I haven’t been feeling well the last couple days. I’ve been drinking vitamin C in hopes that I will be rejuvenated and feel back to myself again. I want those tiny Vitamin C crystals to come to life inside my body and restore me.
There was once a woman who needed rejuvenation also. However, she needed to meet a much larger need than physical. She needed her soul to come alive.
She lived in a region of the Middle East called Samaria, and in her day the women rose early to collect their water from the well. We find her at the well sometime around noon. It was extremely hot at that hour and we aren’t really sure why she ventured at that time of day except that she may have wanted to avoid the other women who might judge her for her lifestyle.
Little did she know, as she was laboring under the hot sun to retrieve water, that it wouldn’t be any ordinary day for her. She was going to have a life-changing encounter.
When she arrived to draw the water she heard, “Give me a drink.” He was alone; His disciples had gone into the city to buy food.
I wonder if she heard it in His voice: the sound of mercy. I can’t help but question if there was a magnetic tone or inflection that made her know He was different – that He was the One and Only.
Did she tremble? Did her heart skip a beat? Could she feel the power that lived inside Him? I want to know all these things. I wish I could take a time machine and go back there. See her at the well – the precious woman who could only live forever if she made the choice to accept His mercy. If only I could catch a glimpse of Him – the only One who freely gives it.
This encounter was different in more ways than one.
- Men didn’t speak to women in public…
- Jews didn’t speak to Samaritans…
- She was known as an immoral woman and would have been an outcast…
When I read her reply I’m quickly made aware of her personality. She was bolder than I would have ever been. She wanted to know why he spoke to her. “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” She is quick to notice that He has nothing to draw water with, and then I can almost hear the cry of her soul as she asks, “Where then do You get that living water?”
This was her moment! The best one she would ever live. She was with Jesus and He was speaking truth to her soul. At this moment she was more than just an immoral, Samaritan, woman. She was treated as a human being who was meant for so much more than how she was living. She was beckoned with love and mercy. She was called to be a child of the Most High God. She was valuable. Even with all of her sin from past choices, she was wanted. Yes, this was her moment…
She goes on to ask if He was greater than Jacob who gave the well. And He answers, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The woman responds, “Sir, give me this water. That I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
After this, Jesus asks her to call her husband. She explains she doesn’t have one. And what happens next is what proves to wake her soul up to the power of His majesty.
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
He already knew her… all of her. And do you know what? He wanted her anyway.
After some more amazing dialogue, the woman left, went to the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
This woman had a moment with the Living God. She was shown she was worth more than she ever thought possible.
It doesn’t matter where you have been or what you have done, Jesus wants you too. I want you to know that you are valuable. Your life is precious to Him. He knows every hair on your head and though you may not hear His voice audibly, He will speak to your heart.
(If you want to know more about this great story, you can find it in John chapter four. I quoted from the New King James Version.)
Today, I’m taking part in Chasing History with One Girl…
This is one of my most favourite encounters in the Bible. The fact that Jesus takes me as I am, well there is a great freedom in that. Thank you so much for writing so beautifully about her here.
Thanks, Tonya.
Jennifer – this is such a great telling of her story. Thank you so much for sharing it. It had me tearing up, despite it being familiar, I felt like I was reading it with new eyes 🙂 Hope you have a blessed Monday!
Thank you, Vanessa. You have a blessed day as well:).
I’m so glad you joined us this week!!! I love that you pointed out how it was an encounter with Jesus…this past week at camp, we heard a message about how it’s not about information, but about an encounter. 🙂 Great job telling this Story.
Thank you! I had a great time writing with you. I love the concept of this link-up!