Orthodox churches this past Sunday commemorated the account of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman he talked to at Jacob’s Well. The account is in John 4:5-42. One of the hymns the Orthodox sang on that day is filled with vivid images, metaphors that illustrate the significance of that meeting.
Jesus met the Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well
He wraps the earth in clouds, yet He asks for water from her
O wonder! He who rides the cherubim speaks with an adulterous woman
He Who suspended the earth on the waters asks for a drink
He Who causes the lakes and springs to overflow is weary with thirst
Truly, He desires to set the woman free from the enemy’s snares
He drowns her sins in the Waters of Life
For He alone is the compassionate lover of man.
The imagery compares the Christian belief that Jesus was divine with the very human, and in that social context, surprising, thing he was doing at that moment. A man would not have directly addressed a woman he didn’t know, in public, in that culture (and given the different social groups they belonged to), even less asked for a drink of water. Placed side by side in the words of the hymn, these words illustrate the concept that God speaks to people. The hymn uses literary devices to show that God is near and not far, present, not removed. Also, the One Who created lakes and springs was thirsty and needed a drink, speaking to the full humanity and simultaneous divinity of Jesus. The water metaphor continues but shifts. At the end of the hymn, the drink receiver becomes the life-giving water (of baptism) giver.
Beautiful words and images are all around. You can appreciate and be enriched by the literary in many different contexts and many different activities, such as devotion.
