Today we can find Wednesday's Woman in John 4:1-42. She is the woman at the well, and a woman we can all relate to. I encourage you to spend time reading about her and Jesus in John. In just forty-two verses there are great blessings to behold.Here we find Jesus leaving Judea and returning to Galilee(vs.2). He had to travel through Samaria along the way. For some, this would be like heading home, and you must take a different route and it's on the other side of town. The side that some try to stay away from. But Jesus, He goes there. That is my first moment of beauty. He isn't afraid to approach anyone. This is one of those moments that should bring us to humility. Allowing us to see there is no difference in God's people. It doesn't matter what side of the tracks you are from. Jesus' blood flows the same through all of us, just as in the woman at the well.
Now, meeting at well is another thing of beauty. Jesus could have met her anywhere, but He chose the place and the time. The well is deep and the woman is searching for water. She just isn't searching for water on this day, I feel she is searching for life and Jesus knows this. Here is a woman who has been married many times, and is still living in sin, but is her sin any different from our sin? In Jesus' eye, sin is sin. And he is getting ready to show her something beautiful. I would have loved to been sitting near by and watching this woman approach. A Samaritan woman at that. The women come to the well in the morning and evening. She chooses to come at another time. She is not like all the rest. She is an outcast. You just know there is pain in this woman's heart. She is carrying much, and it is time for her to let it go and find life outside of her pain and find it in the Living Water. Ever try getting water out of an empty well? We do that all the time don't we? We keep searching and that bucket we pray holds much just keeps coming up dry. We are looking in the wrong places. Jesus shows us clearly where we can find life, everlasting life. A well that will never go dry.
We all have those deep wells in which we are searching for life, searching for something. But right here in this moment Jesus allows her freedom to stop searching, look right before her eyes and find real life, a freedom she has never known.
I find it also beautiful that she begins to call Jesus a Jew(vs.9), then she calls Him, Sir(vs.11). She then goes to think He might be the Messiah(vs.29) and lastly she and the people of the town see Him as Savior(vs.42). The more time she spent with Him the more she got to know Him. The more He shared, the more she accepted. Although skeptical at first, her blinded eyes were open and she saw Jesus for who He is, the Savior of the world. Can you imagine the feelings that were stirring in her heart at this time? She is face to face with her Savior and He is telling her of her past and how she doesn't have to stay there, searching in this well, but she can find Living Water in Him(13-14).
Now, here come the disciples who are learning daily in their walk with Jesus. They approach and wonder why He is speaking to this woman, a Samaritan woman at that. Isn't that just like us? We see a friend and stop in our tracks and say, "Wow, why is she talking to her?" Jesus didn't have any boundaries of the people He was wanting to reach. He is willing to step out and just love. Why is it so hard for us to this? Why is it so hard for us to accept another just because they are different? A different race, a different color, a different social standing than we? The only thing that separates people is pride. It's funny when you are about to lose everything you have, all your pretty clothes, your fancy make up and all those things we love, humility has a way of grabbing a hold of us and knocking us down a notch or two. And don't we all need a dose of that medican?
But the disciples now come back after shopping for food and want Jesus to sit and eat. Listen to what He says, "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent Me, and from finishing His work." (vs.34) Jesus was not only sharing the Living Water, but He too wash receiving nourishment, food if you will in doing the will of God, in doing His work. And isn't that what He was doing at the well? He was stepping out and reaching another for His Father, so that she too might find life through Him. So that she would find real life, and search no more.
Jesus knew her past, present and future. Just as He knows ours. He is waiting at the well for us today. He is waiting for us to place down our bucket and let go of our past, finding peace in His Living Water. There is beauty in that spring that never stops flowing. There is peace in that Water. Ever just sit by a spring and listen to the sweet sound of refreshing beauty? It never stops flowing. There is a spring we love to visit in Missouri. It is Alley Springs. We have taken our children there for years, and spent many summers making memories there. But when we visit the spring it just does something special. As you look at that crystal clear water below, you see no bottom, you only see everlasting beauty. And that is what the woman at the well saw in Jesus this day.
Now, she just didn't keep this amazing love to herself, she went to town and shared it with everyone! She stepped out of her box, out of her comfort zone and wanted others to know what she now had, Living Water.(vs. 39-42)
I love the beginning of this story when Jesus meets this humble woman, searching for life. And the end even gets better. Through one woman, Jesus touches many. Through one woman, heaven gains more glory. What she sought out she finally found in Jesus. One day, one moment, one well, and one Savior changed the lives of many this day.
What about you my friend? What are you searching for? Are you tired of searching? Find Jesus, grasp His Living Water and search no more. He will fill your cup today and it will never go dry again.
