A Well Meeting

What a meeting place. Why did Jesus meet this woman of Samaria at the well? I found myself reading the story of the woman at the well found in John 4 and was filled with a new insight that showed me a well of mercy from the Savior. This woman was a Samaritan. Jews didn't associate with them. They were the low of the low. This woman would travel to the well, which was also Jacob's well, in shame and discomfort. Did she feel like all eyes were upon her? Did other women wait to gather their water until after she was done just so they didn't have to come close to her path of walk? 

As she drew water from deep for Jesus, He drew from her a heart ready to pour, to be refreshed, to drink Jesus in new. Jesus drew from her what had been buried deep. If this woman could have seen her reflection in this well of deepness what would she have seen? A woman lost, living in a world where freedom was not found for her kind. 

Jesus has asked for a drink. He has met her right where she is. Soon she is asking Jesus to give her water. Living water so that she will thirst no more. A water that was a deep reservoir of love and grace. Mercy met this woman at the place where she least expected. 

Could they have met anywhere? Why did Jesus choose the well for this perfected meeting that He had already ordained in advance? A place where she would not only be alone, but feel alone. This is our Jesus. He meets us where we are. He meets us at our weakest moment without condemnation, but with compassion and mercy. 

This woman's reflection would soon change from condemned and unaccepted to a woman redeemed. A woman that no longer had to hide but one ready to now share her story and how Jesus opened her story up like a book and penned a new chapter for her. One that would give her life a new meaning, a new path, and one with a gem of an ending. 

Jesus met her at her most vulnerable moment where shame covered her. He met her when she least expected. An unexpected mercy meeting would change her life and the lives of those around her. This woman of sin kept hidden the life she had been living. But nothing can be hidden from Jesus. Through grace He showed her a life she could have verses the life she was living. 

Unclean by the standards of others looking down on her, this woman would soon be cleansed by the love and forgiveness of her Savior. She would leave her shame behind and walk, no run, to her town and share with not only women, but men also her story and how Jesus changed the course of her life by a mercy meeting at the well. Many came to believe!! 

Oh, the deep this woman covered up. The sin so deep. Jesus asking her for a drink of water, but now she would ask Jesus for a drink. I love this picture of a Father Redeemer with such love. He knew her deep. She believed Him deep. Her story mattered to Jesus. His story now became real to her because of the compassionate love He shared with her. He could of gotten His own drink. The Disciples could have found a bucket for drinking. No. This wasn't about Jesus serving Himself or His Disciples gathering water. This was about a woman who felt she wasn't good enough. A woman who settled for life as it was. A woman who thought nothing would ever change. A woman in deep pit of misery. The same daily life living a pattern of sin. A woman that had nothing. A woman in need of everything. Nothing this would could fill her with alone, but all that her Savior could give in a mercy meeting. 

See, what this mercy meeting shows me is a mighty kind of love. A meeting planned out perfectly. A love even more perfect. The Disciples didn't understand why Jesus was even associating with this woman. They were still learning this mercy that Jesus so freely gave. I remember the moment I received Jesus as my Savior. I will never forget my mercy meeting. Everything changed that day. The perfect day that He had predestined for me to receive Him. He knew when my heart would be ready to accept and believe. 

So, here is where I am today. Why am I not living this mercy life in a world still so very lost and in need of mercy? Why am I not so excited and unashamed as this woman to run into town and share Jesus with everyone I meet? What do I have to lose? Really? I already have Jesus. I know my R.S.V.P. is signed, sealed, and delivered. I have heaven and Jesus waiting for me. Friends, it doesn't get any better than that! 

I have been forgiven. Mercy has found me. But I find myself still living as if there isn't anything good to share. Sweet Jesus, forgive me for not sharing You with everyone. See, this woman left everything at the well and took with her a love deep with mercy and forgiveness. She was so excited to share this mercy meeting with everyone that she left her water jar at the well.

I think some of us could fill that well full with our sin. We live daily trying so hard to hide what we don't want others to see. At the mercy meeting Jesus was able to pull out what this woman had been hiding for no telling how long. What about you? Are you in need of mercy? In need of giving mercy? This mercy meeting at the well springs forth a love unconditional. Jesus already knew the life of this woman. He knew her story. He too knows your story. He knows mine as well. There's nothing to be hidden from Him, but so much to uncover. He is our Savior with a reservoir of the Living Water that so sweetly tastes of mercy.

Mercy: Compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within our power to punish.

Grace: The free unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. 

"Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again--ever! In fact, the water I will him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life."" John 4:13-14