Author: Merlin Erb

          It is not wrong to want to be loved.

          It is not wrong to want to build your life with an intimate other.

          It is not wrong to want a life of dignity.

          It is not wrong to want a life of purpose.

          It is not wrong to want friends.

It is not wrong to want a life of worship.

And Jesus does not marginalize her longing, nor will he scoff at yours. He validates her thirst when he promises to satisfy it. He offers her life without end rather than a life of dead ends. Out of the very depth and desperation of her soul she moves closer and pleads:

Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. (John 4:15)

 In her anguished plea, I hear hope. I recognize her longing as my own. Jesus, please don’t make me go back to this place that continually reminds me of my failures. Like her, I had failed to keep the laws of my youth. She knew she couldn’t earn it, didn’t deserve it; this could only come to her as if it was a gift. Like an addict, she had nothing more to spend. Her thirst had enslaved her.

Before Jesus could give her this living water, he needed to see if she was ready to empty herself. Was she truly ready to leave it behind? He addresses the faulty, stagnant well she had drawn from for so long… men.

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” (v. 16)

Don’t imagine that with this directive Jesus was looking for an authority structure through which he could speak to her, nor was he necessarily pointing out her sin. Rather, he asked for her husband to locate her pain. Our brave sister spoke the truth even knowing full well that the truth might very well disqualify her from the rabbi’s living water.

I have no husband. (v. 17)

This admission must have weighed heavy on her. Five failed marriages. There is no hint of blame, no suggestion of excuses in her admittance; it is just the raw and ugly truth. I have no husband…

Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” (vv. 17-18)

BOTTOM LINE:

Jesus can work with truth tellers and brave confessions. She told her present reality, and he filled in the details of her past. Five men had taken her as their wife only to cast her aside. Sometimes I wonder why there has been so much focus on her as a sinner. I am granddaughter of a woman who was married four times to three husbands. She was not a victim; it was her choice and vice. But it may not have so with this woman. We don’t know for certain that she was in the wrong. She lived under the law, which meant a man could decide that marrying his wife had been a mistake, and he could easily put her away with a certificate that affirmed his disappointment. Under the law it would have been impossible for her to be the one changing husbands of her own initiative. A remarriage would have required this certificate of divorce.   

NEXT UP:

Can you imagine being rejected by five different husbands? I’m reading between the lines and judging by the conversational integrity displayed with Jesus she likely wasn’t the primary cause of her rejections, especially in that culture… Stay tune.

Scripture lends us a window into this woman’s background. When we first meet her, she is unnamed, divorced, and displaced. Her life was so conflicted on so many fronts that no one imagined she could ever minister. Understanding this, she first shared the gospel as questions and suggestions.

Maybe like our friend, you too have felt the judgement of others to such an extreme, that your statements too have remained hints and questions. Forgive them. People who would tie you to your past … have yet to experience a revelation of God’s mercy and the power of rebirth.

          Before she took on the name “enlightened one,” Photina was known to us only by an ethnic designation. We met her when we listened in on her private interchange with Jesus. She is our friend the Samaritan woman. How amazing that the woman who formerly had five husbands would one day labor alongside her five sisters. I love this, because in the Bible, the number five symbolizes grace. And in her case, she experienced grace upon grace.

          I’ve always loved this woman. For years I’ve seen her as a woman of great capacity. She was a deep well living a shallow life. The hardships she experienced and the realities of her choices had dug a deep, dark, dry hollow within her. The enemy of her soul meant for this to be a perpetually broken place that isolated her and buried her dreams.

          Old wells will leave you thirsty time and time again. Ultimately, only God can quench our thirst. These ancient wells were subject to failure because their source was intimately attached to earthbound conditions. At any given moment an enemy could slip in and lace a well with poison or fill it with dirt, or a long-lasting drought could dry it up.

          Like an old well, the law could be easily poisoned by human statutes or buried in the earth of man-made rituals and rules. The Samaritans adhered to only the first five books of the Torah and worshipped at their own mountain. They lived in but a shadow of the law, and yet the Jews proved that even in the law in its entirety cannot give us the life we long for.

          These ancient wells of laws and patriarchs were given to us for the purpose of punctuating our desperate need for the living water of the Holy Spirit. The law requires a location and a place of worship. The law places God just beyond our reach. Therefore, the worship of God remains an observance, rather than a life source. Under the law there is visitation rather than habitation. The law is where he can be seen from a distance but not touched. The law maintains a Mount Sinai dynamic where we can behold God but not be held by him.

