Jesus at the Well

Today the temps in Northern California will reach triple digits. While we expect a hot 106 this afternoon, I choose to stay inside out of the heat, yet when I think of Jesus walking from town to town, He couldn't get out of the heat. On one of His journeys, He stopped at the well near Sychar. Tired from His trip, He rested at the well outside of town and the disciples went into town to get groceries.

A woman came to the well with her water jug. In Jesus' time there was no running water, so the women had to trudge outside the city walls, to the well in the heat, cold and storms. Most women went early in the morning, but this woman was an outcast--part Jew and part Samaritan--so she went when no one else would be at the well, or so she thought.

Jesus waited for her. "Would you give me a drink?" He asked. This surprised the woman. John didn't give her a name, but he wrote her story in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John. She wondered why Jesus, a Jewish man, would talk to her, a Samaritan woman. Jesus surprised her again when He said He would give her living water. He said, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst."

He had the woman's attention. "I would like some of your water," she said, "so I wouldn't have to keep coming to the well." She didn't know Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit that wells up inside us to overflowing.

Jesus said, "Go get your husband."

"I have no husband," the woman said.

"What you say is true. You've had five husbands and the man you live with now is not your husband."

If I had been the woman, I think I would have been embarrassed to be with a man who knew all about my sinful past, but this woman kept asking questions about worship. Jesus didn't reject her, but showed her respect.

He said, "A time is coming when believers will worship in spirit and in truth."

"I know the Messiah is coming. He will explain everything."

Jesus' next statement nearly blew her sandals off. "I who speak to you am He." The woman put down her jug and ran into the city. She said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could He be the Christ?"

Think About It
Because Jesus showed her respect, the woman felt something she hadn't felt before. I think it was Jesus' love. What do you think? Who will you show love or respect to today?

Pray About It
Lord Jesus, I want to be able to show people your love in ways they will understand, and I need your help. Amen.

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