Refections for Youth - Jesus, Living Waters, and the Samaritan Woman

Wow! So here we all are - learning about all the things that are canceled for the immediate future. We are practicing social distancing. We are probably just starting to feel lonely and isolated because we are missing our friends and our daily routines.

I just learned that we will be canceling church and all church activities for the next three weeks and I am thinking about all the people that I will miss and all the people that may feel alone and isolated.

This week's scripture from the Gospel of John is about a woman who, I am sure, felt the same way.  Isolated and alone - cut off from the community.

Read John 4: 1- 30

The first thing you need to know about this story is that Jews and Samaritans were not exactly besties.  So there's that. The woman was an outcast to the Jewish people because of where she lived and was from. Also, the woman meets Jesus at the well at noon, the heat of the day.

The places that Jesus lived and traveled are in desert nations where water is a precious resource. Cities and towns were built up around water wells. You couldn’t just turn on the kitchen faucet and pour a glass of water. For women, part of their daily work was to draw water from the well.  The women would head to the well early in the morning to get all the water that would be needed for the family for the day.  Water for bathing, drinking, cooking, and for the animals. Going to the well in the morning was also probably a time for the women to be with other women. Time to check-in, say good morning, and socialize and support each other.

The fact that the woman in this scripture is there at noon indicates that she comes to the well when she will be alone. She is an outcast. Not welcomed by the other women and wanting to avoid community.

So she heads to the well on this hot day and she meets Jesus. And he's tired and thirsty.

You know what that feels like, right? Your mouth can feel dry and icky - you might feel really hot, or tired, or have a headache.  

Remember that Jesus talked about things that everyone knew about and familiar things to teach people about God’s love. 

So when he meets the Samaritan woman he talks to her about Living Waters.

When they meet at the well Jesus asked her for a drink.

She looked at Jesus and said “Whaaat?” She probably couldn't believe that a Jewish man would talk to her in public.

She said, “Why are you asking me?"

Jesus said, “If you know who I was you would ask me for living waters.”

Now the woman was really puzzled and she pointed to the well and said ‘the well is deep and you don’t even have a jar. Where will you get this living water?”

Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this well will get thirsty again—but the water I bring lasts forever!”

The woman didn’t understand that Jesus wasn’t talking about the water you drink.  He was talking about Living Water—which is love from God that is forgiving and lasts forever.

As Jesus explained more, the woman wanted to learn more.  Jesus told her that he knew all about her—where she came from and what she believed in.  And as they talked she got a twinkle in her eye and said: "I know the Messiah is coming, I’ve heard about him.”

Jesus put his hand on her shoulder and said: “I am the Messiah” - and she was probably shocked that he touched her. It was me I for sure would have spilled my water jug.

The scripture said she was so excited that she left her water jar behind and rushed off to tell everyone about what she had seen and heard. And people listen to her and came to see Jesus.

How you would feel if Jesus talked to you and already knew everything about you?

Here are some other questions to think about this week:

• How does it feel to be thirsty? Does it feel a little like when you are feeling lonely and isolated? Doctors say that if we are feeling thirsty we are already dehydrated. What ways can you reach out to people to not feel so alone?

• In what ways does God transform people today?

• From what and into what are you being transformed by God?

• How can you reach out to someone that may be feeling thirsty, alone, and isolated?

• If you met Jesus at the well, what would you ask him? What would you tell him?

• What, based on what you know about Jesus from the Bible, would you tell others about him?