Meditation 240
John 4: 5-42
How interesting that Jesus speaks to a woman at Jacob’s well as the beginning of his time in Sychar. Because of the customs of the day the woman was less powerful than Jesus, and it would have been normal for Jesus to overlook her, to simply allow her to go about her business and not speak to her at all. However, Jesus, the one who is the giver of living water is thirsty, and so he asks the woman for a drink. The woman has less importance in the societal structures of the day, but she is the one with the water jar to draw water. “The scene is paradoxical. Here is the giver of living water, thirsty himself. A thirsty Messiah and a resourceful woman will find out that they need each other, a wonderful metaphor for how God and humanity are intimately interconnected.” (Osvalda Vena. Working Preacher)
The way that Jesus and this unnamed woman need each other goes beyond the giving of a drink of water at the well. This woman is the one who invites the people of Sychar to come and meet Jesus. Jesus stayed in Sychar for two days at the invitation of the people, and the initial introduction of Jesus to the people happened because this woman left her water jar at the well and went back to the city to tell people of the man she met who she believed to be the Messiah.
In the action of this woman, we see acted out an amazing truth. God is all powerful and yet God chooses to work through people. The sharing of living water is up to us. That is a rather sweeping statement, and I am in no way suggesting that God is not able to reach people without the intervention of other people. It is true though that most of us learn about the source of living water by the sharing of others. We probably learned to pray by the example of another, we learned to worship partly by worshiping with others, we probably first heard the stories of Jesus from other believers, and we in turn pass on what we hold in our hearts.
How do we as believers engage those outside of the congregation where we worship and fellowship? The woman in this story went into the city where she lived, and invited the people she met to come and meet someone who knew all about her, someone who might be the Messiah. We are told that the people followed her to go and meet Jesus. I have never had that experience of people rushing to follow me to find out about who Jesus is. There are some things in this story that are particular to that experience. This woman had come face to face with Jesus and she couldn’t help but go and tell everyone she met. We may not have had this identical experience of having met Jesus in person, but those of us who love and follow Jesus have a story that is every bit as worth sharing. In my own experience I have been astounded to hear from others what they have seen of God in my life, as I said I have never had the experience of this woman in John 4 who had a crowd follow to find out about faith. I have though been able to pray with those in hospital, to sit with those who grieve and to share food with the hungry. God relies upon us to share the living water that we have in as many ways as possible.