This is my favorite Bible story! I'm so excited to finally have this story revised so it portrays how I see this story. This story comes from John 4:1-42

The Samaritan Woman

"Sami, where do you want to put this?" Sean called through the house.

His girlfriend came out of the bedroom where she had been unpacking and met him by the bookcase. He watched her every move as she surveyed the room for the perfect place for the small music box in his hands. He was admiring how the blue of her shirt brought out her eyes when she took the box from him and set it on the mantle over the fireplace. He smiled as he noticed the sunlight shining in her dirty-blond hair.

He walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist, "Sami, are you very sure you don't want to get married?"

"No."

"You know there's going to be talk. In this town respectable girls don't move in with their boyfriends," Sean didn't mean to press her but he was worried the talk that would come from this would just add to the hurts she carried.

"It will be easier and not as painful this way…if we ever split up," her voice was full of sadness.

"Do you think we won't last?" Sean said with a touch of worry to his voice.

Sami turned to look him in the eye, "Of course not…but I felt the same way with Walter, and Roy…and Brad…and George…and…and Lee," tears began to trace little paths down her cheeks.

Sean pulled her close to him, "Ok. It's fine," he looked up at the music box that her first husband had given her just before he died. "I love you Sami," he whispered as he whipped away her tears and leaned in to kiss her.

It was late afternoon and Sami was doing some much-needed shopping at the local Wal-Mart. She could feel the burning stare of the judgmental eyes of everyone in the store. In a small town like this news travels fast.

Then she turned down an isle and saw the last three women she wanted to see. First there was Marcy, in her green shirt and denim skirt. Poor thing, she was always the tag along. Then there was Ginny, in a blue dress that was way too short, fortunately she had on a pair of white leggings underneath. Last but defiantly not least was Ann, the towns blond beauty in black boots and a dress that got all the men's attention.

"Hey isn't that Sami?" Marcy asked.

"Sure is," Ginny replied, "Hey did you hear? She's moved in with her boyfriend! And they're not even planning marriage!"

Ann smiled coldly and shot a glance at Sami, "Looks like Sami the Slut strikes again. Poor Sean doesn't know what he's getting into."

Sami's jaw dropped. Sami the Slut? Is that what people called her? They knew she could hear them. They wanted her to hear them. Sami sighed. Some high school bullies never change.

"Do you think he knows about her husbands?"

"I doubt it," Ginny said to Marcy, "I mean she's had five of them."

"Who was the first?"

"Lee," Ann said in a voice cold as ice.

"Oh yes. They got married right out of high school and then he died in a car accident after just over a year of marriage," Ginny said shaking her head.

They were playing their usual game. They would talk to each other about someone else loud enough to make sure they were heard by their prey. Marcy would play the uninformed one and ask questions that would always be answered by Ginny who would say the meanest things. And Ann would watch their prey squirm and add her own comments here and there.

"Maybe he would still be alive if he hadn't married her," Ann hissed.

Sami stopped in her tracks. Ann had gotten what she wanted, she'd cut her deep and she wasn't about to stop there.

"What about her second husband? George wasn't it?" Marcy asked playing the game.

"Yes and do you know why he left her?" Marcy shook her head, "She let the house go to pieces and he got fed up."

"No one wants to live in a dump, especially not with a rat," Ann was on a roll.

Sami was beginning to feel the sparks of anger. George was so Very picky, unfairly demanding about every last little thing and poor Sami wasn't able to live up to his demands. So he left.

"Who came next?" Marcy continued as they followed Sami to the refrigerated section.

"Brad. He was pretty good-looking too."

"What happened with him?"

"She cheated on him," Ann added. She was really enjoying this game.

"NO!" Marcy said covering her mouth in a faked shock.

"Yes," Ginny explained, "You see Brad couldn't have kids and she got pregnant. Obviously, she had been cheating on him. And the sad thing is they had only been married for four months when he found out."

Sami was so angry her hands were shaking as she handled the eggs. She remembered what really happened with Brad. He couldn't have kids because he'd gotten himself fixed. Sami had conceived just before George told her he wanted a divorce. However, Brad didn't want to be a dad at all. And Sami had no say in the matter. In that town only men could ask for a divorce and it could be for anything.

