March 17, 2020
Scripture John 4:5-26
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
John 4:13-14 NRSV
There is no mistaking the saving words from Jesus to the woman at the well in Sychar, a town in Samaria. She is the first person in the Gospel of John who understood that the Messiah was among the people of Palestine. This woman had come to draw water and and discovered the Living Water of Jesus Christ. Like us, she was unprepared for God to enter her life during the routine activity of the day. She had the water that she had sought for her physical needs, but also discovered the wellspring of God’s grace.
So much of our experience of God can take place in an everyday setting similar to the Samaritan woman at the well. We work hard at nearly everything we do in school, work, and our leisure pursuits. Like Christ at the well, God is present with us always. A lifelong Christian knows this and will often proclaim it. But, rarely do you and I acknowledge this or think about our experiences in this way. Jesus told the woman at the well in Samaria that God had entered the world, bringing salvation like flowing water. He invited the woman at the well to enter into this communion. Through Christ and through God’s Spirit, that invitation remains open for you and me.
What will you and I do after our meeting with Jesus? Will we walk away from the well, living in a new way of faith in study, worship, prayer, and service?
Stan Reid