Come Thirsty - The Samaritan Woman's Story
/Do you ever feel as though you aren't worthy? That if God, or others really knew what you are like, there would be no room for you? That if the people in church knew your past sins, or current struggles, you'd be on the outside looking in? If so, read the following story and be amazed. It's about you. And it's about me. It's about how every single one of us is pursued by Jesus, right where we are...
She comes thirsty; her soul as parched as the ground beneath her feet. She comes alone. The scorching midday sun is more tolerable than the stinging words and scornful glances of the women who gather at the well in the cool morning hours. As she approaches, she sees a man slouched against the side of the well. He is obviously weary from traveling. She can tell from His clothing that he is a Jew, and Jews have no dealings with Samaritans, so certainly they will have nothing to say to one another. She will get her water and be on her way. As she lowers her jar into the well, the voice startles her, “Give me a drink.”
“How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” Her words drip with sarcasm. A man, lowering himself to talk with a woman? And a Jew, nonetheless? Everyone knows that if a Jew drinks from the vessel of a Samaritan he is considered ceremonially “unclean”.
No offense taken. No sharp reply. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ’Give me a drink’, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you “living water””. The woman’s curiosity is piqued. This man is different. He is looking her in the eye with a look she has never experienced before and doesn’t recognize. There is a kindness about Him, an authenticity that draws her in.
“Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob?...”
Again the man speaks, and His words mystify her. “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him, will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” An internal spring of water? Now that is something I can use. No more trudging to this well in the sweltering heat. No more of this intolerable thirst.
“Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” She knows that she is thirsty. Not just her flesh, but also her soul. There is a longing deep within her that she can’t seem to satisfy.
“Go call your husband and come here.” She catches her breath. The pain is palpable. Husband –ha!
“I have no husband.” The ache rises up again as it often does. It wants to consume her. But she has learned to keep on plodding. To put one foot in front of the other. To eat one more meal, to take one more step, to draw one more jar of water from the well. But in uttering those words, “I have no husband”, all of her brokenness rises to the surface. Unfaithfulness, betrayal, death, loss, shame, loneliness, isolation. She again thinks about her own inadequacies, failures, and foolish choices that have led to FIVE terminated marriages. Five men who have come and gone. Even what I've got now probably won't last...
Her thoughts are interrupted. “You are right in saying that you have no husband. You have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” How does he know this about me? He must be a holy man. But He is unlike any holy man I have ever known. His words convey compassion, rather than condemnation.
“Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship…” She attempts to steer the conversation in a different direction.
“Woman, believe me the hour is coming, and is now here, when neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” The man is relentless in his pursuit of her. He is calling her to something new. Not religious practice, but true worship of a living God. Her heart begins to feel the stir of a yearning long buried. Her true, deep thirst is becoming apparent. No man will satisfy her parched soul. Rather, there is a thirst for the Father; to know Him and worship Him. A droplet of hope trickles through her desperate heart. Would the Father be seeking someone like me? Could I truly find satisfaction in worship?
She turns to the man and says wistfully, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” WHOOSH!! The drop of hope is instantly transformed into a waterfall. All of her shame, her heartache, her wounds, and the cavernous ache of her broken dreams are being washed away by this Man. Jesus. The Messiah. Her heart is bursting.
She drops her water jar and runs into town. Her excitement cannot be contained. She tells everyone she can find, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did! Can this be the Christ?” The very people she had always avoided, she now speaks to with confidence and joy. The head that had hung low with shame is now held high with dignity. She is the very picture of hope, of new life, of salvation. As Jesus watches her hurry away, without a thought for her water vessel, He smiles.
Jesus’ disciples arrived on the scene just as the woman turned to go. They were perplexed that He had been speaking with this woman. If only they had heard the conversation. They would have been speechless. John the Baptist asked Jesus if He was the Messiah. The religious leaders asked Jesus if He was the Messiah. Even his own followers asked Him. He never once gave people a straight answer to that question. He never once said, “I am the Messiah.” But here, alone with a Samaritan woman, beside a well in the heat of the day, Jesus tells her plainly, “I who speak to you am He.” The gravity of this self-disclosure is jaw-dropping. It is shocking that Jesus would tell this social outcast that He is the Savior of the world. Unless you know Jesus well. Because if you know Jesus, you know that He has a love that knows no prejudice, that crosses every boundary, and that stops at nothing to draw the least likely sinner to Himself.
As the woman grows in her new found faith, the words of the prophet Jeremiah remind her of the years she had squandered. “ Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me; the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer 2:12-13). She had done that all of her life. She had tried to satisfy her thirsty soul by drinking from a broken cistern. A water vessel filled with sludge, pebbles and mosquito larvae. All the while, disregarding the fountain of living water. When the broken cisterns of her life shattered into a million pieces, and could no longer hold even a single drop of water, she found Jesus to be enough for her. Now, as the living water washes over her soul and splashes about her, she knows freedom, and joy and peace. The woman who dropped her water jar and ran into town with her heart held high, for the first time in her life, isn’t thirsty anymore.
I don't know about you, but this story of Jesus and the woman at the well resonates with me on so many levels. I have been that woman. I was the last person I would have been looking for, if I was Jesus! I was a bratty, foul-mouthed teenager, living a rebellious lifestyle, when Jesus met me. His love for me was nothing I deserved. God was not even on my radar! But I was on His, and He sought me out and set His love on me.
I can also relate to this woman's frantic search for satisfaction. As Jeremiah explains, I have forsaken the fountain of living water to dig out my own, pathetic cisterns. I've often pictured it this way... I'm standing with my back to a waterfall, holding a small gardening spade. Rather than simply turn around and bask in the crisp, refreshing water flowing endlessly behind me, I am frantically trying to dig my own well. It's insane. No wonder God exclaims, "Be appalled!!"
Not only is it ludicrous. God calls it "evil". Ouch. Looking for satisfaction ANYWHERE else is not only stupid, it's evil. It's idolatrous. It says to God, "This thing I'm making/doing/buying/hoping for, can fill me up better than You." The woman in this story chose men as her empty cistern. She went from relationship to relationship looking to be filled, and coming up empty. We all do this in one way or another. Here are a few of the empty cisterns I've dug out over the years...
-Accomplishments... " if only I could do well in my job."
-Diets... "if only I could fit into my skinny jeans!"
-A clean house... "if only everyone would clean up after themselves!"
- Financial stability... "if only we could get 3-6 Month's of living expenses in the bank" (thanks for this one, Dave Ramsey!)
-Marital bliss... "if only Eve hadn't taken that bite!"
-Well-behaved children... "if only I had been a better parent"
-Busyness... "if I only do enough, maybe I will feel important!"
These things aren’t bad. They're just broken cisterns that will never fill my thirsty soul. Only Jesus delivers on that promise.
I’m reminded again that He is right here, eager to disclose more of himself to me today. When I come desperate for love, peace, hope, truth, and grace in a Savior, He turns to me and says, “I who speak to you am He.”
How about you? Is your soul thirsty? To dig a little deeper into God's word and your own heart, click the downloadable file below: