Woman at the Well

“The Woman at the Well”…. famous in lure & scripture.
She…a Samaritan Woman, a woman who was considered:
Unclean, Impure, Foreign, “less-then”
And yet, she is treated with dignity, love & respect by our Lord in his daily travels.
In this passage, we see much that shapes our Christian identity as:
Barrier-Breakers, Channels of Grace & Proclaimers of Faith,
With those three thoughts in mind, let’s look at the text a bit deeper.
Samaria was a land imbedded within Israel. It was a pocket of territory that geographically, was right between the north & the south.
Travelers could go around it…or pass through it.
But, it would be like going straight through North Philadelphia..rather then taking the turnpike & expressways around the city.
Going the Samaria route was more direct, but it meant crossing into foreign & forsaken land. It meant going into the land of unclean & ungodly heathens.
At least, that is the way Jews saw the people and land of Samaria.
And yet, Jesus “walked right through”. Modeling for us…my first point.
He was a “Barrier-Breaker”. He didn’t let the presumptions, prejudices and preconceived notions of “the right kind of people” dictate his actions.
Then, he took that a step farther by talking with a Woman at the Well.
Barrier-Breaking went to a new level: A foreigner, a woman, a person of no status.
Right there is my first point.
How might we live out the Gospel of Christ by doing some Barrier-Breaking of our own?
Who might we talk to, see as human for the first time, break bread or share from a cup…one whom we may never have noticed or seen a as a real person.
Who are the “Invisible people” in our lives? Do we objectify others? Let us learn from JC.
Jesus then went on to talk to this woman.
He asked for a drink. And what ensues is a whole conversation about Water & Living Water.
Jesus is trying to convey to her, that the water from the well will quench physical thirst.
But He has Living Water to share. He has the “Good News”. He has the Waters that Flow from Eternal Life. “Living Water”.
The Waters of Forgiveness, of Shalom. Of Love and Grace & Acceptance.
These are the waters that: “Quench the Thirst of the Soul”.
In the conversation, he also talks plainly about her life and her brokenness.
Her soul is laid bare. But in that Moment of Honesty, she discovers Healing & Grace.
There’s a story I like that reminds me of this.
A few years ago, rumors spread that a certain Catholic woman was having visions of Jesus. The archbishop decided to check her out.

'Is it true, m'am, that you have visions of Jesus?' asked the cleric.

'Yes,' the woman replied.

'Well, the next time you have a vision, I want you to ask Jesus to tell you the sins that I confessed in my last confession. Please call me if anything happens.'

Ten days later the woman notified her spiritual leader of a recent apparition.

Within the hour the archbishop arrived. 'What did Jesus say?' he asked.

She took his hand and gazed deep into his eyes. 'Bishop,' she said, 'these are his exact words: I CAN'T REMEMBER. '
When we have an encounter with the True & Living God, All will be revealed to us…..
Just like the Woman at the Well. But praise God, if we ask Jesus if he remembers our sins, his response to us is the same: “I can’t remember!”
He went to the cross for a redemption of sin…that we too, might be washed clean.
Then…we too, might do as the Woman at the Well did.
Go & tell others the Good News!
She went back into town and proclaimed that the Messiah had come! And many more believed.
Christian Writer George G. Hunter says, "Authentic evangelism," "flows from a mindset that acknowledges the ultimate value of people - forgotten people, lost people, wandering people, up-and-outers, down-and outers - all people. The highest value is to love them, serve them, and reach them."
"Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city." The woman would be back. The woman who shied away from people because she wanted to avoid their scorn was energized to tell others, the very people who had hurt her, that she had found the Messiah.