A Year with Jesus

Note from Jesus

Dear Disciple,

I surprised My closest disciples at Jacob's well in Samaria. We were traveling from Judea to Galilee, and Samaria was the region between them. Religious and racial prejudice separated Jews and Samaritans. Most Jews wouldn't have anything to do with Samaritans and usually avoided even going through the region of Samaria. They would take the long way around Samaria and walk along the Jordan River. In addition to the Samaritan issue, rabbis were forbidden to speak alone with women. So, as you can imagine, this cultural ban was especially true of a Jewish rabbi speaking with a Samaritan woman.

Traveling through Samaria, we came to Jacob's well. My followers left Me there to go into a nearby town for provisions. When they returned, they found Me speaking with a Samaritan woman. They were stunned. The woman had come from town to draw water from the well. However, when she began to think that I might be the promised Anointed One (Messiah), she was so excited that she left her water bucket behind and went back to town to tell others about Me.

My followers discovered several surprises by Jacob's well in Samaria:

I will do whatever is necessary to break through the barriers of religious, racial, and gender prejudices to bring grace to the heart of anyone seeking God.
The people who appear least likely to be spiritual seekers can actually be thirsty for God and searching for the Father's truth.
A whole village can be brought to faith if My followers will lovingly care, listen, and teach those I bring to them.
The deepest conversations about life's hurts, social yearnings, and spiritual thirst can begin with the most simple of questions when you listen to and care for the people God places in your path.

I AM the water of life. I bring deep, spiritual refreshment to the souls of those who truly seek Me. But even more, I hope you see from My actions at this well in Samaria that I long to include all people in My family of grace and that I want you to be open to all those who are seeking Me... even the apparently least likely people in the most unlikely situations. Remember, I reveal Myself in the ordinary events of life for those who are truly seeking Me!

Verses to Live

Here's the story of My visit with the woman by the well in Samaria:

The picture was becoming clear to the Pharisees that Jesus had gained a following much larger than that of John the Baptist, the wandering prophet. Now He [Jesus] could see that the Pharisees were beginning to plot against Him. This was because His disciples were busy ritually cleansing many new disciples through baptism. He chose to leave Judea where most Pharisees lived and return to a safer location in Galilee. This was a trip that would take them through Samaria.

In a small Samaritan town known as Sychar, Jesus and His entourage stopped to rest at the historic well that Jacob gave his son Joseph. It was about noon when Jesus found a spot to sit close to the well while the disciples ventured off to find provisions. From His vantage, He watched as a Samaritan woman approached to draw some water. Unexpectedly He spoke to her.

Jesus:
Would you draw water, and give Me a drink?
Woman:
I cannot believe that You, a Jew, would associate with me, a Samaritan woman; much less ask me to give You a drink.
Jews, you see, have no dealings with Samaritans.

Jesus:
You don't know the gift of God or Who is asking you for a drink of this water from Jacob's well. Because if you did, you would have asked Him for something greater; and He would have given you the living water.
Woman:
Sir, You sit by this deep well a thirsty man without a bucket in sight. Where does this living water come from? Are You claiming superiority to our father Jacob who labored long and hard to dig and maintain this well so that he could share clean water with his sons, grandchildren, and cattle?
Jesus:
Drink this water, and your thirst is quenched only for a moment. You must return to this well again and again. I offer water that will become a wellspring within you that gives life throughout eternity. You will never be thirsty again.
Woman:
Please, Sir, give me some of this water, so I'll never be thirsty and never again have to make the trip to this well.
Jesus:
Then bring your husband to Me.
Woman:
I do not have a husband.
Jesus:
Technically you are telling the truth. But you have had five husbands and are currently living with a man you are not married to.
Woman:
Sir, it is obvious to me that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped here on this mountain, but Your people say that Jerusalem is the only place for all to worship. Which is it?
Jesus:
Woman, I tell you that neither is so. Believe this: A new day is coming - in fact, it's already here - when the importance will not be placed on the time and place of worship but on the truthful hearts of worshipers. You worship what you don't know while we worship what we do know, for God's salvation is coming through the Jews. The Father is spirit, and He is seeking followers whose worship is sourced in truth and deeply spiritual as well. Regardless of whether you are in Jerusalem or on this mountain, if you do not seek the Father, then you do not worship.
Woman:
These mysteries will be made clear by He Who is promised, the Anointed One.
Jesus:
The Anointed is speaking to you. I am the One you have been looking for.
The disciples returned to Him and gathered around Him in amazement that He would openly break their customs by speaking to this woman, but none of them would ask Him what He was looking for or why He was speaking with her. The woman went back to the town, leaving her water pot behind. She stopped men and women on the streets and told them about what had happened.

Woman:
I met a stranger Who knew everything about me. Come and see for yourselves; can He be the Anointed One?
(John 4:1-29)

Response in Prayer

Almighty God, the Source of all life, open my eyes to the people around me who are searching for Jesus. I know many of these seekers do not realize that Jesus is the water of life they seek for their spiritual thirst. So open my eyes to these people. As I seek to speak appropriately to their hearts, please open my ears to hear what they are saying behind their words. Give me patience to truly hear their questions and give me wisdom as I seek to respond to their questions. Please use me, O Lord, to touch those around me who are seeking Jesus, in Whose name I pray. Amen.