Life can be pretty hard sometimes. When you’re in school or at work, it can be pretty hard to make it through the whole day. Then, you have to go home and do homework and work waiting for you at home. Sometimes, it seems like there’s never a moment’s rest.
Or maybe our problem is not that we are busy, but that we’re kind of bored. We wonder how many more soap operas and game shows can we watch; how many more CD’s can we play; how many more games of 42.
...How many more times do I have to come to this dumb well in the hot sun and sand. Aw, look! There’s a man resting against the well. Just by looking at him, he looks like one of those Northern Jews. Oh, great! That means when I get there he probably won’t say anything to me. He’ll ignore me first of all because I’m a woman, and the Jewish men can be so stupid when they are around women. They don’t believe they should speak to women. He might even be one of those Jews who hides his eyes when he sees a woman coming. If he doesn’t ignore me because I’m a woman, he’ll ignore me because I’m a Samaritan. The Jews think we’re a bunch of half-breeds or unpure Jews. They think that we don’t worship in the right place, which of course, is the temple at Jerusalem and not Mount Gerizim where we worship. And they think we’re confused, because we use only the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Oh well, I might as well get it over with. Here’s the well. I can’t believe it! He’s actually looking at me!
"Give me a drink."
I can’t believe it! He’s actually speaking to me! I must ask why. "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. You don’t even believe in eating out of the same bowls we use."
"If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ’Give me a drink’ you would have asked me and I would have given you living water."
I might have known! He’s going to make fun of me! He’s saying the water from our father Jacob’s well is not good enough for him! He wants flowing, running, living water and he knows this well doesn’t have that kind of water!
"Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that kind of living and flowing water? Are you saying you’re greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well and drank from it himself and his sons and his cattle?"
"Every one who drinks of this water from this well will get thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never get thirsty again; the water that I shall give will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
Surely he’s mocking me! There is no water that will keep you from getting thirsty again! Who does he think he’s fooling? "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw!"
"Go, call your husband and come here."
What! Does he want to see if I’m married? He may want to date me! He doesn’t have to talk to any husband; he can just talk to me! "I have no husband." Maybe he’ll leave me alone now!
"You are right in saying ’I have no husband;’ for you have had five husbands and he whom you now have is not your husband. Am I not right?"
Wait a minute! Who is this man?! It seems as if he knows my very thoughts! How could he know this, except if he were a prophet and receives words from God like Moses did. "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet." If he knows so much, perhaps he can clear this up for me.
"Our ancestors worshipped on this Mountain--Mount Gerizim and y’all say Jerusalem is where people should worship."
"Believe me. The time is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem is the place where people should worship God. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation stems from the Jews. But the hour is coming; actually it is already here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for that’s the kind of worshippers God wants. For you see, God is spirit and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth."
He’s speaking like the teacher we’ve been waiting for--the one who will be like Moses. He will teach us all things. Maybe the Jews aren’t so bad after all. "I know that the Teacher is coming--the anointed one--when he comes, he will teach us all things and we will know all."
"I am he. I am who I am."
Oh! Can this be true! Can this be the one we’ve waited for! He knows so much about me! When he looks at me, it is as if he looks right through me into my heart.
Oh! I did not see these men coming! Well, they’re not speaking to me. I don’t even care! I am in such a daze! I can’t believe what’s going on! I must tell my friends! They’ll never believe me! I must run! I’ll leave my water jar here, it’s too hard to run with! Oh, I cannot run fast enough! There’s some of my friends! "Come here! You must see this man who told me everything I ever did. Can he be the anointed one!" Maybe he’s right! I won’t have to be thirsty again!
The woman at the well received something that day! She knew that she needed food and water for her body, but one relationship after another had failed. Her religion gave her meaning, but she had a hard time believing it could all boil down to where you worship! She was searching for something--for meaning. And so we search!
We search by turning to drugs to relieve and forget the pain of life. We search by trying to get all the gusto we can out of life! Just party all the time! We search by trying to look exactly like Cindy Crawford or Tom Cruise. We search by putting others down, so we won’t have to look at ourselves! We search by filling our time with meaningless chores, while never finding time for anyone else. We search because we can’t rid ourselves of a guilt-ridden conscience.
We’re thirsty! We can’t get full! We seem so empty!
Life indeed is empty, when we try to do things on our own...when we look to ourselves totally for meaning! Life is just a rat race, if we have no purpose! Life doesn’t have to remain that way!
There is water for the thirsty! There is meaning for us when we’re in despair. There is purpose for those wandering aimlessly. There is a way to cope with all the pain! There is living water from this one named Jesus! Jesus says, "Come to the fountain, drink till you’re full. I know you are thirsty, you won’t be denied. I felt every teardrop that in darkness you’ve cried. And I’ve strove to remind you, that for those tears I died." (From the song "For Those Tears I Died")
When life is hard, know that we have a God who bears it with us! When you feel lonely, remember Jesus was lonely too. Jesus will be our friend when others won’t. When we are in places that seem so ungodly, God is even there! If we ascend to the heavens, God is there! If we make our bed in the pits of life, God is there! If we take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the seas, God is even there! If we say let the darkness cover me, I want to give up on life! God turns that darkness into day and gives meaning to life!
We don’t bear our hurts alone! We belong to God who gives living water to the thirsty! Come to the fountain, God says. Drink forgiveness. Drink meaning. Drink grace. Drink hope. Drink love. Drink purpose. Let’s drink the living water--the water that only God can give--and let’s worship God in spirit and in truth.
