"The Samaritan Woman at the Well"

by Dr. Larry Fraher, Ph.D.  |  03/11/2023  |  Images of Faith

Sébastien Bourdon’s Christ and the Samaritan Woman offers us an interesting depiction of the story. Where most others focus on the first interactions between the woman and Christ, this painting focuses on the post-encounter events presenting the Samaritan woman as the evangelist for her village. Seen in blue and white, standing next to the reclining Christ, she is pointing Him out to those from the town who have come to see Jesus. The apostles observe, gathered together in the lower left corner of the painting, John in the red, and Peter in the white, seemingly disinterested and facing the viewer as he pulls at a loaf of bread.

On the lower right are several women who have come to see this man, one carries a child while in her arms as another points out the interaction between the Samaritan woman and Christ. In the center of the painting are the men of the town, presumably leaders, who stand before Christ and the woman realizing the truth of her testimony. The background of the painting offers a presentation of the gospel amid a 17th century classical French landscape that frames the action and draws the eyes to the central characters.

Bourdon, who was a Calvinist, attempts to portray the very personal experience and subsequent evangelizing work of the woman. The artist’s own faith focuses on an individual encounter with Christ that empowers to evangelization. She has gone to tell others of the encounter, now they come to see for themselves. Standing before her peers, she points the way to Christ. He had told her everything she had ever done; she has come to know her need for this One who is also “Living Water.” Through her experience, God has revealed the promised Messiah and now she proclaims to the others, “come and meet the man who told me everything I have done.” Reactions are varied, some question while others seem ready and willing accept her testimony, coming to believe for themselves. The Church offers us this reading as we move toward Easter and prepare those in RCIA who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil. Just as the Samaritan woman, those to be Baptized, and all of us must ask of Christ: “Give us living water.”

The image and text invite us to reflect: Who points me to Christ? What do I thirst for? Am I willing to discover how Christ can fulfill my thirsts? How might I become a person who points others to Christ? Through my attachment to Him, what might I do to share ‘Living Water’ in a thirsty world?