If crowds of people wanted to hear you speak, would you spend time with just one?  It’s easy to say we are too busy or think that is a waste of time.  Yet Jesus stops for the one.

 

Rather than follow the usual route to Galilee, Jesus goes through Samaria.  There’s a well in Sychar, so he stops to rest.  This is not the usual time to be sitting by a well either, as it’s the hottest time of day.  However the Father is directing Jesus to come here.  A woman is coming to get water, a woman with deep needs.

 

Jesus breaks all social norms to speak to this woman.  He recognizes her pain and reaches out by asking for a drink.  She is shocked, but it opens a door for Jesus to offer her something in return.  A gift!  The gift of living water.  Jacob had dug this well in Sychar.  How could this man be greater than Jacob?  What is this living water anyway?  Perhaps she thinks Jesus is offering spring water, but there is no spring nearby. 

Gradually Jesus unfolds spiritual truth.  The water he is offering is spiritual.  It’s eternal life.  This is the gift of God.  Oh yes, she wants this.  Most people do.  Yet Jesus doesn’t stop here.  Just as the well was deep, so too are the woman’s needs.

 

Gently Jesus brings up the Samaritan woman’s past.  Only then can the living water penetrate the depths of her heart to bring cleansing, set her free and become a spring of water within her.  He alone can meet our deepest needs.  This is what he wants to do in each one of us?  So let him go deep!

 

Jesus cares about the one.  That includes you.  It also includes the person you pass on the street.  Reach out to them too.