosion, the amazing, amazing gift of God to

this people. This is all a reminder for the newly

baptized and chrismated. This is all a reminder

for those preparing for that awesome event that

will occur to them next week. We have baptisms

then. And this is a reminder, especially for

us, who perhaps have gotten tripped up in life

and are still thirsting for the living water,

that is the gift of the Holy Spirit and the peace

of God in our heart, but have neglected or forgotten.

or set things aside. The Lord is speaking of

living water to this woman. He tells her what

he's going to tell everybody in chapter 7, that

out of her will flow unending grace of God, the

Spirit of God. It's the birth from above, as

Jesus told. in the chapter just before this that

we read. It's not about getting a clean slate

and doing a simple makeover of your life, getting

some icons in an icon corner and changing your

routines about fasting. That's life. That's not

it. It's not life with a grace coupon. It's deeper.

It's spiritually remedial. It's about healing.

To repair what has been marred by our sin. So

we have fellowship with God by becoming a new

creation. A new creation. We hear this so much

that perhaps it just sounds like interesting

spiritual and religious words. But something

new. We not only recover what was lost in Adam

in the Garden of Paradise, but we gain what is

the fullness of Christ, the Word of God. by the

gift of the Spirit. This is worship in spirit

and in truth. The Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ,

the way, the truth, and the life. And all of

this requires a new way of thinking and of acting,

of believing. And it usually doesn't take very

long, speaking of myself, even after such a grueling

spiritual... exercises Lent and Holy Week and

Pascha, by the way, grueling for the egotistical

self. That's what it's grueling for. And the

ego, after all this, begins to reassert itself.

Even though we have drunk deeply of God's grace

during the fast and the feasts and Pascha, which

provides us with a way to overcome this self

that just keeps wanting to come back. And tell

us, relax. God is merciful. That's true. But

relax. And we miss out. Today we hear the account

of how Christ comes to a well in the heat of

the day. And he's tired. And he's thirsty. And

the disciples go off to find some food. You know,

there's not a mini mart there. And a woman comes

to get water at an odd time of the day for getting

water. She comes alone to get her water. And

one suspects, as we hear the reading go on, the

reason for that, that the women are looking at

her and gossiping about her when she does come

with other people. She's an unconventional woman.

Not only is she a woman, it was not usual for

a man to gauge in a strange woman in conversation.

Although, in the Old Testament, that's exactly

what happens with Moses and his wife to be Zipporah.

That's exactly what happens when Abraham sends

his servant to find a wife for his son. That's

exactly what happens when Jacob falls in love.

And the scripture says, Jacob loved Rachel. Jacob

falls in love with Rachel at a well, at this

well, at Jacob's well. So things are happening

at the well under the surface here, which there's

no time to go into. But it's fascinating and

it's inspiring and it's beautiful because Christ

is reaching this woman. Out of his immeasurable

love for mankind. And for her specifically on

that day. You know, it's hard for us to imagine

what can happen at a well. Because how many people,

don't have to show your hands, get their water

from a well every day? We go to the bathroom

or the sink in the kitchen and we turn it on.

There it is. That's beautiful. I'm very grateful

for that. I'm not saying we shouldn't do that.

In the scriptures, that well, and in the old

world, that well, that fountain, that spring

that's coming out. My wife and I were in Macedonia

and Serbia. Every village had a beautiful place

where spring water would come out, and it was

completely pure. And it's a gathering place.

It's where people meet one another. It's where

this woman knows that the ladies are going to

be gossiping about her. five husbands, and the

one she has now is not her husband. And something

amazing was happening in that world with Jesus.

Since he is eternal and his love is eternal,

you know, we can share. This is not just a story

of history, sacred history. This is a story to

enlighten and illumine us about what we can also

acquire. Our Savior is love. God is love, wrote

St. John. And all his interactions come from

his infinite love. So he can safely reveal to

Fotini, that's the woman's name, she becomes

a martyr for Christ, and reveal to millions of

others that he knows her. He knows her life.

He knows you. He knows the disarray of our life.

He knows our sorrows, our wounds, our broken

hopes. He knows our failures. And when Christ

reveals that he knows this, she does not become

insulted and offended. On this fourth Sunday

of Pascha, this noble, incredible woman is our

example. Her graciousness, asking Christ more.

Yes, she deflects a little. Oh, you're a prophet.

And she starts asking about religious things.

And Jesus brings it back to her. But she's gracious.

She accepts without offense. She's humble. And

those who are humble can receive the word of

God. She has joy. She's our example of joy. When

she learns that he is the Messiah, she runs and

tells her kinfolk and all her friends in that

village of Sychar. Her desire to share with others

was infectious because she knew the truth and

he was sitting there on the edge of that well.

There's a fresco right there in which you can

contemplate just a little bit. And she's our

example for her courage to accept what Christ

said. You know, Christ himself will die on the

cross for her sins, for her salvation. And she

died for him, too, as a witness of that crucifixion

and that resurrection. This is amazing courage

this woman has. And just as Jesus spoke to her

about living water pouring out of her, this is

God's light, his personal love for us. And this

light... Yes, will give us joy, but the first

thing this light will do, as I tell all the catechumens

in the chapter that we have on sin, this light

will reveal the sordidness of our fallen and

sinful condition. And we can change. Whereas

without Christ, an awareness would cause us to

be paralyzed and useless, with Christ we have

hope. We have expectation of being filled with

more of the Spirit of God. We are pulled here

and there, aren't we? So we don't bother to sit

at the well at prayer. It's simple, brothers

and sisters. Saturate yourself, says the elder.

Father John Kristyankin of Russia, the modern

elder. Saturate yourselves, dear friends, with

the water of life, he says. Approach Christ,

its source, and approach in spirit and in truth.

It's simple to acquire. It's prayer. It's love

of neighbor. It's keeping the commandments. And

it's love of God. It's simple to acquire. Our

parish should be like that well. where that woman

was. And we are all like that woman. We're seeking

more. But we've also been given the illumination.

The word, their name, Futini, means the illumined

one. So we congratulate Futini and Svetlana on

their name day. Those that bear the name Claire.

Our parish should be like that well of Jacob

where Jesus met the woman, a place where a sinner

meets Christ who is the truth and learns what

repentance is by the Spirit, learns what joy

is, learns what grief, learns knowledge. I hope

this parish can be like Jacob's well, a place

of encounter with Christ. You can go many places,

my dear friends. You can try to worship God.

When Jesus speaks to this woman about worship,

they're speaking about the worship of a lamb,

a sheep, or a bird, whatever, in the temple.

Jesus is speaking of a new worship. That is what

we have here in the Orthodox Church, the fullness

of the Christian life, the fullness of the Christian

worship, and the fullness of the Christian belief

and doctrine. enabling us to worship God in spirit

and in truth and not to leave here empty with

just a lot of sermons. No, we have these divine

services. They're called divine because they're

infused with the grace of God. And as we stand

in church and we hear those prayers, our hearts

are lifted up. Or perhaps we're convicted of

our sin and we have sorrow and we offer that

to God. And then we come and we receive his holy

body and blood. And the Spirit that we have called

down at the altar, all of us, again, we pray

to thee, O Lord. Send thy Holy Spirit upon us

and upon these gifts here set forth. And make

this bread the body of thy Christ. Make that

which is in this cup the blood of the... And

through the Spirit, we are not only illumined,

we are fed. And that grace of God, we will never

be thirsty for anything else except for that.

To our Lord, who has revealed himself to us,

be glory and honor now and ever, to ages of ages.

Christ is risen.