John 4:1-45
I wonder if she spotted Him from a distance, a man
sitting at the well alone—her well that she visited daily to fill the
buckets and then haul them home. I wonder if, as she drew closer, she could
make out Jesus’ face and recognize His nationality. A man, a Jewish man,
sitting at her well?
She gets closer and closer, probably confused.
Probably a bit afraid. Then, Jesus speaks to her.
An amazing thing is happening here in John 4. Jesus is
breaking through at least three cultural and social barriers of His time:
He is speaking to a woman, and
traditionally, Jewish men were not to be seen conversing with women.
He is speaking to a Samaritan, and
as the scripture says, Jews had no dealings with Samaritans at the time (v.9).
He is speaking to a woman He knows
is an “adulteress”— a woman who has had more than one husband and was now with
a man she wasn’t married to.
Yet, Jesus speaks to her. A woman. A Samaritan. A
sinner.
Not only does He say hello, but over the course of
their brief and profound conversation, He offers her the gift of a lifetime:
living water, eternal life. “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him
will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (v.14).
And then, my favorite
part of the story happens—the part where she just doesn’t get it.
“Sir,” she says, “give
me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw
water” (v.15). There she is, standing beside the Messiah in flesh, and she
doesn’t fully understand what He is telling her. She takes His offer of living
water literally. She doesn’t get it—not yet.
I think I love this
part so much because it paints such a real and beautiful picture of grace. You
don’t have to fully “get it” to receive it.
That is hard for me, a
good church girl, to accept. Unlike the Samaritan woman, I have the knowledge.
I know Jesus and His story, I know the right answers, and I know my theology.
But what this story says is, the gift of Christ is for anyone who wants to
receive it—no matter how little you know, no matter how little you have been
taught or understand.
Grace levels the playing field each and
every time.
The Samaritan woman
wanted what Jesus was offering. She knew this if she knew nothing else. “Give
me this water,” she says. And that’s all she has to say.
That is all we have to
say, too. From the church girl who is fruitlessly checking her boxes to the
woman buried under the weight of past sin and shame, this promise is for all of
us. Because we are all thirsty. We are all weary. We are all desperate for our Jesus who
stands at the well offering the exact and only thing we need.
Give me
water, we say, breathless and tired. And He does. And when He does, we are
never thirsty again.
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