          When our sanctuary of worship is around us rather than within us, we run the risk of remaining outsiders. This encounter between the Samaritan woman and Jesus broke so many legal parameters. This woman had broken the law and was living with a man. Even in our more liberal church today, she would be considered to be “living in sin.” And yet Jesus saw beyond her shameful outside and spoke straight into her broken heart.

          The law always requires more of you than it can give. Living water cannot be contained or even weighed, for it is liquid LIGHT. The same is not true for dead water. If you want more than a drink at Jacob’s well, you will need a container. What you take home with you is limited to what you can carry. Dead water is not light; it is heavy.

          And you would have to make this journey again and again and again! Jesus speaks of a thirst that is perpetual and insatiable. As a daughter of the Middle East growing up in a dry arid land, this woman has known thirst all her life. There is no well, deep enough or water cool enough to satiate her desperate need for love, affirmation, and companionship. Her soul is desperately dehydrated. Time and time again she had been deceived by what she hoped would quench her craving and refresh her soul. Her longings are valid, but like so many of us, she kept looking for the right thing in all the wrong places.

NEXT UP:  Jesus does not marginalize her longings, nor will he scoff at yours.

When Domnina entered the room, she greeted Photina warmly and in the course of her salutation mentioned Christ. Photina mistook her for a fellow believer, and after embracing her, she openly shared the transforming love and wonder of her Christ with the one she presumed to be a sister. Domnina was undone, and rather than refute Photina, she converted to Christianity. But she was not alone in her conversion – her serving girls were converted as well, as they listened to the bold preaching of the gospel by the sisters. Then Photina instructed Domnina and her servants to remove all the wealth from the room and distribute it freely among the poor they found in the streets of Rome. Domina was baptized and received a new name.

Nero was enraged. He ordered Photina, her sisters, and her sons to be put to death by fire. He had a large furnace constructed, but when they were thrown into the furnace, they wouldn’t catch on fire. Next, Nero ordered them executed by poisoning. When the poisoner came, Photina volunteered to be the first to drink, but the toxins had no effect on her or any of the Christians. Then the one Nero had sent to poison them converted to Christ. They remained imprisoned for their faith, and over the next three years they were beaten and subjected to every form of torture the twisted emperor could invent.

          But the more he oppressed them, the more their fame grew. Word of their faith and power spread throughout the empire’s capital, and during their prison tenure, the jail itself became a house of worship. Roman citizens came regularly to the cells of believers to receive prayer and hear the gospel. For three years the message of Christ continued to infiltrate Rome from the confines of the prison, and many believed.

          Nero sent for one of his former servants whom he had imprisoned, and the man reported all that was happening. Nero ordered the immediate beheading of all the Christians he held in the prison. The only exception was Photina. He hoped to break her resolve through grief and isolation, so he has her removed from the prison and lowered into a deep, dark, dry well. A few of the accounts say she was severely scourged first. He left her there for weeks in what must have felt like an open earthen grave. She was acutely alone. These were dark days for Photina and she wept, but not over the loss of her loved ones. She knew they had been released from every form of earthly prison and already granted a heavenly reception. She grieved that she had been denied the privilege of being martyred alongside her sons and sisters and therefore robbed of a martyr’s crown. From all I read it would appear that this time was the most difficult for her.

          Every historical account I read mentioned this season in a well. In one account, she died there in the depths of the dry well, but not from despair but by choice. Like Stephen, she beheld her Savior in a dream and yielded her spirit. Other written records said she was removed from the well after an extended period of time, and after a dream in which Jesus appeared to her, she was released from life while in prison. Either way, this woman’s life was a deep well of living water that nourished and refreshed countless others.

BOTTOM LINE:

          Photina did not produce admirers or fans; her life produced witnesses and martyrs. This woman had something I want. She had something we all may need in the days that are before us: unshakable resolve.

NEXT UP: Church attendance grows when the world looks favorably toward Christians. But committed disciples are birthed in seasons of hardships.

The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins. Soren Kierkegaard

The next six posts are excerpts from Lisa Bevere’s book Without Rival: Embrace Your Identity and Purpose in an Age of Confusion & Comparison. Chapter Nine. Revell 2016. This story, as Thecla’s earlier from Chapter Ten, also is unforgettable. I strongly encourage you female readers consider buying several copies to share with vulnerable women struggling spiritually in your families and spheres of influence during these deceptive days. Remember, the Great Commission states we are to make disciples, not merely converts. I just heard a sermon on Discipleship where the ionic formula for discipleship was the same as water: H20; 2 H’s & 1 O…..or Humility – Holiness – Obedience. Don’t forget it!

