Prompt thought of the week:
The Samaritan woman at the well found out that the water she came for was not really the water she needed so desperately. This woman had looked for love in many places, in many faces, and when finally offered a soul-quenching love by Jesus, she became a powerful messenger of Good News. Just as the water given by God that flowed in the desert for the Israelites offered new life, the desert of our lives can be refreshed if we look for love regularly at the well of living water and offer life-giving water to others.
Looking at the John 4 passage, starting at verse 7, we find a Samaritan woman has come to the well of Jacob to find water. She speaks with Jesus for several verses regarding water and Living Water, until we find Jesus pointing out in verse 18 that she has burned through four husbands and is now living unmarried with a fifth man. Acknowledging the truth of the statement, she identifies Jesus first as a prophet and then as the Messiah, and finally in verse 27 abandons her water jar altogether to return to the city and spread news of Jesus.
So, was drinking water the true goal in visiting the well?
Or was it sampling the Living Water offered to her by Jesus, to have her eyes opened to the brokenness in her life style and her relationships?
Jesus, with just a few words, touched her life and led her to understand the need to live in healthy relationships and to be involved in a welcoming, supporting community.
Ralph Sheffer