Sunday, March 5 - First Sunday in Lent

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water”...The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” (John 4: 7-10, 16-18)

I Have No Husband

I have no husband
And everybody knows
They hurl stones at skin already toughened by their words 
“Slut”
“Whore”
“Easy”
I live with my guard up
So when He asks me for water
A man,
A Jew,
I defend.
Not just “Samaritan;” no,
“Samaritan woman.”
Sexualized, dehumanized, ostracized Samaritan woman.

But His voice is gentle,
And devoid of disgust.
He listens,
He gives me voice.
Slowly I start to peel back the layers,
cleansed of the torment others have afforded me. 
Even when I say those damning words--
“I have no husband”
His calmness continues
and He continues
until my thirst for acceptance and understanding is quenched.


Lauren White 
Gettysburg College