This woman, a daughter without rival:

          Defied the most powerful and perverse ruler in the world.

          Gave a bold gospel presentation considered incomparable.

Was beaten, tempted, and tortured in every way imaginable and yet remained steadfast to the gospel, her friends, her Lord.

Was imprisoned but her reach could not be contained.

Was single but far from alone.

Was numbered among the apostles, and early church historians say her ministry was nearly unrivaled in signs and wonders.

You may be wondering why you don’t know her.

I understand. I only recently met her myself. She is but one of the many women who were church mothers whose names were buried by the sands of time. Over the course of my life I had heard whispers of her exploits. I wanted to meet her. I wasn’t content for her to remain a rumor, so I searched resources on church history to find her. In my pursuit, I called bible scholars, researched on line, and purchased books. Once I discovered her name, I was able to assemble enough pieces to make her acquaintance. Once I knew her, I thought it only right that you should meet her as well.

 Her name is Photina, or at times Photini. Her name is Greek and means “enlightened one.” It was the name she adopted when she was baptized into the Christian faith. As He did with all of us, Jesus flooded her world with a revelation of light. As a devout believer in Christ, she was numbered with those who were gathered in the upper room. When the Holy Spirit came upon their number in power, she was there; a tongue of fire rested on her, and she was filled with the Spirit and began to speak in another language. On Pentecost Photina received the commission to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.

 She left everything and traveled to Africa, but not alone, bringing most of her family along. Her encounter with Christ wrought such a compelling transformation in her life that both of her sons and all five of her sisters followed her. In Africa, they all labored faithfully, spreading the gospel of Christ in Carthage, producing astounding fruit.

When news reached them that Nero, deranged emperor, was arresting and persecuting Christians, Photina sought God’s wisdom. Jesus appeared to her in a dream and instructed her to go to Rome and confront him. So rather than move beyond Nero’s reach, they headed straight into the eye of the storm. Immediately, Photina, her son, and her sisters set sail for Rome in the company of a large contingent of Carthaginian Christians.

They were warned there would be consequences if they chose to openly live their Christian faith. Here is a conversation between her son Victor, who served as a Roman officer, and an official named Sebastian.

“Victor, I know that you, your mother, and your brother are followers of Christ. As a friend I advise you to submit to the will of the emperor. If you inform on any Christians, you will receive their wealth. I shall write to your mother and brother, asking them not to preach Christ in public. Let them practice their faith in secret.” Victor replied, “I want to be a preacher of Christianity like my mother and brother.” Sebastian said, “O Victor, we all know what woes await you, your mother, and your brother.”

How many would still practice their faith openly if they knew their decision would mean guaranteed woe. Later her son Victor threw his lot in with his mother, brother, and aunts. Here is an excerpt from the same document cited earlier that lends a window into her first audience with Nero.

“Photini’s (Photina’s) arrival and activity aroused curiosity in the capital city. “Who is this woman?” they asked. “She came here with a crowd of followers and she preaches Christ with great boldness. Soldiers were ordered to bring her to the emperor, but Photini anticipated them. Before they could arrest her, Photini, with her son Joseph and her Christian friends went to Nero. When the emperor saw them, he asked why they had come. Photini answered, “We have come to teach you to believe in Christ.” The half-mad ruler of the Roman Empire did not frighten her. She wanted to convert him.”

Not surprisingly, Nero was less than receptive. He ordered that those who claimed to be in the hands of Jesus should have their hands beaten with iron rods. The Guards took Photina and all those in her company away to be beaten for their imprudence. Over the next three hours their hands were brutally beaten with iron rods but the Christians felt no pain and sang psalms while their torturers exhausted themselves. Not one of the Christ Followers had as much as a mark on their hands.

When Nero discovered that the beatings had no effect on them, he imprisoned them and devised a plan to convince Photina and her sisters to convert. This time he intended to turn them to his will with kindness. He ordered six thrones set up in a large banqueting hall. Before these thrones he arranged to have every manner of Roman wealth arrayed before the sisters. No expense was spared in the collection that would appeal to the feminine soul. In addition to gold and silver there were jewels and magnificent garments laid out before each woman. These riches and a life of ease could be theirs if they would only renounce their Christian faith and sacrifice to the Roman deity. To persuade them toward this end, he commissioned his very own daughter, Domnina, to act as his agent. 

NEXT UP: Continuation of Photina’s Life & Times