Today's Gospel text of John 4.5-42 invites us into an encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well (read Genesis 33:18ff for Jacob's story of settling there). Jacob's well: a place of wiping off the sweat of fear and trepidation and living into hope for a new future. Jacob's well: a deeply placed testament to the power of undeserved grace and mercy settling the soul and opening the heart. Jacob's well: the witness to the power of human reconciliation and a humbled restoration of right relationship with God and brother. Jacob's well.
There we find Jesus on a trip through the Samaritan territories seeking refreshment: God's Life welling up to new life at Jacob's well. There truth is told in ways the Samaritan woman never imagined she would ever be worthy to receive, much less able to understand: Eternal waters rushing over the sides of the well and washing earthly life with baptismal newness. There the woman's thirst is quenched and her water jug is left standing empty: Reconciliation and restoration of relationship have found new beginnings as the woman runs to the very community from which she is shunned to share the Waters which cannot be contained. God's well.
God's water is poured out as Jesus' words wash into the soul of the Samaritan woman: She who thirsted much for righteousness and mercy . . . received mercy and acted in righteousness. God's water mingles in the muddy mess of human existence and births new life in joy and excitement: She who was declared unclean by a community whose laws advocated for her exclusion is radically included in God's new community as one of the first to know Messiah: God's Living Waters flow in the 'I am' of Jesus' compassion for the woman's predicament, and we are allowed the hearing of the community as her words proclaim, "Could this be the Messiah?" God's Water knows no bounds of ethnicity or race: She who leaves her jug lying at the side of the well declares the economy of a God who lavishes forgiveness on those who voices cry out in confession and seek God's healing. God's well for all.
You can stand there and be skeptical or you can hear her voice and run to meet Him. You may choose to disregard the word of this tainted woman you may choose to enter into the Word of the One declared 'Blessed' before all of humankind. You may receive Him on her word or choose to receive Him in His word in your heart. Yet, know this: Regardless of the choice you choose, God's life welling up to eternal life at the walls of Jacob's well cannot be stopped, for Jacob's well has always been God's well, and God has chosen the better part of Life.
Jesus says, "Come unto me, all you who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Must it be on your terms? Or are you ready to drink deeply of God's Waters for you on God's terms? No matter which way you turn, you have chosen. Choose to turn to the Well.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Don
Sign for the Week:
ALL THE TECHNOLOGY
TO MAKE LIFE EASIER
CANNOT MAKE LIFE BETTER.
WALK WITH CHRIST
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