The Woman at the Well

If it wasn’t for this testimony in John 4 about the Woman at the Well,   I likely wouldn’t be writing this devotional. I likely wouldn’t consider myself saved at all.

How could someone like me, who fell for every lie that was told to her, who denied her true self to believe the lies of others, be worthy of saving? Not that I thought I needed anyone to save me — I could save myself! What did I need anyone else for?

That is what I thought until I read this story, where Jesus sat in in the heat of the noon day sun beside a well in Samaria. He was there alone while the disciples went to go find some food. He sat and waited for someone he knew would be there.

The Woman at the Well.

She came to pull her water for the day, drawing it at the hottest time when no one else was around. Why did she choose to do that? Was it to avoid the looks and gossip of the townspeople? Or was it because she new what they would call her, or what they would say about her, whispering behind their hands, looking at her askance as she walked by. Jesus knew her though, and nothing about her past mattered to him.

When she was at the well he asked her for a drink of water. He could make blind men see, calm the seas,  heal any disease, and feed thousands from a few loaves and fish, yet here he asked an outcast woman to “please give me a drink.” Then he started telling her about the living water, he answered her questions about worshipping God, and above all else, he told her “I AM the Messiah.” Clear as day, no bones about it — “I AM the Messiah”

Why did he choose this woman? This woman who had had 5 husbands, and wasn’t married to the man she currently lived with? By his own statements, if a woman married again, she was committing adultery, and here she was unmarried living with yet another man. Was it that her previous husbands had died, or had they cast her aside? Could she not have children, so they abandoned her? Was she a bad cook? Did it matter?

Not to Jesus. He told her about her past, and chatted with her in the hot noonday sun beside this well, telling her plainly who he was, sharing with her about the living water that came from him, where no one would ever be thirsty again.

Regardless of her past, her feelings of shame, and her status as an outcast, she called the townspeople to tell them about this man and brought them to him. He stayed, and many souls were saved that day, the first of which was hers.

Her past did not matter; what mattered to Jesus was her future.

Where was she going from here? Not repeating any of the same patterns from her past. I often wonder what happened to her. I imagine her as one of the many who walked with Jesus, following him and learning from him whatever she could. Why would she want to go anywhere else? Why would she want to go back and live an outcast life? Why would she want to continue to repeat whatever patterns had caused her to carry so much grief and shame around her heart? Why do any of us do that?

We don’t have to anymore.

Jesus showed us at that moment that no matter how dark our past, how bad it was or how hurt we were, even how broken we feel we are now, that our future is not defined by the pain we have experienced.

Our future is defined by the love of Jesus, who says “no more of this!” and accepts us as we are, where we are at the moment we see him, truly see him, as our Saviour. From that moment on, none of our past matters. Yes, it exists; it will not go away as it is a part of us. Our scars and trauma are still there, sometimes painfully visible to others — but Jesus loves us exactly for who we are, exactly where we are right now, and healing can begin.

We do not have to prove anything to anyone, all we need to do is say “Yes!” and receive this cup of living water from Jesus, to restore our soul and move forward; every step healing the darkness of our past, removing our shame and pain, and being born anew as is every brand new day.

Jesus chose this Woman at the Well to say plainly “I AM the Messiah.” He didn’t mince words or use a parable there. He told the outcast, the lonely, the shamed who he was. He sat with broken people, letting them host and serve him, seeking those who needed saving, not those who were already saved. He went to the one, not the ninety-nine. He still does today. He is with us today, regardless of any shadows in our past or present, just as he was with the Woman at the Well. And he will always seek those who are lost. Once we are in his flock, we are with him always, safe while he goes to search out more lost sheep. And we’re here to call out to them, too.

Come home, prodigal.

Come to the well, lost women.

Jesus loves you.

God loves you.

The Holy Spirit is with you and will guide you.

May you receive his blessing of love and peace, and walk forward in love and grace. Amen!