When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to Him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) John 4:7-9
“One day Abba Serapion passed through an Egyptian village and there he saw a courtesan who stayed in her own cell. The old man said to her, ‘Expect me this evening, for I should like to come and spend the night with you.’ She replied, ‘Very well, Abba.’ She got ready and made the bed. When evening came, the old man came to see her and entered her cell and said to her, ‘Have you got the bed ready?’ She said, ‘Yes, Abba.’ Then he closed the door and said to her, ‘Wait a bit, for we have a rule of prayer and I must fulfil that first.’ So the old man began his prayers. He took the Psalter and at each psalm he said a prayer for the courtesan, begging God that she might be converted and saved, and God heard him. The woman stood trembling and praying beside the old man. When he had completed the whole Psalter the woman fell to the ground. Then the old man, beginning the Epistle, read a great deal from the apostle and completed his prayers. The woman was filled with compunction and understood that he had not come to see her to commit sin but to save her soul and she fell at his feet, saying, ‘Abba, do me this kindness and take we where I can please God.’ So the old man took her to a monastery…”
Abba Serapion or Serapion of Alexandria (c. 300) in Selections from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Kalamazoo: Cisterian, 1975) 50.
What seems to us at first an unusual way to show kindness, mirrors remarkably the interchange between Jesus and the woman at the well. In both instances, the man approaches the woman not wanting something from her but something for her. And, in both cases the woman is delivered from the shackles of sin.
Notice the reply of the woman in today’s short story: “Do me this kindness and take we where I can please God.” Our generosity may start with leading people to faith in Jesus Christ, but if the person finds themself alone in the dumps of life, we must add kindness to our generosity.
In such instances, doing someone a kindness, is taking them from being alone to a place of community and support. In this case, it was a monastery; whereas, today, we would likely invite them to find refuge and relationships in our church.
Know any courtesans (or people whom others have condemned as sinners)? Don’t take advantage of them like everyone else does. Do them this kindness. Introduce them to Jesus and invite them to find community and support in your local church. Take them where they can please God with you.