Have you ever tried inserting yourself into a Bible story? I love who Jesus is to the woman at the well in John 4. Sometimes I feel a little bit like her. I decided to creatively re-write it, as if I were her, and God spoke so powerfully to me through it. I pray God speaks to you too.
I’m a foreigner living in a land that’s not home. And I’m ashamed. Some would call me a “slut” - it’s safe to say that I don’t have healthy relationships with men. Because of that I tend to like to be alone. It’s shameful to be with lots of people - they know what I’ve done, but they don’t know who I am. So, as usual, I went to the well to get my water when no one else would be there. As I approached the well my heart skipped a beat a little. There was a man there. Not too handsome, but he looked pretty kind. Attempting to avoid eye-contact I started to draw water. But he spoke to me. “Give me a drink,” his voice gently said. When I looked up I could see he was a Jew. They don’t like people like me. I looked puzzled, I’m sure, as I asked “Why are you asking me for a drink? You’re a Jew, you don’t like Samaritans. Plus you’re a man, asking me, a woman, for a drink?” He looked me in the eye, and he said “ God has more for you than you know. If you believed all God has for you, and if you knew who I was, you’d ask me to give you a drink of living water. And I would give it to you.” I wasn’t really sure what he was getting at. All he had was a small bag. How was he gonna get water from the well. So I asked, “How, and where, are you gonna get this Living Water? What do you mean by Living Water anyway? Jacob, our spiritual forefather, made this well for us. He used it himself, and he blessed it. Are you saying you’re better than him?” The man didn’t seem to get angry, though I was almost angry, and probably a little offensive. He looked in my eyes again, like he could see my soul.
“Everybody who drinks this water will be thirsty again…” Somehow I knew he meant more than just the water in the well. He meant the things in my soul. The things I was drinking, using to quench the loneliness inside me. He continued, “ But whoever drinks that water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The ache in his should will be satisfied. What’s more, that water will spring out of him. It’ll be more than he can contain - it’ll spill over to eternal life.” The light in his eyes was irresistible. I wanted it. I wanted that soul quenching water. “Oh sir, give me that water,” I hesitated, “I don’t wanna have to keep getting water.” It sounded like I meant physical water, but my deep heart was crying out for the soul quenching water. Again, he looked me in the eye.
“Go, get your husband, and then come back here.” My heart dropped. You know that feeling when someone has found you out? That’s what I felt. “Oh no,” I thought, “Anything but this issue - my issue with men.” Trying to avoid the topic, I said, “I don’t have a husband.” He smiled just a little, there was a surprising gentleness in it, and what he said next took my breathe away. ‘You’re right. You don't have a husband, you’ve had many relationships with men, unhealthy ones that tie you down. And even now the man that fills your heart isn’t your husband.” How did he know?! He must have some prophetic abilities. I wanted to know a prophet’s perspective on the age old cultural question: Where should we worship God? In church? In nature? In our homes? So I asked him, “Good sir, you seem to be a prophet. Can you answer the question of where to worship. I wanna praise God in the ‘right’ way.” He looked at me and he said, “Good ma’m, these questions are of the past. A new age has dawned. True worshippers of God don’t need a specific place, they can worship in Spirit and Truth. God is a being os Spirit. So we have to worship him in that way - in Spirit and in Truth - in honesty- no hiding your true soul from him. Lay it all on the table.” I was amazed, and kind of horrified. “I know everything will be clear when God completes everything in the Promised One.” His smiled broadened, as his eyes were filled with only truth, and he said, “It’s already finished. I am the One.” My heart stopped. My heart soared. I think my jaw must have dropped to the ground.
Then suddenly a group of young men appeared, looking so strangely at me. They looked at the man, the Messiah. He was their teacher; they were his people. I felt a little awkward, they didn’t say anything. I quickly moved away from the well. I started walking quickly, then running back to the town. When I got to town I started telling everyone, “Guys! Come with me. Come see this man who knew my heart. He knew all I ever did. I think he is the one in whom God is going to complete Salvation.” Somehow the way he knew my heart was deep and pure and true, and somehow it didn’t scare me. Somehow there was no shame in the way he looked at me. It was like no other man had ever looked at me. He didn’t want anything from me. He just loved me.
I kept telling the testimony. People came with me and we went back to the well, because they believed what I said. When we reached the well he started talking about his eternal life again. Everyone was mesmerized, like I had been at first. After a little while a few members of my town spoke up, “Please stay with me, in my home, stay in our town. We want to hear more.” His disciples eyes widened and they looked disapprovingly at each other. But the Messiah, he smiled, and he said “Of course, let’s go.” And he came to our town and he stayed with us, he dwelt with us, ate with us, taught us. Many in my town believed he was indeed the eternal life giver. When he left they said to me, “At first we believed him because of your testimony. Now we’ve seen it ourselves. We know his words are true ‘cause we heard them. We know that he is the Savior made manifest in our world.”
As for me, I’ve never before been a part of something so amazing. This Messiah changed my whole town and somehow he used me, the town “slut,” to tell the news to everyone. That light in his eyes changed me. He took my shame, and from here on I’m gonna worship him - in Spirit and in Truth. To the town I was someone to look away from, someone to be ashamed of. But he turned it around. He made me the beautiful bearer of good news. In my mess and in my sin he used me, and he loved me. Here we are, my whole town, worshipping him in Spirit and Truth. The harvest was plentiful and the laborers were few, but he made me a laborer.
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