The Woman at the Well

Before we begin, if you are new to my blog, I'd like to ask you to jump across to my welcome comments. This will give you an idea of where I am coming from and why I am writing this series of reflections.

The Woman at the Well

I grew up drinking rainwater, sweet, fresh water that quenches the thirst like nothing else. I remember my dad having to buy water a few times when our tanks were getting low. We had a huge concrete tank and then a round corrugated iron tank. A few years later we did get access to town water but Dad kept one tap plumbed in to the house (not sure why it had to be the cold tap in the bath) because the rainwater was just so much better than town water. Now whenever we travel from home, we take litres of rainwater with us for the same reason.

We may as well begin this series with the woman it's named after. You will find her story in John 4 (jump over here for a link to Bible Gateway where you can read the passage in different versions / translations).

The story is actually set in Sychar (aka Shechem) a town located in Samaria located between Judea and Galilee (map). Samaritans were related to Jews but not on good terms with them, here is a good summary. It's important to understand this context so you can see how Jesus' actions went against His own cultural norms and certainly the expectations of His followers. The New Testament tells us that Jesus, Jewish born, was God embodied in a human so we would expect his behaviour to exceed the human frailties of fear and segregation.

Jesus had been in Judea but was starting to get some heat from the Pharisees (Jewish religious leaders) because of the numbers of people that had started to follow him. Feeling threatened when people who perhaps once followed you (or your group) then show an interest elsewhere continues to be a common theme across social, political and religious spheres doesn't it. That is one of things I like about Jesus, he had a realistic understanding of people, he knew they might like him one day and turn cold the next. Whilst he spent time teaching and being with the crowds, it was the individual and genuine seekers that he seemed to really impact. It was their life, their story that continued a slow burn and went on to light the fires elsewhere.

So here we are, Jesus has arrived with his disciples (they have gone off into town to get lunch) and he is tired, thirsty and weary from a long journey. It's about noon and a woman turns up to draw water.

By the way it's not just any well, this is Jacob's well (more on that later possibly in another post)...

He asks her for a drink because he hasn't got anything to draw the water up with. This really takes her by surprise, a Jewish man talking to not only a Samaritan but a woman at that and one that hasn't come out at the usual time (in the cool of the morning or evening) with all the other women so it's just the two of them. Totally taboo on a few counts back then. Then he starts telling her that he has special living water that is somehow linked to eternal life and never being thirsty again. This lady isn't afraid of having this conversation and has a bit of a debate with Jesus about his claims. In fact at verse 15 I can almost imagine her saying those words in a sarcastic tone. I'm not sure if she really meant it genuinely or not, was she joking around, or perhaps she thought, beauty I won't have to lug water everyday. I imagine that would have been a pretty onerous daily chore, but most people are fairly skeptical of get rich quick schemes, you know if it seems to good to be true it probably is which is why I am leaning toward sarcasm.

Well at that point it get's personal when Jesus reveals things about her life he could not know. Now I am not really sure what the story is with this woman, five husbands and currently living with a man she is not married to. If she was on Facebook, her relationship status would probably be "It's complicated" .... whether the ex's died or divorced her (pretty much the only option back then) I can imagine she wouldn't have been a spring chicken and probably unlikely to find a decent man to take on the role of husband #6. She probably didn't come out of the bust up's or death with a good property settlement or inheritance to live on. In that culture and time widows or divorced women were extremely vulnerable, financially and physically. I don't think she would have been having an easy time at that stage in her life, probably homeless, penniless and relying on the current guy to give her a roof over her head. What the exchange was we don't know but I imagine she was probably quite jaded by life, maybe carrying a heart full of broken dreams and had very limited prospects.

Enter her creator.....

the one that made her, knit her together in her mother's womb

that knows her intimately,

that loves her;

that would make time to talk to her (regardless of what the lads might think).

that wouldencourage her that she has hope, a future,

and one day soon..... lay his life down for her.

She realises that there is something special about this man, he has some kind of hotline to God (a prophet refers to a person who receives direct revelation of knowledge from God) so perhaps he does have something to offer her that is worth looking into? She clearly has some basic knowledge of what the local religious tradition teaches about the correct way to connect with God but then Jesus tells her that there is a new way that has something to do with spirit, truth and living water and that he is the anticipated Messiah / Christ that they have all been waiting for [to get a better understanding of this you need to be familiar with the relevant passages from Old Testament scriptures which refer to the coming Messiah - send me a note if you want more info].

Meeting Jesus and hearing what he had to say must have really blown her mind. Not only is he telling her that he is the Messiah, but also that no one has a monopoly on God, there is a different way of doing things (that is going to probably ruffle the feathers of people in all camps) and that there could be hope for her own life. And if Jesus really was the Messiah, why would he be there talking to her of all people in this village of half casts. Shouldn't he be setting up a conference with the religious leaders in Jerusalem or holding a seminar to get the word out? I imagine she would have been wrestling with a lot of questions, but something about the encounter must have really impacted her in a way that she couldn't just discard and get on with her day.

At that point Jesus' crew turn up (a few eyebrows raised about what he's up to talking to this woman but no one has the guts to say anything to Him about it) although they have brought lunch which I am sure was welcome, although he even uses this to teach them something new. That there is a different kind of food, just like there is a living water, that there is food for the soul. At the start they don't get it, they are like, is there a take-away delivery service we weren't aware of? So he explains that connecting with people one on one, loving and affirming them and letting them know the way to connect with God is not only spiritual food but is the will and the work of God (the one who sent Him). He also told them that there were more people to connect with to bring life and hope to.

PS guys... that includes women, they are really important to me and just as much a part of my outreach program both as receivers of my gift, then harvest workers.... [note this woman was instrumental in the work of Jesus in Sychar].

PPS ... oh and by the way it also includes Samaritans [wait until the crew figure out later in Acts that it also extends to Gentiles (non-Jews) i.e. pretty much everyone is included in Jesus' plan, by that time however the believers have the beautiful 'Helper' which helps soften the blow ... but more on Him later.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... our heroine has gone back into town, leaving her water jar (read life interrupted / turning point) and tells everyone that she's just met a guy she thinks might be the real deal, Messiah; that he knows everything about her and invites them to see for themselves. That must have taken so much courage for her (she probably wasn't the most respected woman in town) but by the looks of it, their interest was piqued because a bus load of people (well maybe a caravan of donkeys) head out to the well to check Him out.

The rest of the story unfolds that the town invites Jesus to stay with them for a couple of days and by the end of it, a whole group of people have accepted that Jesus is the promised Christ. Some were persuaded by the woman's testimony alone and others needed to hear more from Jesus, perhaps ask more questions. That's ok, all of our journey's are different. The important thing is starting a conversation with Him, finding out for ourselves who he is, digging in to see if we can also find the well of living water.

I wonder what life would have been like for that woman after the town encountered Jesus, how their village might have been transformed. One day I will ask her but for now I can only imagine that it would not have been long before they started experiencing the same sense of community that is described amongst the believers in the book of Acts where the believers cared for one another and where no one had any needs (see the end of Acts 2 and 4). That is the kind of community I want to be a part of building with others.

I will leave you to ponder over a song I think describes what happened to this woman who was met by love.

Shalom.

Cara