The Well is Deep
Read John 4:1-26.
Jesus is tired. Can anyone relate? He's been so busy doing what his heavenly Father called him to do that he's barely had time to rest (his family gets upset with him for just that, in fact!), so while the disciples go to get food in town (Chick-fil-a, no doubt), Jesus rests by a well. But he's not there just to rest. He's still on his mission. In fact, he's come to this well for just this purpose.
Countless sermons have been preached on this passage; it's often a favorite of preachers. I've preached a few of them myself! But rather than going through the passage and reiterating all that has been said before, I want to focus on one interaction between Jesus and this Samaritan woman. Jesus offers her living water, and she comes back at him that the well is deep and he has no bucket. How is he going to give her living water?
First of all, it's important to remember that living water, in Biblical terms, is water that is moving. Water trapped in a pond is not living; it's what we would call stagnant. The Dead Sea is called "dead" because the water is not going anywhere else; it has reached its endpoint. Living water is going somewhere, moving some place. So when she hears Jesus offer "living" water, she's probably looking around for a stream or river; at the very least, she understands that he's going to give her some water from the underground stream that feeds the well.
But Jesus has something else in mind. He is offering himself—water from the river of life (Revelation 22:1) which flows from Jesus himself. He is the living water. Her response, though, tells us something about her. She's not used to real living water, the water that lies in the depths of the well. She's used to more surface water, water that might not taste as good but at least satisfies thirst for a short while. The well is deep, she says. It's hard to get the real living water.
The same thing is true in our world today. The well is deep, so far too many people today settle for surface sustenance. We settle for spiritual nuggets and "Jesus lite" when the real thing is sitting right there beside us, offering us the depths of himself. And yet, we prefer the nuggets, the feel-good messages, the songs that use a lot of words but don't really say anything. What will it take for us to realize that the well is deep, that Jesus offers us much more than we have ever imagined? When will we stop thinking the spiritual fast food can meet our needs and not be satisfied until we drink from the depths? Jesus wants to offer us what we need out of the depths of himself. The well is deep. There is more than you imagined.
Just like with this woman at the well, Jesus wants to take over your life, not just give it a spiritual veneer. He calls you to the depths. As we pray in the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer, "Christ will be all in all, or he will be nothing." Or as the great missionary Hudson Taylor put it, "Christ is either Lord of all, or he is not Lord at all."
The well is deep, my friends. Drink deeply.
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| Jacob's Well, Nablus |
Countless sermons have been preached on this passage; it's often a favorite of preachers. I've preached a few of them myself! But rather than going through the passage and reiterating all that has been said before, I want to focus on one interaction between Jesus and this Samaritan woman. Jesus offers her living water, and she comes back at him that the well is deep and he has no bucket. How is he going to give her living water?
First of all, it's important to remember that living water, in Biblical terms, is water that is moving. Water trapped in a pond is not living; it's what we would call stagnant. The Dead Sea is called "dead" because the water is not going anywhere else; it has reached its endpoint. Living water is going somewhere, moving some place. So when she hears Jesus offer "living" water, she's probably looking around for a stream or river; at the very least, she understands that he's going to give her some water from the underground stream that feeds the well.
But Jesus has something else in mind. He is offering himself—water from the river of life (Revelation 22:1) which flows from Jesus himself. He is the living water. Her response, though, tells us something about her. She's not used to real living water, the water that lies in the depths of the well. She's used to more surface water, water that might not taste as good but at least satisfies thirst for a short while. The well is deep, she says. It's hard to get the real living water.
The same thing is true in our world today. The well is deep, so far too many people today settle for surface sustenance. We settle for spiritual nuggets and "Jesus lite" when the real thing is sitting right there beside us, offering us the depths of himself. And yet, we prefer the nuggets, the feel-good messages, the songs that use a lot of words but don't really say anything. What will it take for us to realize that the well is deep, that Jesus offers us much more than we have ever imagined? When will we stop thinking the spiritual fast food can meet our needs and not be satisfied until we drink from the depths? Jesus wants to offer us what we need out of the depths of himself. The well is deep. There is more than you imagined.
Just like with this woman at the well, Jesus wants to take over your life, not just give it a spiritual veneer. He calls you to the depths. As we pray in the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer, "Christ will be all in all, or he will be nothing." Or as the great missionary Hudson Taylor put it, "Christ is either Lord of all, or he is not Lord at all."
The well is deep, my friends. Drink deeply.
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