Walking With Christ

John 4:7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”(ESV)

The woman at the well might be one of the best known stories in the new testament. The bulk of the story only has two characters. The woman and Jesus. Obviously, the entire bible is meant to help us know who Jesus was and is. This is such a focus that we often lose sight of the absolute best way to see Jesus is through the people He or the Father interacts with. We can only understand the reason Jesus or God did what they did if we understand the other people in the story as well. These reasons matter when explaining who God is and how we can know for sure.

In this story, we are trying to learn more about who Jesus is and why He has come by paying careful attention to the clues in the story. Let’s figure out who this woman was. We never get a name. We only know that she is a Samaritan from Sychar when it comes to her heritage. We do find out a fair bit about her circumstances based on the conversation between her and Jesus. She was living with a man whom she was not married to after previously having had five husbands before him. Culturally, this made her an outcast even from her own people. The Samaritans were considered less than human, culturally speaking, by most Jews of the day. This was pure racism based on the Samaritan mixed blood status.

We read in verse five that this was about the sixth hour of the day which is noon. This woman was getting water from Jacob’s well in the heat of the day. This tells us that she was really trying to avoid running into anyone. The cultural norm was for women to go get the water for the day and they would usually go in the morning when it was cooler. This woman knew this and wanted to avoid people. She did not want to interact with anyone. She did not want to discuss her situation. She did not want to share her story. She wanted to be as hidden as possible.

What does this tell us about Jesus, though?

He went out of His way, by cultural norm of walking around Samaria, to find this woman who did not want to be found. He broke the rules and ignored expectations just to have a conversation with someone running away from just such a conversation.

Why was she hiding? She felt like a disgrace because of her past and the societal norms of the time. She felt that her story wasn’t one that anyone would want to hear. A few moments with Jesus changed all of that. She left her jugs at the well and ran to go find the people she had been avoiding for so long to tell them of the most amazing story and show them the amazing things she had been shown. With just a brief interaction with Jesus, she was transformed from trash to testimony. She suddenly had a story to tell and wanted everyone to hear it.

This is just the turning point of the story though. What happened next only happened because of her being willing to boldly tell her story to anyone who would listen. She dragged several people out to meet with Jesus and they begged Him to stay in the town two more days. Many more were saved because of her obedience and faith to share her small story. It was truly a brief interaction. It probably took longer to read than it did to actually happen, but the number of lives changed because one person was willing to share their story.

What’s yours? Don’t pretend that you don’t have one to tell. Don’t be afraid that yours isn’t perfect or spectacular. Every encounter with Christ is spectacular and can change the course of entire towns. If you are bold enough to tell it.

I challenge everyone to tell their story. Tell it to anyone who will listen. Tell of our imperfections. It is through those imperfections where Christ moves the most. Tell of the times when we fell down. Tell of His love and grace as He picked us up, dusted us off, healed our wounds, forgave us for the sins we committed, and put us back on the path towards home. If the God who created everything thinks that you are worth the pain of sending His only son to die on the cross then He would also agree that your story is worth listening to. Testimony is a form of praise and worship because it is us acknowledging the things He has done in and through us as a promise that He wants to do such things again. He delights in doing such things.

If you don’t want to share your story then share the bible or even invite them to join this verse of the day list. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that then share His love through your own actions even if it is just with friends and family. How we live is as important as the stories we tell because our actions are the tangible fruit of His works in us. Our stories tell what He has done. Our actions show what He has done. Either way, we are called to share.