Drawing at the Well

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. 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.
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
John 4:1-26

Today marks the one year anniversary of my back surgery. A long procedure (actually seven different procedures) has been followed by a long period of healing and rehabilitation. I am so much better than I was but still have a ways to go for the healing to be complete. The strength I drew to get me through came from a deep well of faith, mostly from the people around me, who walked with me until I could stand on my own. I have to draw strength from deep down, to face each day honestly, and trust that God was walking with me, despite an uphill road. I was not judged by loved, offered all that I needed to be restored and healed. For that, I will be ever grateful.

Jesus encounters a woman at the well. She is astounded by his insight, his conversation and his acceptance of her. She comes to the well to draw water and in doing so, finds new life. A routine task becomes a transforming encounter. God finds her right where she is, in the midst of her daily routine, and changes her life forever. And through her, we too are changed and healed. She was unafraid to reach out to Jesus, willing to cross the line for healing and forgiveness. She was willing to share the love and forgiveness that she received for the transforming of the world. We are invited to go to the well this Lent, seeking God in our daily lives, and drawing deep of love, forgiveness and healing.

Today, I ask God to help me go to the well. In the midst of our daily tasks and troubles, may we seek God in the ordinary. May we draw in the healing and love we are offer. May we be honest with ourselves so that our healing can take hold. And may we boldly share the love and forgiveness we have received with a world so in need of that love.