The Woman at the Well

A special meeting

The woman at the well is many women, not just me. She is the universal woman searching for something that will soothe her flesh whilst never quite satisfying her spirit. Her flesh gets appeased for a time but at the end of the day it’s not enough and so she goes in search of something. The woman at the well is a lost woman; she has lost her way in the world. Things are not as she planned it to be. She is now 44 and unmarried, on her fifth lover – who so happens to be married – with no children. She is working but not at her passion, she doesn’t even know what her passion is, so she is working for working sake.

Verse 4 of the passage said that Jesus needed to go through Samaria. Jesus didn’t have to go through Samaria, there was an alternate route but the Word says that He needed to go. It was important, it couldn’t be put off. There was something to be done there that only He could do, there was someone there needing a Word that only He could give. It was a meeting that couldn’t be entrusted to the disciples, she needed to meet Him not one of His earthly representatives. There are some people, lost looking for answers and yes a pastor, a church elder, a co-worker can be helpful but none more than Jesus Himself. Why don’t you take it to Him, talk to Him about the situation instead of turning to a stand in after all He came all the way to Samaria – the city of rejects – to see you.

All ladies have their wells; you know that place you go to be away from people. That place where you can be real, get some quiet time as you ponder on who you are, why you are and where are you going. With no eyes on you, you shed all the armoury that gets you through the day – behaving as though you can’t see the eyes following your every move, like you don’t know it was you they were talking about when you walked into the room. The armour that makes you feel all strong when you just want to crawl up in a ball and cry.

Whatever your well, Christ is passing through Samaria on His way to meet with you and you better be prepared for it. The meeting is not about Christ, it’s about you. It’s not about what you can do for Him, it’s about He can do for you. He is trying to save us from ourselves and we constantly try to distract Him with petty stuff, stuff that won’t matter in the long-run. He already knows the truth of your situation, you can’t gloss it over. It’s up to you now. Are you going to accept what He is trying to offer you or are you going to pretend that you don’t want or need it?

Some ladies are desperate for help and cry out for it nightly in their beds when they think no one is listening. Then help comes and they turn it away. Amanda didn’t. Jesus offered her living water and she accepted. Living water – water that is capable of sustaining life beyond the physical. We are all alive physically, our flesh is doing well but our spirits are diseased and dying. Without the resuscitating power of this Living Water our spirits are going to die. And that is the worst death known to man. You are supposed to be happy, you got the promotion you wanted, but you can’t work up the happy, joyful feeling. That is a sign of a spirit that is failing and needs the Living Water. Psalm 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

This living water is the Holy Spirit. That unplanned meeting, as far as she was concerned, left her a transformed woman. That is the moral of the story: Transformation. There is no way that one could have met the Lord of the universe and remain the same. Its either you hate His guts and wish He would leave you alone. Or you fall deeper in love with Him and wish to get even closer. How do I know that she was transformed? Her reaction to the meeting is evidence of the transformation. An outcast shies away from people, doesn’t want to offend anyone, keeps to themselves, and is very timid. Amanda left the meeting with a spirit of boldness (For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind 2 Tim 1:7) going into the village and testifying of the Man who told her all the things that she ever did. She who probably avoided people is now an evangelist, a witness of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. She began an outcast, at the end she was accepted and because of what she had experienced many more came to the Lord. Her transformation transformed an entire community.

The effects of that meeting were felt not only in us but in those that come in contact with us. Immediately they see that there is something different about us and want it to. We are not to keep it to ourselves but do as the Samaritan woman did, pass on the joy, peace, wonder to as many as would listen to us, as many as would receive our testimony. The process of transformation within us is never-ending and so is the process of transforming our communities.

The meeting at the well was indeed special – a special woman met a special man at a special place at a special hour to change the world as she knew it. Won’t you get to your well, to your special meeting?