Come to the Well

Biblical text: John 4

Growing up living in the suburbs of Philadelphia, I took water for granted. All I had to do was turn on the faucet and there was always plenty of water. But when we, as a new family with two small babies, moved to Central Pennsylvania in 1976, water became very precious to me. Our well was very shallow. It had been hand dug, and I quickly learned that water was not always plentiful. I knew I had to spread out my many loads of wash or any other task that required water, and yet sometimes, there still was not water in the well. But the well we read about today in the fourth chapter of John is very deep and there is no danger of the water running low.

Like so many of the gospel stories, I am sure this is a familiar one. If we read it through quickly, we might think it is telling us just another story about being nice to people we meet and standing with the marginalized. But it is so much more than that.

This is the longest conversation recorded in the Bible that Jesus has with anyone. Being a woman, I delight that He is having this conversation with a woman. And this is not just any woman. She is a Samaritan, and she has had many husbands. Jesus, as a Jewish male, is not supposed to be talking to her, let alone accepting water from a vessel she has touched. Those were the rules.

But, so much for the rules. Here is Jesus, both thirsty and the source of Living Water so we see him as both human and divine. He is asking for water from the woman who has come to the well in the heat of the day. And she has come at the hottest time of the day to avoid the derision of others. Jesus starts talking about Living Water and never being thirsty again. That probably sounded good to someone who walked far each day carrying heavy clay jars to retrieve water.

When the woman asks Jesus to give her this water that she might not be thirsty again, Jesus changes the subject and asks her to get her husband. Jesus knows that she has had a rough time in her life. He seems to understand that this is a woman with many stories. Jesus is not judgmental, nor does he tell her that she must repent and change her ways before she is welcome to the Living Water. You can sense that the woman does not feel the need to defend herself or explain her situation. She is impressed by Jesus and feels emboldened to ask him where is the proper place to worship God. We see her embrace Jesus as the Messiah, and her witness converted many other Samaritans in the town.

How often in the Bible have we seen Jesus stand up for “the other”? If a line is ever drawn, we know that Jesus will always be on the other side. And when we think of the word Outcast, we might realize that Outcast is an apt description of how we might feel in this world. We don’t really belong here. After all, we are descendants of Adam and Eve, who were outcasts of the original wonderful world. We feel the need to belong. We need someone else’s protection. And we get that in the Living Water of Jesus. The man at the center of our story today stands before us, absolves us all with His love. His arms of compassion are opened wide. We who feel outcast have been brought into those arms forever.

We are set apart, singled out by God Himself just like the Samaritan woman at the well. This is illustrated for us in the words used when we are baptized. Having renounced the evil of the world, we turn to Jesus our Savior, and we put our trust in His Love and Grace. He takes us in, recognizing our limitations and our weaknesses, and He protects us with the indissoluble bond of baptism. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ’s love forever. Talk about protection! It is there FOREVER, a symbol of our Heavenly Father’s love, salvation, and protection from evil.

Jesus sits by the deepest well. He is there so that He can be by our sides during the most monumental tasks and in the most helpless situations. He is the Living Water, the Bread of Life, the light of the world, the gate, the Good Shepherd, the resurrection and the life. He is right beside us in the heat of the day and the height of our fatigue.

Our prayer is the same as the words the woman spoke: “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” It is a prayer that has been answered before we can even utter the words.

God wants to flood the driest parts of us with water that will change who we are. Forget the things we cannot do and drink deeply of what we can do through Christ our savior. You don’t need a bucket…or even a cup…this water is continuously pouring out from above. All we need to do is lift our heads and our hearts and let that Living Water soak our souls. Drink the Living Water and be refreshed by the Loving God who wants to be part of every layer of our lives.