Loved with an Everlasting Love

December 26 In John’s Gospel, we read about a Samaritan woman. Passing through the city, Jesus was tired and rested by a well. Jesus met this woman around noon. Young women typically had the daily chore of drawing water, and according to Genesis 24:11, they did so in the evening. Why was this woman out in the heat of the day? We discover in John 4: 16-18, she’s been married five times and was currently living with a man who’s not her husband. We don’t know the circumstances. However, she was probably making her daily trip to the well when she would avoid others. No matter how her marriages ended, this woman had faced challenges. If by divorce she may have felt rejected, shamed, and unclean. If by death, then she suffered loss and pain. In her lifetime a woman was confined within the family home. If she had no family, then what? These gender standards weren’t based on the Tanakh (Jewish Scriptures) or Jewish culture. There was nothing in the Mosaic Law that prevented men and women from speaking to one another. Yet the society in Jesus’ day looked much different than how God intended. Jesus’ short interchange with this woman gave her hope and joy. By the time their conversation was finished this unnamed woman wasn’t avoiding people but seeking them out to tell them the good news of the Messiah! “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.” John 4:28-29 Did you catch that? She left her jar. This was a vital tool that enabled her to survive. However, she left it to tell others! God turned her mess into His message. She went from being isolated to being an evangelist. This account is less about her sin than about Jesus’ redemptive power and unconditional love. We’ve all sinned (Romans 3:23). And because of our shortcomings we sometimes think we won’t amount to much. However, like this woman, leave your water jar and accept God’s vision of you. Don’t do life on your own. Accept the Living Water that Jesus gives, and you’ll never thirst again.