She had baggage. There was no avoiding that. She’d been married five times and was now living with a man to whom she was not married. That’s odd in our times. We can only imagine how deviant it must have seemed to people 2,000 years ago.

We don’t know why she’d had five different husbands. Maybe they all died. Maybe they all left her. Maybe she left some of them, and some of them left her and one of them died. We don’t know, but there are several combinations, and they all lead to the same outcome. She’d had her heart broken more than once.

It’s important to remember that once upon a time she was a little girl. She had dreams. She had hopes. She thought about what it would be like to get married, what she would wear that day, who would be invited, what the party would be like, how long it would last. She may have played that scenario out in her mind as the day drew closer and closer.

I doubt very seriously that she ever stopped to think that it might not last forever.

The end of a marriage is like a death in the family. Nothing prepares a person for it. And, to some extent, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is; when a marriage ends, a heart breaks. Maybe it was her fault — maybe it wasn’t — maybe it wasn’t anyone’s fault — maybe it just happened. Regardless, when it ended, she must have been devastated.

Now, can you imagine what she must have thought and felt when someone — after what they considered a proper amount of time had passed — asked her to do it again?

“I know your first marriage didn’t end up the way you had hoped, but would you marry me?”

Maybe she jumped at it and said, “Sure!” Or maybe she thought she wasn’t ready. Maybe she felt the icy grip of fear leap into her throat. Maybe every fiber of her being screamed out how there was no way in the world she would ever put herself in a position to go through that nightmarish hell again.

But somehow she manages to wrestle down the fear, put her past behind her and get on with her life. She says, “Yes.”

And how long was it before her worst possible case scenario began to play out in front of her very eyes?

It happened again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Five times she gave her heart away. Five times she’d had it broken. Now she’s only willing to go halfway — she’ll live with the guy, but they’re not married.

Angry? Bitter? Frustrated? Probably.

Thirsty? No doubt.

Now you know why the Bible says, “Jesus had to go through Samaria” (John 4:4).

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