Marcy asked her next question as they followed her to the checkout, "Roy was the next husband right? How did she run him off?" Sami wished Marcy would stop asking questions. The memories hurt.

"Neglect. She neglected his needs as a man and he started drinking till he was able to rip his heart from her grip." Ginny said dramatically.

Sami shook her head at their stupidity. He left because he got tired of her begging him to sober up. He drank up every cent they had. Not only that but he beat her. She lost her child because of him.

"And who was the last husband?"

"Walter? He cheated on her," Ginny replied as they made their way to their cars.

"Isn't that ruined marriage on him and not Sami?"

Ann answered Marcy's question this time, "The poor man chose a woman who wasn't woman enough."

Sami turned to address Ann, "I understand Ann. You poor dear. Who wouldn't be upset that the first guy that wasn't just a plaything to them saw them for what they were and chose a better quality girl?"

Sami knew Ann would fume over that one. Ann had always hated Sami for getting Lee's love, a love she wanted for the wrong reasons. So, as an act of revenge Ann had taken advantage of Walter and had repeated affairs during their short marriage.

Sami hurried home and cried.

It was late when Sami pulled into the gas station. No one was there, just how she wanted it. After that day at Wal-Mart she avoided people as much as she could.

As she put her card back in her pocket she notices a man watching her. He was a handsome man, from what she could see in the dark, wearing khaki pants and a white shirt.

"Oh great!" Sami mumbled as she pumped the gas, "Someone come to and poke fun at a messy, unfaithful, neglectful town whore who's not enough of a woman to keep a husband. They probably say I murdered Lee too."

"I don't believe any of that," a voice came from behind her. Sami turned around to see the strange man leaning on the bumper of her car.

"Who are you?" she asked scared of what could happen.

"Just call me Jay," he smiled warmly, "Why don't we get your husband to join us? That way we can avoid any silly gossip."

Sami felt a familure twinge of pain, "I…I haven't any husband."

"Right. In fact you've had five and the man you're living with is not your husband."

"So you've heard," Sami said with a frown.

"No. I just got into town. But I know how much your husband's hurt you. I know the tears you shed when Roy caused you to lose your child. I know how lost you felt when Lee died," Jay seemed to feel her pain as he told her the past no one else cared to know.

"How do you know that?" a stunned Sami asked.

"If you knew what I have to offer you wouldn't be too concerned with that," he said with a friendly smile.

She groaned, "Are you some kind of traveling salesman?"

Jay laughed, "Not exactly. What I'm offering is living water."

"Living water?" Sami said confused.

"Let me explain how this works," he thought for a moment, "If this car had living water it would never need to see another pump again because gas, or living water, would be bubbling up filling its tank from the inside as if it were a spring. It is the same with humans. It is free to anyone who chooses to believe in me," with that Jay turned to leave.

"And just who are you?" Sami asked again, "The messiah that everyone is waiting for?"

Jay stopped and turned to her with a smile, "Exactly," and continued on his way.

Sean smiled at Sami. She looked beautiful in her wedding gown. His wife. Sami was his wife. It had only been a month since she had come home from a late trip to the gas station where she had met the messiah that we all had been told would come.

He looked around at all the people who had come to celebrate with them. Sean noticed Sami smiling at someone. He followed her gaze to a man with brown hair and a short beard in a white shirt and khakis. That must be Him. Sean smiled and waved and he winked as if he knew he'd been waiting for this day. What a great day, marrying the love of his life with the savior there to witness it.

Growing up I had always heard this story told as if the Samaritan woman was a sinner that Jesus showed his grace and love to. The focus of the story was always the living water of God. When I was 14 my youth group went to a church for an event they were having. A football player spoke there (I can never remember his name. His last name is Grey and he's a big black guy.) and he introduced this take on the Samaritan Woman story. He said back then women could not ask for a divorce and the man could divorce her for any little problem he had with her. He also said that the Samaritan woman (his nickname for her was Sami) came to the well around mid-day, in the hottest part of the day. The women of the day usually went in the cool of the early morning or late evening. The women probably gave her a hard time because she'd failed to be able to keep a husband. His focus on this story was Jesus healed the broken-hearted. That's why this is my favorite Bible story, because Jesus still loves a broken heart like mine.