Oh Well

March 17

Read John 4:5-10

Pray: Almighty Jesus, help me to see you at the well and help me to give you hospitality so that you might do your work in my life.

Hear:

Y’all I could write a passage a day for the rest of my life, just about this passage. This story is so very rich, filled with social norms being broken (a personal favorite), radical grace (also a good one) and ultimately—the crazy kind of grace that only Jesus can give.

Our little vignette today shows a woman forced to the margins of her society (no one got water at noon, unless they were avoiding people) responding just like I might if Jesus tried talking to me. She responds with confusion and indignation— why did this rabbi think he could talk to her? You see, Jews would never talk to Samaritans and rabbis would never talk to women. And yet, here is Jesus, seeking connection with someone society told him to avoid.

How often do I respond to Jesus this way—”you’re talking to me?” Why am I so ready to tell Jesus, essentially, to buzz off when I am so desperate for his attention and love? It is because I sometimes define myself by what those around me think about me. I draw my definition from the people who think the least of me and say, “oh well, I guess this is who I am.” May we instead seek to see ourselves as God sees us— someone in need of a drink of living water.

Respond:

How will you respond with hospitality to the Master today?

Meditation:

Drink from living water.