Red Letters – Oh Well – April 10

RED LETTERS
April 10, 2021

Oh Well

John 4:13-15, ‘Jesus answered, “If you drink from Jacob’s well, you’ll be thirsty again, but if anyone drinks the living water I give them, they will never be thirsty again. For when you drink the water I give you, it becomes a gushing fountain of the Holy Spirit, flooding you with endless life!” The woman replied, “Let me drink that water so I’ll never be thirsty again and won’t have to come back here to draw water.”’ (TPT)

We know a lot about this woman. We know where she is from and we know about her lifestyle. Because of that, we can assume that she is well-known by her choices and also greatly shunned by the society in which she lives. So much so that it likely explains why she comes to the well for water alone and in the heat of the afternoon instead of with a throng of women in the cool of the day. But for all we know about her, we never learn her name. We are introduced to a woman with a condition, but not an identity.

I wonder if that could possibly be so I can identify with her character rather than her persona. We know she has had five husbands, and by the sixth time around, just decided to heck with the legalities. And although we don’t know why this woman has gone through men in her life like some might trade in vehicles (or horses, in this case), we already have formulated an idea of why in our minds. I don’t know about you but I imagine the gossip that is whispered in the town square between all the wives as they protect their husbands from this venomous beauty. I also imagine her in my heart as she casts her eyes to the ground and walks on the outskirts of life to avoid the glares and chatter and verbal assaults. For some reason, it seems being alone is less lonely when alone than being alone in a crowd. Loneliness is one of the loudest silences there is.

I imagine being this woman and having this very encounter. I may not have had five husbands and a sixth who might have been. But I too have looked for fulfillment from many vessels and gotten lost in other vices. I have envisioned filling the empty with relationships even if unhealthy and have scooped from the bottom of many wells and come up dry. I have been a bucket with a hole and seeped all my worth onto a dusty ground, and sighed in resignation, ‘Oh well, that wasn’t it either.’

Modern day mainstream or Sum(Other)A-ria; nothing really has changed. This woman or this woman. I can see His eyes not only on me but within me also as He sees something in me that no one else, including myself, has ever seen. He takes a chance and offers up His grace-giving, life-lending, soul-sustaining Living Water that refuses to run dry. I too like this woman wish I had enough credibility with the people in my past who whisper behind my back so I can describe to them what this Man has really done for me…they’ll never believe me, I think. But there is holy water coursing in my veins, and one foot in front of the other, I swallow my silence and begin to hand out clay jars of this Jesus. He can fill you too and you will never ever again run dry nor long for other fulfillment. You will never have to accept a hand-me-down relationship again or try on someone for size to see if he fits, and when he doesn’t, feel as if you must accept him anyway to avoid being alone. This Jesus can be your everything. Like He is mine.

I’ve been reading RED LETTERS all my life, but never with my heart. During the month of April, let’s JOURNEY where JESUS journeyed, and listen with our hearts to all He came to proclaim.