For centuries, the Samaritan woman at the well has been read as a scandal. But if you take a closer look at the text, something shifts. Historical context and scholarship reveal that she was far more likely a survivor than a sinner — and reading her through a Western lens has distorted the story. The real story is far more compelling — and it tells us everything about the heart of Jesus.

Three women. All named Mary. All present at the moments that changed everything. We tend to blur them together, or worse, reduce them to a single supporting role in a story we think belongs to someone else. But their stories are among the most dramatic of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection—and definitely worth revisiting.

What if art and history know the Samaritan Woman’s name? What if her story is far more complex, more beautiful, and more dignified than the one most of us were taught? And what if we've been reading her wrong all along?

BY REBECCA CARRELL:

Rebecca Carrell has spent over a decade researching, praying through, and teaching on grief and lament. Here she shares a fabulous DTS chapel talk and the beautiful, gut-wrenching piece she wrote after losing a sixteen-year-old girl named Brooklyn. This is your permission to grieve.

REFLECTION BY CHRISTINE CRAWFORD ON THE CHOSEN: Darkness and light have always coexisted. That doesn't make the light less. It actually makes it more. Jesus didn't look away from the dark. He walked into it. He wept in it and over it. He let it be what it was before He did what only He could do.

POEM + REFLECTION BY CHRISTINE M. CRAWFORD: On a rainy Sunday in April, I found myself at the big box store staring at a flat of begonias that nobody wanted. Orphaned, root-bound, reduced to a dollar a pot. I bought all of them, resurrected them, then wrote this poem with dirt still wedged under my fingernails.

BY MARY DEMUTH:

To surrender the healing journey is to let go of the expectations for how the pathway will look. It means looking realistically at what happened back then, then giving God permission to do something new.

BY MARY DEMUTH:

What if our act of patience, fueled by the Spirit within us, was not merely so we could endure our adult children’s choices, but for our betterment? What if this is not about our kids at all, but about our relationship with God? 

BY MARY DEMUTH:

With anxiety reigning, it’s no wonder we believe if that one conundrum was solved, our lives would sing. And yet, our minds naively hang our hopes on an outcome, and we forget that God is working in and through every circumstance, even when things don’t go the way we wanted or planned.

STORY BY CHRISTINE CRAWFORD: I was in the throes of grief from the unwanted end of my marriage when a friend recommended I go on a silent retreat. So, naively hoping the experience would expedite my healing, I wandered into the desert for three whole days. Completely and utterly alone. In complete and utter silence.

ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: It takes chosen silence—solitude—to trace the shape of a tree, to follow the movement of its growth

A RECOMMENDED RESOURCE: I've been sitting with silence a lot the last two years—learning to embrace it, to let it teach me, to serve as an invitation from God himself, waiting for us just beyond the noise of our lives. As we close out the Draw Near Dwell Well series, consider these resources as companions on your journey.

POEM BY KAREN ABEYTA:No body breathless or casket to cradle the weight of death. No funeral or tombstone to mark the passing when death dies unseen.

FROM DR. ALISON COOK: When stress hits, do you notice yourself defaulting to the scroll, the worry spiral, the mental loops you can't seem to escape?

BY CHRISTY BOULWARE:Loneliness thrives when we don’t know who belongs where or when we keep everyone at a distance to stay “safe.” We were not meant to walk alone. Even Jesus had a Mary.

BY ERIKA TOVI: When I begin my internship, I’m vulnerable, deferential, and insecure. I do almost anything I’m asked because I believe it’s good for my character. People describe me as sweet. So, so sweet.

ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: You give me a picture that signifies flowers, with bold lines that don't waver, uncompromising angles, controlled geometries, And I point, saying with you, "Flowers."

BY KARYSSA A. ALLEN AND TALITHA SUMMERS: Jesus called the church to represent Him on earth, but Christians too often fall short.

ARTICLE BY CHRISTINE CRAWFORD: Whether you're navigating a painful relationship or supporting someone who is, these seven resources offer helpful insight and healing.

BY BOB HAMP: Why we should Think Differently about the abusive cycles and confusing dynamics that keep people stuck in destructive relationships.