Jesus’ conversation with this woman seems to go all over the place. They start out talking about well water, then Jesus invites her to something deeper—the living water. But when she asks him to give her this water, his response is “Go, call your husband.” Um…what? But she just picks up that thread and they have a conversation about her marital history, in which Jesus reveals more of who she is than perhaps she had intended. She immediately (and you have to wonder if she is trying to move away from the discomfort of being exposed here!) asks about whether worship of God should be at the mountain of the Jews or the Samaritans. This leads into a conversation about the Messiah, and Jesus continues to not-beat-around-the-bush by revealing not only who *she* is, but who *he* is—this very Messiah. This is the first time we see him coming out plainly and saying it, and it’s in the middle of this back-and-forth with a foreign woman at a well? The first of John’s “I am” statements, and it’s not to his friends or to the Jewish crowds, but to this single woman from a little town in the desert between Jerusalem and Galilee. It feels almost random, the way this plays out, but what if Jesus came to that spot just for her? Not even as a strategic move to make her “the first evangelist” as many have pointed out, as she joyfully runs back to town to tell people all that had happened in her conversation with this Person—but because God knew her and wanted to meet *her* that day, in that way? What would it feel like to be in that place, to have Jesus come for *you* like that? Have you had that experience, where it feels like you're the only person in the world because of the particular way God comes and meets you? How has God walked through the twists and turns of a conversation with *your* heart, until you knew just how seen, known, and loved you are? Recall your own "woman at the well" experience this morning (or talk to God about what it is your heart longs for!).

Posted by Jamie Bonilla at 2022-08-31 14:12:49 UTC