Ready for a pit stop? Jesus was.
John 4 tells us all about the story of Jesus with the woman at the well, so if you need a refresher, check out my last post!
Jesus had been on the move, making His way from Judea to Galilee. It was the shortest way, but going through Samaria wasn’t the only way to get to His destination. It would’ve been understandable for a group of Jews to take a longer route, because they were not messing with the Samaritans back then––more on that later. So, having been on the move, Jesus was tired! Yes, Jesus. Christ was physically tired.
‘and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.’
Can you relate? I know you can, and this shows that Jesus does to. Verse 6 is really good evidence for why we can expect God to be compassionate, even with the simple things we go through.
So, on the move, tired, sitting by Jacob’s old well at the sixth hour. With the way we tell time now, the sixth hour would be high noon. If you’re from a place that gets regular sunshine (e.g. anywhere but Ithaca), you know that this is when the sun pulls out all the stops. It would be hotter than hot, so a sensible person would go fetch their water at any other time BUT, at the highest of noons, someone else was there.
A woman.
(read that in the voice of the dude in that Vine where they take the paper off the whiteboard and he’s like “a child.”. If you don’t get the reference, this may not be the blog for you.)
(Just kidding, I love you and your lack of pop culture! Keep reading!!!)
So. On the move, tired, Jacob’s old well, high noon, random Samaritan woman. “Random”. The disciples had all left to get some food, so Jesus asks the woman of Samaria (I’ll be calling her Wos) to get Him some water.
She looks at Him like this:
‘…“How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ‘
Like I said, the Jews and the Samaritans were not friendly. Wos alludes to it in verse 20, but the Jews and Samaritans worshipped differently, and as we’ll see, how you worship matters. To worship something is to acknowledge its worth, so the form of acknowledgement can say a lot about how much worth is being acknowledged. Get that? All the way back in Deuteronomy, Moses was very clear when he said “whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.” Keep in mind, he was speaking on behalf of God, not just passing off his preferences as law. So considering the Samaritan mixture of Judaism and idol worship, this interaction should not have been happening.
Despite their differences, Jesus had asks for some water, and Wos responds, “why me?”. Instead of answering her question, Jesus leaves her with more. In verse 10, Jesus tells Wos that she should be the one asking *Him* for a drink, not of regular degular well water, but of living water. We learn in John 7 that He’s referring to the Holy Spirit, Who makes His appearance later on in the New Testament,
’37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. ‘
…but Wos doesn’t catch any of this, and I don’t blame her. Here’s some random Jewish man asking her for water, and then telling her He’d give HER water when He doesn’t even have anything to fetch it with!
You see, Wos was thinking in terms of what she already knew. When you’re thirsty, you drink water from the well, and if you want to drink water from the well, you need something to fetch it with. It says that the well was deep, so it’s not even like Jesus could’ve leaned over and drank (drunk?) with His hands. But when Jesus tells her His water quenches thirst forever, Wos asks Him for some; how He gets it is His business. Not having to make midday well trips would’ve been great for Wos, but wait––why was she out there in the first place??? Stay tuned to find out in pt.2! Leave comments (no spoilers!) below!
be blessed bbys ✨
Vessel in the Valley 