Christians have understood Lent practices in different ways throughout centuries. For example, the early Church practiced Lent through prayer, fasting, and charity. The first two practices have remained, but have shifted their purpose. The old believers joined the new believers, and those who needed repentance in praying, fasting, and doing charity works together to prepare them for their baptism or Easter. These public expressions of faith had a strong communal dimension. Rather than focusing on the mature Christian themselves, those expressions were practiced for the benefit of those who recently became Christians or who had repented from sin. Don’t get me wrong, prayer and fasting are good spiritual disciplines for every believer, but Lent is also a means of discipleship. Lent not only invites us to seek more of God by strengthening our relationship with Him, but also to prepare us to bring the Gospel to a restless world, supporting those who may need spiritual or material support.
Rethinking the Samaritan Woman’s Story
We read of the Samaritan woman in John 4:4-42. It happens in an unexpected place, with unexpected circumstances, and between two unexpected characters. We learned Jesus was alone at Jacob’s Well (a public place) with a woman of not good moral reputation. He was thirsty and asked the woman for some water to drink. He, as a Jewish man, was not expected to engage in conversation with any woman, much less a Samaritan. As a way of clarifying the socio-cultural context of this story, readers should note that since the division of the United Kingdom of Ancient Israel, Samaritans and Jews became enemies. Their hatred developed around their interpretations of the Torah and their religious beliefs.
Through a conversation with Jesus, the Samaritan woman discovers the true living water offered in Jesus Christ when He shares the Gospel with her. Then, she became a witness to God’s power that changes the human heart. The Samaritan then went to her village to share her experience with her neighbors regarding the encounter she had with Jesus and the good news he had told her.
The author of John’s Gospel writes:
Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” So the people came streaming from the village to see him. (John 4:27-30, New Living Translation)
The Samaritan woman shared her faith publicly and honestly. She did not manipulate her neighbors. She did not have a hidden personal agenda. She was simply inviting others to be witnesses to the transformative power of God.
Like the Jews, Samaritans were also waiting for the redeemer of Israel, or the Messiah. This passage recounts how Samaritans responded to the woman’s sharing of the Gospel.
Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4:39-42, New Living Translation)
In this story, God used the Samaritan woman’s testimony to bring the Gospel to others, and many Samaritans believed in Christ. In this respect, the Samaritan woman’s story serves as a helpful reflection and example for our spiritual practices during this season. The story shows us how this woman discovers the living water offered in Christ and later speaks to others about her experience of God’s grace. In her story, we note both the woman’s inward change and the outward expressions of her faith. Let’s not forget that the Samaritan could have focused only on her inward change after her encounter with Jesus. She could have gone to her village without saying a word, completely changed, and been ready to start a new life. But she did not stay at this point. She went for another mile!
Application and Conclusion
The early Church’s Lent practices and the Samaritan woman’s story provide modern Christians with insights on how to better understand Lent and practice it today more holistically. The communal dimension of the early Church’s Lent practices, focusing on discipleship, has generally been lost. For that reason besides prayer, fasting, or Scripture reading, for instance, I also recommend readers to include charity works which focus on the other, such as inviting a non-believer to read a devotional or theological book to discuss it later; offering yourself as a volunteer in your church to help those who are facing sickness; and why not, try to visit people in jail or support people who do. Let’s use this Lenten season to focus not on ourselves but to serve the people who are around us—where we live, in our church, in our work, or our school.
Lent’s public expressions of faith are also a means of discipleship. As our faith is made public, through experience we also may grasp what true discipleship is. As Juan Carlos Ortiz, in his book Disciple, claims: “Discipleship is not a communication of knowledge or information. It is a communication of life… Discipleship is more than getting to know what the teacher knows. It is getting to be what he is.” Public expressions of our faith matter because the more we know about how other Christians live out their faith, the more we appreciate God’s work in the world, which encourages us to grow and strengthen our faith as well.
*Originally published in Kerux. Calvin Theological Seminary. 03/05/2026. https://kerux.calvinseminary.edu/public-expressions-of-faith-during-lent/. All rights reserved by the publisher. Used by permission.