Living Water … Come Drink!
Date: 8th November 2017
I don’t know about you, but there have been times in my life when I have felt isolated from the other people around me. Nothing is glaringly obvious, but somewhere deep in my soul I’ve felt a profound sense of rejection. Our need for meaningful connection is a very human trait, but sadly sometimes we feel completely alone. Not heard, seen, or valued.
For some of us that sense of rejection, or dare I say abandonment, extends to our feelings about how God sees us. We might know in our head that God loves us, but in reality it doesn’t feel that way!
Sometimes the simple act of being ‘seen’ is enough to break through the gloom, and we begin to feel alive and valued again. I want to be very clear here … I’m not talking about depression or anxiety. I’m talking about the times when life gets us down and we feel alone and vulnerable.
One of the great joys for me over the years has been the discovery that I’m not alone in those times. Being able to realise that others have journeyed along a similar path has been balm to my soul.
I want to share one such story about a journey from isolation and rejection to wholeness and purpose. It’s a story many of us may know, but like any story the people involved are real, skin and bone, heart and soul, people that we can relate to. Although the story is set in the ancient past, it’s themes are as real today as they were then.
It’s just about noon, the sun is up and it’s a scorching day already. A lone figure walks to the village well to draw her daily supply of water. She does this every morning about the same time, always alone, but today is different. There is somebody sitting on the well’s wall. She recognises that he is not from the village, nor in fact is he from the region. He’s a foreigner, and not just any foreigner, but a despised enemy of her people.
Now remember that this is a time when it’s not considered appropriate for women to talk in public with men that were not part of her family. She arrives at the well and ignores the stranger, but he is thirsty and needs a drink. So he asks her if she would give him a drink from her vessel. This is scandalous behaviour from the stranger, but desperate times call for desperate measures: He’s been walking for hours in the burning sun and is extremely thirsty.
Shocked that he would ask her for help, she states the obvious; he’s Jewish and she’s a Samaritan. The animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans was centuries old. They had a history of intolerance and violence towards each other that centred around their religious practices. Sound familiar?
Anyway they start to talk God stuff. She knows who God is, and that they worship in different ways. The stranger makes an outrageous claim; he tells her that her need for water can be met in another way! Of course she’s dubious, and rightly so. The well is the only source of water for the whole village, and it has a long a proud history. She is concerned with her physical need for water, while he is talking about water at a soul level.
Lets leave them there and unpack what’s happening under the surface of the story (we’ll continue next week).
As some of you will be aware this is the story of the woman who encounters Jesus at the well. If you want to read it it’s found in John’s gospel (John 4.4-26). As so often happens we read a story like this in the Bible, but because it’s written so long ago, and it’s culture is so foreign, me might miss some of the significance of the story. So lets unpack this a bit.
First thing to notice is the time. What is a woman doing getting water at the hottest time of the day? It was usual for women to gather at the well in the early morning because it was cooler, and they needed water early to begin the daily routine of cooking etc. As the women gathered they swapped news, and generally had a time of deep connection. The children would be playing together as their mothers gossiped and shared their lives.
So what is this woman doing coming to the well when no one else is around? The time would indicate that she would be guaranteed not to meet anyone from the village. There is a real sense that although she lives in the village, she is not connected to the community in a meaningful way. Especially the community of women in her village.
The second thing to notice is that she is probably childless. If she had children they would accompany her, (the old adage many hands make light work), or if they were older they would be getting the water for her. It is reasonable to assume that she is isolated from the other women of the village, and in all likelihood, childless. For any of us that would be a very lonely, and probably desperate situation, but for a woman in the middle east in the first century this is catastrophic.
Finally the last thing to notice is the location; a village well. It is essential to remember that the seemingly insignificant details in a story often carry extraordinary detail. The significance of this unnamed woman meeting Jesus at a well is an echo of similar scenes in the biblical narrative of the Hebrew Scriptures. They are stories of betrothal! Jacob’s betrothal in Genesis 29 for example. Remember too that the well is described as Jacob’s well by the woman in our story. Also in an earlier scene in John’s gospel John the Baptist has said that he is a friend of the bridegroom when speaking of his relationship with Jesus.
So what’s this encounter really about?
The scene is set. A woman who is isolated and alone encounters someone who sees her, and wants to engage with her. Jesus recognises her ‘need’, and invites her on a journey of discovery.
Join me next time as we journey with her and explore what God has in store.
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