The Well

Introduction

Christ’s encounter with the woman at the well spoke deeply to me at the start of the COVID 19 pandemic. As our church buildings closed and our normal places of worship changed. Through the noise of all that, the words of Christ shouted to me through the noise. John 4:19-24, were the words of Christ I heard through the noise.

At a time when everything I knew, we knew, was turned upside down. Jesus words was the reminder I needed, that worship is not confined to a specific place or time. As the church, the people of God, worship is our life.

These words at the beginning of the pandemic, sparked a deep dive into this life changing, community transforming, encounter with Christ, the depths of which continue to shape me. What started as a reminder that worship isn’t confined to a specific day, time, or place, has grown to wrestle with the question; “how can we the church be like this well?”.

Brothers and sisters as we begin this journey together, can we the church, wrestle with this question together? The woman Jesus meets has a checkered past. She had been rejected not once, but five times. So ashamed of her past, she waits for the heat of the day to come to the well to avoid encountering anyone. The encounter she has changes her life, and the life of the community she lives in. How can Haverhill Church of the Nazarene be like this well?

The Well

He Had to Go through Samaria

When the scripture say Jesus had to go through Samaria, it didn’t mean it was the only road. Jews normally took the long way around Samaria to get to Galilee because Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along. Jesus just passing through Samaria risked getting into a fight just for going through. When it says he had to go through Samaria its because God was leading him there. God was leading Jesus to the part of town others avoided. What can we learn from Jesus here? When God, lays a place on your heart to go, go. Even if its a place others would avoid at all costs.

The Woman

God sent Jesus to Samaria, a place that others avoided, to meet a woman who also was avoided.

The woman, from what Jesus said about her, would be avoided by Jews just because she was a Samaritan, to add in her past and how she is now living would have been all the more reason to avoid her.

Luke 7:39 NRSV

39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.”

Jesus lays out completely how this woman is a sinner, based on that the religious elite of Jesus day wouldn’t go near this woman with a 10ft pole.

Divorced 5 times

When Jesus says the woman has had 5 husbands, means she had been divorced 5 times. To attempt to put ourselves in the woman’s shoes we need to understand how divorce worked in the time of Christ. To divorce someone, the husband would take his wife to the public market, point and say loudly enough to get others to stare, “I divorce you! I divorce you! I divorce you!” 5 times this poor woman was rejected this way. She certainly had a recognizable face and not for a good reason. The man she was with now was not her husband either. People in the community knew who she was and knew to avoid her.

The woman also knew to avoid others. As she waits for the heat of the day to come to the well. A time she knew no one would be there.

Jesus

At the well she meets Jesus. A Jewish male who dared to be seen speaking to her, and asked her for help. Jesus asks the ice breakers of all ice breakers. Please give me a drink. Jesus had no rope, and no cup to draw water which would have required him to use her rope and cup. Sharing cups, or meals was symbol of welcome and hospitality in that culture. This was another line that Jesus crossed.

The woman was surprised that Jesus would speak to her let alone ask to use her cup. Jesus tells her of the living water he provides. Living water to Jesus and to the woman were 2 different things. When someone in Jesus time reffered to living water it simply meant running water. The woman at the well heard running water, not the spiritual water Jesus speaks of.

Over the course of the conversation the woman’s understanding of who Jesus is grows from just a Jewish man who dared speak to her, to prophet, to an understanding that he is the Messiah.

If Jesus had listened to his culture, and the religious leaders of his day, and not God, then he would not have walked through Samaria, he would not have had this encounter with the woman at the well. When we are following the leading of the Holy Spirit, he may lead us to places others avoid, to people others avoid.

The grace of God flows from a well that never runs dry. This well is there for all to come and meet Jesus no matter your past, or even how you’re living now.

The Well

Jacob’s well on this day was a place of worship. Jesus put his rep on the line as an act of worship to God and went to Samaria, and dared to speak to the Samaritan woman.

Jacob’s well remains an active well to this day. Because of this encounter a place of worship has been built around it.

The Results of the Encounter

John 4:39–42 NRSV

39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

Being the Well

The Samaritan woman was publicly rejected 5 times, by 5 former husbands, the man she was with wasn’t her husband. So ashamed she comes to the well in the middle of the day to avoid others, yet she finds Jesus.

Jesus defies the customs of his day not once but twice. First he travels through samaria instead of around. Second, he is alone speaking to this woman. Jesus even knows her past, and the sin she is living in now. Yet Jesus asks her for help. He asks her for a drink. This was the ice breaker of all ice breakers that changed this woman’s life and the community of Sychar.

As we begin our journey together, let’s take to our prayer closets and dare to ask God, “How can our church building, our home, the parsonage, be a space like this well? Where others can encounter Jesus on the other days of the week that end in Y. To truly worship God in Spirit and truth everyday, every moment of our lives is an act of worship.