In my mind's eye, I can see Him sitting by Jacob's Well, weary as He was from His journey.
Meanwhile, the Samaritan woman walked with intent-her empty water jug resting firmly atop her head, and her heart full of sin. With quick, even strides - her strong legs pressing hard into the earth beneath her.
Did she wish to be invisible - keeping her gaze to the ground - to avoid the glares of condemnation? Or did she chuckle inwardly, amused by her own sarcastic thoughts?
The way these people are scattering about, you'd think I have leprosy!
But, Jesus didn't point a critical finger or cup his hands to the side of his mouth to announce condemnation. Instead, he leaned against the well that represented all that He was...
Living water...
The cleansing stream...
How could she perceive all she was about to receive? Her parched and empty life lifted upward; then, lower down into the depths of His life-giving properties would never be the same.
Can you see her in your mind's eye; imagine her thoughts?
Why is HE sitting on the other side of the well? And what must HE want from me?
What could possibly have motivated this man to speak to a despised half-breed Samaritan woman - in public no less?
In her culture, a respectable Jewish man wouldn't dare risk talking to any woman in public-especially a promiscuous woman - with five husbands to her name.
But, Jesus...
The gentleman that He is...
Waited for her...
And, He's waiting for you, too!
Friend, I (sometimes), find it hard to believe, Jesus, wants me to come to Him - Just as I am.
You, too?
Well, the truth is, Dear Heart:
We are among THE CHOSEN!
(Click THE CHOSEN, above, to watch Season 1, Episode 8! You'll be SO glad you did!)
"For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with almighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord Your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. _Deuteronomy 6:7:6-8 ESV
After dedicating an entire chapter to the Samaritan woman's perfectly-imperfect life in my recent book, Courageous Women of The Bible, I find comfort in knowing there's grace for women like us! To think God set His love on us...choosing us...JUST AS WE ARE, but sent the best of Heaven, Jesus, to ensure we'd not be left the way we are:
Women with big fears
Women with colorful pasts
Women with big insecurities (sometimes) draining ourselves and others - completely dry
Women who have been taken advantage of - more times than we'd want to recount
Beware! All kinds of abuse can be masked as love, Dearest One!
Women who pour out the best of all they are - to the wrong people, while ignoring the most deserving
Women with hearts full of guilt and shame convincing us how we failed, yesterday, and that tomorrow will be no different
Friend, everything changes at the WELL! Let's go, with empty cisterns in tow, knowing we will leave FULL; because, Jesus is waiting for His Chosen daughters.
Jesus, The One who loves BEFORE acknowledging sin. The One who says we are CHOSEN.
But, God demonstrates His own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us._Romans 5:8 NIV
