Currently, I am studying the Gospel of John. And in studying this, I am really drawn to Jesus’ encounter with the “Samaritan Woman at the Well.” It is such an amazing passage that has so much more to it than the simple encounter, which can be found in chapter 4 of John. And I want to lay it all out as I understand it.
Jesus was on His way north from Jerusalem to Galilee, but instead of going the way most Jewish people went which was around the land of Samaria, He went through it. He went to a well at Sychar. It being the heat of the day, noon, He was hot and tired. So He sat down at the well while the other disciples went to find food in the town. I picture Him sitting by Himself enjoying some conversation with the Father and knowing that what was about to happen. I see that He is thinking about the person He is about to talk to. I can see His smile and His joy in who He was about to thoroughly transform.
Here comes a woman, tired and alone. She looks down-trodden, hurt, and empty. This is one of those activities that must be done everyday – going to the well to get more water. Water was something that everyone needs everyday. Water is essential to everything in daily life: drinking, cooking, cleaning, etc. So being a daily activity, most women that come to the well during the cool of the morning utilize this time as a social gathering. Conversations about what is going on in their lives and learning tips and tricks that others have found to help with certain tasks are shared. No doubt that gossip was exchanged, and no doubt that this woman was one of the topics that was discussed in hushed whispers and right out plainly.
This woman comes to the well at the hottest part of the day so that she could avoid the stares, whispers, and hurtful words. She has an attitude on the outside as though she can’t be hurt and that she is strong, but in picturing her, I feel the pain and shame she is feeling. I feel the guilt she feels and the frustration that she cannot go back in time and change the things that she has done. I have felt the same way many times when lying in bed and the thoughts of all of the things that I “could of, would of, and should of done but didn’t” come piling into my head. And when these thoughts begin to produce feelings of shame and guilt, sometimes, I entertain the ideas of what I could have done instead. However, I cannot go back in time to change any of it. Eventually, God rescues me from the “rabbit holes” I go down, and He tells me, “that is done and over; just think on Me. Just focus on Me.”
The Samaritan woman looks up at Jesus sitting near the well that she needs to draw from. This man who is clearly Jewish looks back at her with loving, tender, and safe eyes. She approaches the well. He asks her for a drink as if to start up a conversation. She is perplexed. I see the wrinkled forehead and I hear the “huh?” of her inner voice. She looks at Him as if to non-verbally say, “Are you talking to me?” There is no one else around. So obviously He is talking to her. But why? Doesn’t He know that He is not supposed to be talking to us Samaritans? Doesn’t He know that He is not supposed to be talking to women in public? Doesn’t He know that I am not a person that most anyone would want to be caught talking to? And yet, His gaze remains fixed on her.
Since He is still waiting for an answer, she says, “Man, you must have it bad to be talking to me. ” She was a “Samaritan woman of ill repute.” He was a Jewish Rabbi with disciples. Jews don’t talk to Samaritans or even have many dealings with Samaritans if they can help it. And there is a whole back story on that, but Jesus ignored all of the extraneous stuff of the past that didn’t matter and went straight to her. He talked to specifically her. He sought out specifically her. He seeks out specifically us, and He draws near to us.
He takes small but important steps in drawing her in conversation so as to reach her very soul. He tells her about the living water, but she thinking about the physical waters. I can see her becoming more open and engaged. She has a void that He can and is filling little by little in this relatively brief encounter. She is taking in the living water a sip at a time. He is cleansing her very soul. He begins to rinse away the shame and guilt, and He reveals a source of the hurt and pain – the infidelities. It hurts. She deflects. She tries to turn the conversation away from her specifically and broaden the topic to a long held misunderstanding between the Jews and the Samaritans.
“Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” John 4:20.
He opened up the truth to her that He was here to give to the town and the world. He said, “[Ma’am], believe me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father…But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in true, for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:21, 23-24.
This can be applied in so many ways, both specific and general. Generally, as a people, there is no need to travel to a specific physical place to worship God with our lives and interactions. The physical is temporal. It is important, but still less important than that of the spirit, the internal being that we have. God is not physical; He is not bound by time and space. He is Spirit. And we are to worship Him as such. And in the same way, we must be honest. He sees it all and knows it all an
Coffee with Candee 