Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but 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.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.
(John 4:1-26;39-41)
Background
It was one of those days. Mundane. Ordinary. Slow. There had been a long walk. The disciples were going to town to get food. Jesus was going to hang out by the well. To rest.
Jesus and the disciples were walking through Samaria. This region included many who were half-Jew and half-Gentile. A region often avoided by many Jews and the elite who preferred neighborhoods and regions that were more exclusive. With purer or proper bloodlines. Yeah, you might say that Samaria was on the “other side of the tracks”. It was populated by the ordinary.
The pace of the narrative and even the location seemed slow. Insignificant.
In moments of the mundane it is easy to transport our thoughts into the future. Imagine an experience or event with more action. More purpose. More excitement.
In Jesus case it would have been so easy to dream of the next big miracle that would be playing out shortly – Jesus feeding a very large crowd. A boy. Five loaves of bread. Two small fish. Five thousand hungry men. Many more hungry women and children. Hunger and neediness would evaporate and then explode into exuberance and awe. Thousands would have a front row seat in catching a vision of the Lord’s power and creativity.
This next big miracle would offer a much larger stage than afforded at the wedding that occurred in the months before. Water to wine at a wedding during a moment of panic rescued the wedding planners. Jesus’ mother, Mary, was very pleased.
But Jesus envisioned an afternoon with a much more important assignment than a Samaria siesta dream session. No, there would be an encounter. And there would be purpose in the present.
Jesus was waiting. His opening line was a set up. “Woman, can you get me a drink of water?” This question had little to do with satisfying Jesus’ need for water. It was the opposite. It had everything to do with stepping into a discussion where Jesus would go deep and flip the tables (he often does). He would quickly offer way more than what he requested (he always does). The woman was taken aback by the request from a neighboring Jew. Jesus – a Jew (a bloodline thoroughbred). The Samaritan woman – let’s just say a bloodline with much diversity. This was a cultural mismatch. The woman recognized it immediately.
Within minutes Jesus revealed his offer. Living water. Eternal life. For a neighbor living on the “other side of the tracks”. Samaria. Interesting. In one quick exchange, Jesus offered the woman (and Samaritans) what the neighboring cultures at that time did not. Inclusivity. Thankfully, Jesus foreshadowed that heaven wouldn’t discriminate based on the purity of your bloodlines.
The woman ran home and revealed the offer from the Messiah. Many believed in Him. And Jesus stayed with the Samaritans for two days. Many more became believers.
Jesus found purpose in the present. In the seemingly ordinary. He made time.
Reflections
I frequently dream of purpose. A lot.
This thinking began in earnest about 5 years ago. About the time that I began thinking more about the type of legacy I was building (or wasn’t). I’ve pleaded with God for a platform to be part of a purpose-filled framework that injects hope and goodness into this world.
It was in this dream that I prayerfully left my company of twenty-five years. A big step for me. I wanted something more. I didn’t leave with a detailed plan. But with a dream.
And if I’m honest, this vision for purpose frequently plays out on the horizon. It is in the distance. The dreams are big. These purpose-driven dreams more easily identify with a stage for feeding five thousand in an atmosphere of shock and awe than for an anonymous stage with just one Samaritan woman. At least for me.
I’ve been convicted recently.
The aftermath of Jesus’ miracle of feeding the five thousand informed many in the crowd that “Surely this is the prophet who is to come into the world”. A big stage – an amazing outcome. The interaction with the Samaritan woman – “Many believed in him”. A smaller stage – but an outcome described with even clearer kingdom value.
I’ve been prayerfully trying to be more purposeful and vigilant even in what I might put into the category of the ordinary. A relationship with a friend. Small group encounters. A discussion with a family member. Even a casual discussion with an acquaintance at the grocery store.
Because just maybe the greatest assignment we have to drive kingdom purpose in our lives is not really on the horizon. Or in the future. But within arm’s reach. In the present.
Lord, help me not buy into whispers that don’t hold truth. “Bigger stages and visibility offer more kingdom value. Little stages and invisibility offer less kingdom value.” Help me to be intentional. Present. And prepared to live out purpose on all stages. You will measure and weigh the fruit. My responsibility will be to be faithful in both the big and the small. Please help me to not miss versions of the Samaritan woman you will place into my path. I love you. Amen.
What if the most important purpose we have been created for requires care and attention and love in a lowly encounter? Would we miss it?
What if we find out in heaven that our more routine encounters in the present offered the most potential to truly make a lasting difference than the imagined dreams on big stages?
What if... 