Have you ever passed by a well or fountain, surrounded by laughing children and their parents doling out pennies? Hopes, dreams, wishes, all bound up to a little copper disk at the fingertips of a child. Maybe you remember yourself at that age, looking down into the water, speckled with all the shiny wishes that had gone before yours. What did “little you” wish for? Fame? Wealth? A better life? Where is our happily ever after? When did we stop throwing pennies? Sometimes when we pray do we feel like that? Like we throw God our pennies and hope for the best? Then we watch them sink like stones and get cynical and jaded when our hopes, dreams, and wishes don’t come our way. Do we treat God like a simple childhood superstition? I have. And how poorly I underestimated God.
Throughout the bible wells have a purpose. Water is a necessary element of life. Where there is water there are people. Where there is a well or spring there is provision for life. If someone digs a well it can be a symbol of land ownership and authority. If someone finds a spring in the desert it can mean the difference between life and death.
The new testament is full of accounts where Jesus met with people at wells, pools, seas and rivers. In this series through John 4 we’ll get a deep look at Jesus’ meeting with “the woman at the well.” Let’s get started.
Where in the World is Jesus of Nazareth?
“he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria.” John 4:3-4
Since John wrote this after all these things happen I find it interesting that he made the distinction that Jesus “had to” pass through Samaria. By the end of this section of scripture we will see many lives change and many people in Samaria come to believe in Jesus as the messiah/savior. But it started with a personal meeting with one woman who was broken and alone.
“So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.” John 4:5-6
This picture of Jesus is a little hard for me. It’s the heat of the day. He’s tired. Wearied. He’s walked a long way. He’s sitting by the well, resting his sore legs, possibly mopping sweat from his brow. He appears outwardly to be only a man, but in this we get a glimpse of why it says in Heb 4:15 that he is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. It’s hard to think of Jesus in “need” of anything. Here we see he wasn’t some spiritual apparition, but a man that got tired, hungry and thirsty.
“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” John 4:7
At first glance this seems like our Lord is being a little bit demanding. But as the conversation continues we see this for what it is. An invitation to conversation and relationship. Not like the cold, humorless wishing well, that receives our coins with no guarantee that our desires will be met. Not even like the actual well, that requires you to let down a bucket and haul it back up to be rewarded with water. It is an invitation to know him.
Remember verse 4 says “he had to pass through Samaria.” When we met Jesus it wasn’t by accident. It wasn’t a coincidence. This isn’t fatalism either. There is a God and He wants you to know that He already knows you, that He has everything you need, and that you are not alone. How many times did that woman come to the well alone? Not with all the rest of the women, in community and sharing life together, but an outcast. And on this day, this particular day, she shows up and a strange man, asks her for a drink…
Next Time
Next week we’ll dig into the next part of this conversation. In the meantime, when we pray this week, let’s ask God to show us where we’ve been treating Him like a wishing well. He’s inviting us into relationship, a beautiful two way conversation about who we think He is and who He really is. He’s not far away, but right where you are… right at your lonely well. I hope you spend some time with Him. As always, Thanks for reading.
Further Reading
Hebrews 4:14 – 5:10 Jesus our High Priest and eternal source of salvation
A fun article about wishing well practices in Southern California by the Anthropology dept. at UC Irvine
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