In his gospel, John gives us a beautiful account of a meeting between Christ and a woman of Samaria. John tells us this encounter occurred about noon, in the heat of the day—a time when no “decent” person would be coming to the well to draw water. Yet here she is, and here he is waiting for her. We only get a glimpse of her past—what is the story? Tragedy? Poor decisions? Both? Ultimately, I guess it doesn’t matter to us what her past was — it mattered to her, and it mattered to Jesus. The most important thing about her past was that it led her to a place where she met Christ. He used that past to reveal himself to her: to lead her to the place of new direction.
She doesn’t even bother to bring her water jar back with her. She leaves it behind with Jesus, along with her shame and self-isolation. Breathless, she declares to the people of her community, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him” (John 4:29-30). The blessing personally extended to her became a blessing for her entire community. Life in a new direction for her also led to life in a new direction for those around her, for “They said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.’”(John 4:42)
We are never given this woman’s name, but Christ knew her name, and he knows yours. We don’t know the details of her past, but Jesus knew, and he knows yours too. Let us meet him at the well for living water. Let us embrace a new direction, transformed by meeting with him, and be led to worship him in Spirit and in truth.