I Don't Have a Story Like That!

 

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.” (John 4:7-15 ESV).

 

Our reading today contains the story known as the “Woman at the Well.” Her interaction with Jesus is well-known throughout the Church. It is both dramatic and powerful in presenting the power of Jesus to redeem. The grace Jesus shows to this disgraced and rejected woman is incredible. It is no wonder that she ultimately becomes a powerful witness to Jesus throughout her village. In that way it is similar to the Apostle Paul’s story of His Damascus Road experience and redemption.

 

I have been told by some that my story of redemption is one that is unusual and uncommon. My hope is that it is never a story that centers on me; it should always be a story about Jesus. Sometimes Christians are uneasy about sharing the gospel message because they don’t think their personal experience is extraordinary. I’ve heard many tell me they can hardly remember when they first came to believe in Jesus. For some it was the result of many years of being in a church that consistently preached the message of Jesus. It might have ended in an experience at Vacation Bible School, or Youth Camp; but in every case they felt there story was ordinary. That is simply not true. It is extraordinary, because Jesus is extraordinary!

 

When Jesus struck up a conversation with this woman at the well, it was culturally unusual for him to speak with a woman he did not know, but she sensed his care for her and her life. He was bold but also highly relational and kind. As she talked with him, she showed that she was a thoughtful but wounded person with broken relationships in her past. Aren’t we all broken and wounded before Jesus redeems us?

 

We are called to tell that story. It is that story about Jesus bringing wholeness and healing to our hearts and minds that people must hear. Jesus is the real story every believer has to tell!