The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-02-09
For February IL is Jesus and the
Woman of Samaria. John 4:1-29.
The Woman Who Did Not Care

The Woman Who Did Not Care.
i Because the principal highways of
the great cities. and the places of pub
lie entertainment. are nowadays
crowded with over-dressed over-roug-
ed, over-sophisticated women. who
have apparently parted company with
the womanly ideals of their grand
mothers, it is easy and natural to say
that the women of our time are care
less of the great verities which have
ennobled womanhood from the days
of Mary. Such a judgment is unfair
because it fails TO take into account
the greater number of Housekeeping
| modest, cultivated. sweet ard sincere
girls and women whose existence is not
Haunted before the eyes of the idlers
on the highways of life.
So there is pertinency and profit in
the present study of d woman of the
| long ago who was free, careless, cyni-
cal, immodest, and ready for any way
side acquaintance. This woman at
Jacobs well embodied our modern
ideas of the advanced" and worldly
WISE woman, except that she had
neither wealth nor educa ton. She
was of the sort who profess to scott
at the modesty of their sisters. For
herself, she was ready to strike up an
mountaineering with any man that
happened along; and she was too shall
| low to understand the significance of
| the fact that none of these friendships
were continuing. She knew many
men, but among them all there was no
one who respected her utterly and
| loved her devOtedly, being willing to
| leave all else and cleave only unto her.
| obviously, it is more of a tribute to a
/ Woman's worth to be loved by one
| true man. than to be popular with a
| crowd of men
Rert, tantalizing, ingenious in ex-
Cuse, quick in repartee, this woman of
Sycnaf saw things only in their super
ficlal aspects. 1t is hard for the right
sort OF young man to believe in the
existence OF such women, who are not
/ genuine, not good, not reverent, not
constant and not truly loving. AS one
sees the throngs of ultra-fas hionabiy
goWned women, in restaurants and
hotels and places of entertainment and
on the streets, and knows them for
llght-mindcd spenders and MASTERS,
mere moths fiuttering around the dam
gerouS candle of pleasure one finds
it difficult to visualize them as the
makers of happy, restfuI homes. as
the 1nspirers of men, and as the moth
ers of patriots, heroes and saints =
This is a phase of the modern
woman question from which one
shrinks: it is more satisfactory to con-
| template that larger number of wofn-
en-, wh3. while splendidly true; to the
type of Christian womanhood, are ex-
pressing themselves in old and new
| ways, for the present time thru home
and church and club and social rela-
tionships. After all, as our story Of
the samaritan woman makes clear the
old, old thirst for life'S realities is ever
present: it is merely unrecognfzed ar
hidden by the foolish.
When the Right Man Appears.
One sure mark OF the best friend IS
that he helps US to be our best self.
Jesus pre-eruinently had this quality
He discovered the soul of this mis-
guided Sychar woman. His direetness
and candor and sincere spirituality
pierced the shell of her superficial
worldiness. He met her on one level
and left her on higher. Casual ac-
qua intances-a thirsty man by a. well,
and a woman with drinking vessel,
eager for a flirtation-become friends
on the high plane of concern about
God and the human soul. Do we won
der how our touch affects the lives we
meet? Are they left on level where
it is easier for them to think about
God?
There was nothing snobbish about
Jesus He freely spoke to all whom
He met on the highway of life. Last
week we saw Him colloquing with. a
Jerusalnl scholar and aristocrat: this
week He is in conversation with 2
Samaritan woman who was apparently
a field hand. Neither the fact that
she was woman nor the other fact
Samaritan race, married His real
friendliness. Had He been more zeal
Gus for the minutae of the strict jew
ish law He would not have gone thru
Samaria, but would have made the
Hong detour east of the Jordan.
i Few places in Palestine are more
thoroly accredited than Jacobs well.
1t is near Mt. Gerizim and Mt Ebal,
and hard by is the city of Shechern,
row called Nablus, fanatical COM
H. ovy-icf l1f
Turkish troops are quartered. The
tomb of Joseph is on the neigh boring
hillside. During the Crusades a
church was built over the well, but it
fore the war, the Greek church was
building new edifice. l have drunk
from the deep well that Jacob dug.
and the monk who was my conductor
4 seemed to marvel that I did not carry
any of this holy water away
The Wells of the World.
What thoughts throng one as he
stands by the worn stone coping Of
this very we'll upon which the weary
gestive to a thoughtful traveller than
these ancient wells of the Orient. But
this one typifies the highest truth
the Water of Life. A public fountain
in Philadelphia bears the simple in
scription, t*Whosoever drinketh of this
water shall thirst again "a picture OF
the transformers of II the satisfac-
tons that earth offered.
This jaded woman, who had drunk
the cup of poison to its dregs, had
| a soul-thirst too great for her OWL
understanding. Jesus met her real
need by offering her the privilege OF
becoming in herself a fountain; and
when she accepted His gift, she die
begin to supply others in the village
of Sychar. Even this loose woman
straightway became an evangelist
That is Christ's plan for all His
friends He does not make them els
tern saints. mere receivers and con
tanners of the waters of grace; He
makes them fountain friends. flow
! ing springs of blessings. Modern
hotels advertise, Running water in
2 all rooms Would that the Church