Come see a man who told me everything I have ever done! (Jn. 4:29)
The woman had been married five times. She was currently living with a man without being married. Did her neighbors talk about her, judge her, and condemn her? Did she feel marked, shunned, and ostracized?
One day she meets a man at the village well. Although he began their conversation by asking for some water, he ends up telling her about the Living Water which will change her life. She isn’t sure how this man is going to give her this water since he doesn’t have a water jar. What she doesn’t realize is that she’s drinking this Living Water by simply being with him.
She leaves the well, returns to her village, and proclaims: “Come see a man who told me everything I have ever done!”
It’s not surprising that Jesus knew all about her. What’s surprising is that the woman felt seen but not condemned, known but not shamed, revealed but not scorned.
This story exposes one of our greatest fears. If you knew everything about me, would you love me, respect me, want me? This fear debilitates us because most of us carry around secret sins, secret distractions, secret obsessions, secret messes. Secrets we fear will be revealed. Secrets that shame and keep us in bondage.
Because this woman felt totally known and totally loved, she’s free. She doesn’t care what the neighbors think because she knows what Jesus thinks.
Jesus wants us to feel the freedom this woman felt. Just as He knew all about her, so He knows all about us. There’s no hiding from, fooling, or lying to Jesus.
Although we might not want to hang out all of our “dirty laundry” with our neighbors, we can trust Jesus with all we’ve done and not done. His grace covers and forgives all. The Living Water of grace is a bottomless well of love and forgiveness.
Are we as free as this woman? If we’re still living in fear of being found out and really known, today’s scripture encourages us to drink more deeply of the Living Water that Jesus offered to her so that we can join this woman in the freedom dance.
Reflection Questions:
- Have your ever tasted the Living Water that Jesus offers? If so, what did it taste like? Freedom? Mercy? Hope? Forgiveness? Peace?
- Do you need some of His living water right now? If so, where and how do you need it?
- Once the woman in the story tasted Jesus’ Living Water, she invited others to also drink that Water for themselves. If you have tasted that Living Water, are you following her lead?