The woman at the well met Jesus. He could have easily come up with some excuses to avoid her. For example, a Jewish man like him was not supposed to associate with a Samaritan woman. Also, as Jesus himself knew, she had been married five times (John 4:18)—and because the divorce law gave only husbands the right to divorce, that meant she had been left and rejected five times. As a result, she was an outsider in her community, a woman with a checkered past.
But Jesus asked her for a drink of water. He allowed her to serve him water, and then he also offered her a much greater gift: the living water of eternal life. Afterwards, many other people in her community believed her story about Jesus and started to follow him too (see John 4:39-41).
Today, as he did for the woman at the well, Jesus still approaches people who feel like outsiders, and he shows compassion and love. To you who are thirsty for acceptance: Jesus is the one who can quench your thirst.
Let's Reflect
Do you have things in your past that you would rather forget? Do you have things that other people have held against you, assumed about you, or used to keep you on the outside? Give It to God.
Jesus answered, ". . . Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14).
Let's Pray
Yahweh, help me to drink the living water of eternal life that you offer, that I may thirst no more. Father, satisfy me always with your caring love. In Jesus' name, Amen.