[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during January 2021]
The opening verses of John chapter 4 set the scene:
“So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. … Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. … It was about noon. His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.” [John 4 v 3, 5-6, 8 NIVUK]
Once again the disciples had failed to bring any provisions for their journey so while they went into town to buy a bag of bagels Jesus waited beside the well.
Where I live most households depend upon well-water. Some people have their own well near the house whilst many others need to draw it from communal wells. We have our own wells and fortunately we have pumps and so we have a ‘normal’ domestic supply into the house. But I know very well the experience of lowering a bucket into a well and pulling it up, full with cool, clear, hopefully uncontaminated, water. Very refreshing, but the novelty soon wears off when you have to do it several times each day.
Jesus is hot and tired but he has no bucket and no rope. It’s midday – surely nobody would normally come for water in the heat of the day. But someone did come – a woman of one of the lower classes, a woman with a reputation and as many ex-spouses as Henry VIII. However, she had two major assets: the means to draw water and a willingness to listen.
We do not know if Jesus ever got his drink of water but he certainly got an attentive audience. We are not told the full details of the conversation but it ranged through everyday needs, lifestyle choices and the significance of worship, and culminated in the woman calling her friends and saying “Come, see a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could this be the Messiah?”
I am sure that I would not like the whole town to know the details of everything that I have ever done! However, the woman’s testimony opened an opportunity that Jesus could take forward. He stayed in the town two more days talking with the people and many believed in him.
We are not all called to be eloquent evangelists or persuasive preachers. However, the manner in which we handle everyday needs, lifestyle choices and our ways of worship create a personal testimony that is potentially more effective than the output from a pulpit. Imagine how you would feel if someone were to repeat to you the words that end this story:
“We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.” [John 4 v42 NIVUK]
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
Thanks Steve,
I know exactly what it is like to see the wells in Dorohoi and the villages.
Thanks Steve