Early mornings are a great time to hear from God. Probably ’cause I haven’t had any coffee yet, so He knows I won’t talk much! Sometimes I ask God what I should write about. I really need His words, not mine to touch people. This morning He reminded me of the woman at the well.
She had come to draw water from the well. At midday, a time when the other women would not be there. A time where she didn’t have to listen or see them give her the ‘look’. A quiet time when nobody would mock her for already having five husbands and now sleeping with another man.
I wonder what happened to the first five husbands? She was a woman with no rights at that time. She couldn’t take him to court to divorce him. Divorce wasn’t allowed. If I recall correctly, a man could just kick her out for no good reason like Vashti. Remember her? I remember the “Veggie Tales” version. It was from the book of Ester. I love the Veggie Tales!
OK, Vashti didn’t get kicked out for not making the King a sandwich. That was the kids Veggie Tale edit. Here is the real reason she said, “NO!”
“The reason for Vashti’s refusal—According to the Aggadah, Queen Vashti’s modesty prohibited her from appearing before the king because his command had implied that she should present herself to his guests while wearing only her royal crown.”
Good choice Vashti.
Now, back to the woman at the well. Maybe she got kicked out of those marriages too. Who knows. Jesus did. Jesus didn’t shame her with his question. He used His supernatural knowledge of all things to open her eyes to the Truth. She wasn’t offended. Instead, she asks for more water. She was both thirsty in the physical sense and the spiritual sense. She perceived that Jesus knew all about her after that. And He still wanted to talk to her. He even asked her for water. She had water, She had the means to get it out of the well. But she was still THIRSTY!
A Samaritan Woman Meets Her Messiah
4 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” – John 4:1-26 NKJV
Jesus knew how lonely she was. He knew how ashamed she felt. He knew how desperate she was for real love. Not the fake kind, where a man could kick her out for no good reason. She had been married five times already. Perhaps she had tried everything and those men kicked her out anyway. She was looking for that kind of love that would fill her up. She was THIRSTY for real love and had not found it, despite five marriages and another man now.
The Lord reminded me that this Christmas Season there will be people that come to church, that come to your family gathering, people that you meet at your work or at the store or wherever you go –
THEY ARE THIRSTY!
They may not know the Lord. They may have tried anything to fill that hole in their heart that only God can fill. They may find themselves numbing their feelings with alcohol, or drugs, or shopping or eating or whatever. Any addiction – it is but a symptom. It is not the real thing – there is a reason people try to run from or numb things – there is a WOUND there. There is a TRAUMA there. Something happened TO THEM. And guess what? THEY ARE THIRSTY!
There are some wounds that only Jesus can heal. He didn’t call that woman at the well out on all the things she had done wrong. He didn’t refuse to talk to her despite her race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. He stopped and talked and led her to Him. He healed her heart. She was looking for the Messiah and acknowledged that He would tell her all things. Jesus opened her eyes and she realized that Jesus was the One she was looking for – the Messiah, the King of Kings, the Salvation of the world.
You know what she did? She was the one who went and told the whole town about Jesus! That one woman may have saved the whole Samaritan village, who knows?
My point I guess is, people are thirsty. People are hungry for real love. People are thirsty for love, health, healing, hope, joy, peace, and more. Let’s not judge who Jesus brings to the table. None of us were worthy either.
Lord, open our eyes to those who need your living water in Jesus Name! We know you Lord, and you have given us that ladle to pass out living water to those we meet. You are our living water Lord! Let’s spread the Good News this Holiday Season because PEOPLE ARE THIRSTY!
