You would think that would be the case when Jesus goes to a well and runs into a 1) Samaritan, who’s a 2) woman, who’s a 3) loose woman, and who’s also a 4) ostracized woman. Four strikes and you’re out?  Most people would push her aside and walk right past her as she’d so obviously been ridden hard and put away wet.

But not Jesus.

Jesus stops to talk with her.

Jesus gives her the time of day.

Jesus cares about her.

Jesus came to show this woman love. And in doing this with a no-name tramp he shows each of us that he intends to do the same.

The metaphor here is ‘living water’ – the translation is ‘love.’

Jesus says drink from that water.

Fill up on that water.

Take that water into yourself so deeply that it comes right back out.

It is God’s love that is no better demonstrated than by his care and regard for people for which no one else has any regard. It is the one thing that can fill us up and keep us. Our Lenten challenge is to drink from that water, go to the well, ingest what’s there, and let the world benefit from it.

What does ‘going to the well’ look like for you? How do you ‘drink’ of this living water?  Do we really think that, if God can give it to a woman like this, it’s also available to you and me?

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Reading

The War of Art – Steven Pressfield

Sentess – Hammond and Cronshaw

The Lean Startup – Eric Ries