The God who Approaches First:
Christ and the Samaritan Woman

by Assoc. Professor Philip Kariatlis (Sub-Dean)

The Fifth Sunday of Pascha commemorates the profound and remarkable encounter between Christ and a Samaritan woman by the well of Jacob (John 4:5-42). In the Gospel passage, the Lord gently yet deeply elevates a conversation concerning physical thirst into a revelation about “living water.” Indeed, it is this divine and life-giving gift of “living water” which alone can truly quench the ineffable yearnings of the human soul, becoming deep within a “spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (Jn 4: 14). The dialogue in question—notably one of the longest recorded conversations in the Gospels—unfolds not merely as an exchange of words, but as a progressive unveiling of Christ’s true identity, an outpouring of divine Grace, and an invitation—in fact, a “gushing forth”—into the inexhaustible mystery of communion with the living God for all eternity. 

In this sacred encounter, it is crucial to recognise that it is Christ who takes the initiative to open the dialogue with the Samaritan woman, and not the other way around. It is He who first draws near to a wounded and burdened soul weighed down by shame and the brokenness of her past—not to condemn her—but rather to heal and restore, and ultimately to illumine her with the radiant light of divine knowledge. And through this encounter where Christ first extends His ‘hand’, she is ultimately transformed: from a woman weighed down by suffering, She becomes a sanctified soul; from an outcast, she becomes an evangelist; and from one who once dwelt in the shadows of broken relationships, she is transformed into one a witness of the Light of the world. It is precisely for this reason that in the sacred tradition of the Church, she is known by a name both luminous and profound: Ἁγία Φωτεινή—Saint Photini, the Enlightened One.

The significance of this insight—namely, Christ’s initiative to approach the Samaritan woman— which can easily go unnoticed lies precisely in the immeasurable hope that it can provide for every weary and disorientated soul. All of us, and indeed so often through our own ill-fated choices—but also through the inevitable challenges or life, and of course through other personal proclivities and passions—find ourselves estranged from the fullness of life offered in Christ, entangled in a web of complexities from which we feel powerless to escape. We only see impasses and are at a total loss as to how to move beyond these so as to experience a deep tranquillity and peace within. Yet the Gospel proclaims that it is Christ who first searches out humanity in its brokenness—and even nothingness—in order to gently reorientate the human person towards the true source of ultimate joy delight and freedom.

There is perhaps no greater consolation in life than the realisation that notwithstanding our fallenness and brokenness, our self-caused anxieties and burdens which inevitably lead to existential unrest and inner turmoil, we are not abandoned, let alone, ever forsaken by the One who forever loves us. Christ remains faithful in his boundless love for each and every one of us; His mercy and forbearance are such that He takes the first step; He finds us and He saves us. Elsewhere St John the Evangelist states quite succinctly: “He first loved us [αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς]”(1Jn 4:19). Indeed, our Lord’s explicit promise is that He will not abandon us but will always come seeking us out: “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you [ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς]”(Jn 14:8).

His promise is irrevocable: if we turn to him, He will not only accompany us through life’s difficulties but will forever abide within us as a source of unfailing compassion and infinite mercy, leading us towards the inexhaustible beauty and eternal joy of communion with the living God. Our Lord forever takes what is broken and restores it; He takes what is unclean and hallows it. He takes what is ordinary and transfigures it into a vessel of divine glory. In the same way that He approached the Samaritan woman, Christ approaches us and speaks to us: “I who speak to you am He”, namely the eternal source of life, truth, light and everlasting joy; the One who can become within us “the living spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

It remains for us to seek nothing less than the endless horizons of Eternity, never diminishing the profound purpose of human life by settling for ephemeral successes which, in time, inevitably fade into nothingness. Indeed, in seeking ultimate meaning within the insignificant and transient, we imprison ourselves within the narrow confines of time and space. Yet, in simply allowing ourselves to be first approached by Christ, we are gifted with a freedom capable of bursting beyond the limits of this world into a life victorious over death itself—a life lived in the fullness and delightful abundance of divine communion.

About the Author

Associate Professor Philip Kariatlis Sub-Dean of St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College Associate Professor Philip Kariatlis is Academic Director and Associate Professor in Theology at St Andrew's. After taking an undergraduate degree in Theology from St Andrew's, he graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in Arts, majoring in Modern Greek. He received a Master of Theology and a doctorate from the Sydney College of Divinity, where he studied under Professor Gerard Kelly. His doctorate was in the area of ecclesiology where he examined the notion of koinonia ... Read author's full bio here..

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