The Samaritan woman and Naaman the Syrian, two individuals we read about this third week of Lent.  Aren’t they complicated people? Surely the woman with five husbands, who goes alone to Jacob’s well for water, who stands up to a Jewish man, is a complicated woman. She’s also a powerful voice in her world, as she persuades the people of her town to come and see a Prophet who promises living water.

Naaman is also a person of many dimensions. He’s a general in the Syrian army, seemingly their most important general, but he has leprosy. His journey to Israel causes a political uproar, as the King of Israel wonders what the political consequences of his visit might be. 

So he comes as a political figure, from the messy world of Middle East politics. But he’s a man who knows he’s in need. 

He is dismayed when he’s not welcomed by the prophet, and told to wash in the waters of the Jordan, a small stream in comparison to the rivers of Syria. But the waters of that small stream, the waters of faith, the water of baptism will give him life.

Faith is a challenge to complicated people, like the woman with five husbands and the man highly invested in the power politics of the day.

But God calls them both.  

We pray during Lent for the complicated people of our world.

Lord, speak to them.