1. Jesus is thirsty and tired from a wilderness journey. John has no trouble reminding us that Jesus is human, experiencing physical discomfort. In other words, he is like us and with us. He can empathize with our vulnerabilities, because he shares them. All of us have needs. When was the last time you were tired or thirsty or hungry? Who supported you?
2. The woman has no name. In Judaism, she is invisible, untouchable, and unworthy of a gift from God. She is thrice an outcast; a woman, ethnically and religiously Samaritan. The text betrays the bigotry, misogyny, and religious rivalry that existed between peoples. She is quick to point these things out to Jesus. I believe she is hiding at midday. Unlike the Pharisee, Nicodemus, who seeks out Jesus at night (In John chapter 3), she is hoping to be left alone in the light of day. If the well was occupied in the morning, before the heat of the day and in order to obtain the day's ration of water, then her midday trip to the well may be seen as avoidance. She has no name. She is invisible, untouchable. She, like Nicodemus, has something to hide. He was hiding his interest in Jesus' teachings, his feelings of incompetency and concern for him. He was embarrassed to confess his ignorance, because he was a Pharisee--a respected and educated teacher. What was she hiding? Who's invisible in our world? What does shame do to people? Who has no name?
3. Despite her best efforts to deflect him, she cannot dissuade Jesus from offering himself to her. Jesus ignores the conventional mores and rules about men and women, Jew and Samaritan. He does so in private. This is dangerous boundary crossing for Jesus. She could make an accusation. She could damage his reputation. He doesn't care. Somehow he knows that she needs what he can give. What boundaries did Jesus cross to meet you? What boundaries might you cross to meet someone on their journey?
4. Jesus uses the well and the water as an analogy for his ministry/teaching. I think the deep well represents the depth of human struggle and suffering that the woman has gone through. The water is Jesus' life-giving relief---forgiveness, peace, mercy, and love that he offers us. What is the well in your life?
5. She is interested in the living water he offers. And then he reveals what she's hiding. He tells her to go and get her husband. Somehow he knew. She has had 5 husbands and the man she is living with now is not her husband. Her well is bad relationships with men. This woman has been misdiagnosed unfairly by interpreters, suggesting that she is a whore, a harlot, fast and loose with the men. More likely, she was victim to male domination and abuse. Nevertheless, this was a source of shame for her. Deep shame. She was hiding at noon from gossipers, slanderers, and those who have rejected her. And Jesus caught her.
6. Jesus' offer of living water was really his way of saying that he was there to wash away her shame, her pain, her sadness, her weariness, her anger and resentment. He was there to wash it away. As he is there for us. What would you like Jesus to wash away from your story?
7. She runs away, leaving her bucket behind. Not in fear, but with hope. Something has changed for her in this encounter with this jewish man. She tells others, "He told me everything I have ever done." This is an exaggeration of their conversation, but what she means by it is so clear: Jesus saw her, heard her, knew her. Jesus exposed her shame and her pain, not to cause more of it, but to heal her.
8. Lots of people are walking around trying to fill their empty buckets. They're going to all kinds of wells---religion, relationships, online retailers, trying to cover the shame and quench the thirst. And its never enough. We can't fill our own buckets. We can't heal ourselves. We can't fix what's broken in our relationships. We can't set right the wrong that has been done to us or by us. No matter how hard we try. And some are trying hard to look like they've got their shit together. Don't believe them. They don't.
9. Jesus offers himself. He is not demanding or coercive. He wants nothing, but our acknowledgment that he is in this with us too. Living in our tired, thirsty bodies. And he wants us to take what he's giving. Living water.
10. Jesus says, "God is Spirit." We cannot control, contain, or avoid God. It's like trying to control, contain, or avoid the wind. Religion attempts to do this when it is meant to draw us into the flow, blow us away, breathe life into our bodies, send us out with abandon and the wind of free speech telling others what God has done. He sees me and loves me anyway.
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