There once was a woman who lived in an arid country in a town between a mountain and a river. Her home was ancient but alive; she was sustained by the water of a well dug by her ancestors 2000 years before her birth.
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In her youth she was betrothed. Blissful courtship blossomed into devoted matrimony. The two became one; the woman became a wife. There was; however, no happily ever after-- though the woman had married, her life was no fairy tale. The woman's vows did not endure through life. We know not how her first love departed. Whether by death or divorce, her first love reached an untimely end. On four more occasions she became the bride of four different men. Perhaps she dreamed that each would satisfy her deepest heart's desire. And on four more occasions the bloom of romance withered to dust. She was now alone.
Until one day, a sixth man came into her life. Maybe she loved him or maybe she simply did not want to be alone. He may have given her comfort. He did not; however, give her a ring. The two lived together, and though she was happy again, she was ashamed. In her youth when the coolness of evening came, she would go to well of her ancestors with the women of the town to fill her water jar. They would talk about their lives. On some occasions they may have sung songs together. But her strong ties to her community spoiled with each failed marriage. She became a pariah as her reputation became more blighted. The woman now made the daily trek to the well at the hottest time of day when it was too unpleasant for anyone to fetch water. This way she could ensure she'd be left to herself. This way she could make it through another day.
The woman came across a weary foreigner on one of her trips to the well. She must have felt relief knowing that he would not speak to her; it was clear by his appearance that he was Jewish, and truly Jewish people would have nothing to do with her people. Just as she began to draw water, this man asked her for a drink. How odd-- surely he knew this was not the custom. And she said just that, "How can you ask me for a drink?" The man replied, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." She was bewildered. Maybe she thought to herself, "First he asks for a drink of water. Then he says if I had only known who he was, I would have asked him to give me water? This makes no sense!"
As she formed her response, she remembered where they were. That ancient well that had given life to her people for generations-- and here was an empty-handed traveler who offered living water. She said, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" He answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." She must have felt like he did not answer her questions, but it didn't seem to matter. At the prospect of no longer needing to come habitually to the well, she responds, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." Maybe this water was the solution to her problems-- to live eternally and never see death, to be rid of this errand that exposes her to the scrutiny and judgment of her people, to never thirst.
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As confusing as the man had been so far, he now confounded her with a command to go and call her husband and then come back. Instinctively the woman said, "I have no husband." There may still have been a chance to receive the living water without fulfilling the stranger's request to meet her husband. Then the man astonished her, saying, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said it quite true." How could he have possibly known these things? The woman was exposed. And how bizarre to hear him call her truthful more than once while plainly discussing her sexual immorality.
Rather than dwelling on who she was, the woman forged ahead using what she knew about the traveler. "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on [Mount Gerizim], but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." When things became too personal, she diverted to a theological debate. This man was not thrown off by the change of subject, but declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. [Your people] worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." Finally something the man said sounded reasonable; she had learned that a time would come when the worship of God would extend beyond Jerusalem. She had learned that the Jews were waiting for a Savior, a Messiah to save God's people. Yet this teaching was still mysterious and hard to understand. The woman said, " I know that [God's Anointed One] is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.
"I AM he who speaks to you."
This is the moment the woman gave herself to a seventh and final man. He is the Savior who can offer her what she has always sought and never received-- love that satisfies completely.
This is the moment where she surrenders all her preoccupations (literally); she departs so abruptly from him that she leaves her water jug behind. This ordinary day started with a routine trip to draw water, and now the woman has a mission to draw people. And as the water of the well had given life to generations of thirsty people, this man will offer life eternal for parched souls. Without any reservation, the woman entered the town and said, "Come! See a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Those who heard this news came out of the town to see the man. Because of his words many became believers, saying to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said: now we have heard for ourselves, and we know the this man really is the Savior of the world."
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*****
In Part 1, you may recall a similar story. A lonely and forsaken Gentile woman encounters a man while away from home. First they talk together. Then the stranger reveals how deeply he knows the woman. He shares with her the promise of a future full of life-- for Hagar, a baby and many generations, for the woman at the well, eternal life. Then he reveals who he is. Both of the women's encounters with Christ result in their lives turning around-- spiritually and literally. They both turn back to the place where they are scorned and bear a message directly from God to which they faithfully testify. And both times, the man's promise comes to fruition. As the truth of the promises unfold in the women's lives, their faith in the God of the man they encountered must have deepened.
There is one key distinction I'd like to point out between these stories. Hagar's encounter underscores the character of God who sees and hears his children while the woman at the well highlights how we respond to a God who knows us through and through. It is good for us to know that God sees and hears us in every moment. The story of the woman at the well demands that we, too, must see and hear Christ. She testified that seeing and hearing Jesus had finally satisfied the thirst she felt within. The invitation that the Samaritan woman extended to her town was like their well of water; for 2000 years it had been available to give life if only people would come and draw deeply from the water it held. Her invitation to see and hear the Christ has also stood for 2000 since she first spoke those words to all who desire to freely drink in the living water Jesus alone can give.
Have you seen Christ? Or are you avoiding his call? Would it help to know he sees you?
Have you heard Christ? He comes to us with the same offer of living water. But just as he sought out that one woman at the well, he speaks to you personally knowing exactly where you've come from and what it'll take for you to believe in him.
I urge you, friend, to accept this invitation. Come! See and hear! Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you {James 4:8, ESV}
*All text was adapted from John 4:4-30; John 4:39-42 (New International Version)
