A man in our community who seemed to be a good guy did something horrific. I knew where this guy worked. He had worked there for over 25 years. One of the guys I hang out with regularly has also worked at the same place for over 25 years. I asked my friend if he knew the man. His response was, “I guess not well enough.” This got me to thinking...
At the Well
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
John 4:10 (ESV)
In the book, Black Like Me, journalist John Howard Griffin tells his story of what happened when he decided to exchange his life as a white man for the world of an unemployed black man. Using medication that darkened his skin to deep brown, he made his way through the segregated south of the late 1950s. He got to the point where he was able to go back and forth between the two worlds and experience a different life in each. He could show up one day at a market as a white man and then days later, go back to the exact same market, appearing as a black man, interact with the same people and be treated totally different. Changing only the color of his skin, he experienced a vastly different world…a world that nearly got him killed.
As humans, we tend to make quick judgements about people and treat them accordingly. I might meet a middle-aged guy in the lobby of a restaurant whose salt and pepper hair is on the long side and a little mangled, hasn’t shaved for a few days, is wearing “boardshorts” and a t-shirt and sandals, talks like he just came from the beach and I’ll start putting him in a box…surfer dude who lives in small apartment, bounces from job to job, never been married, only lives to surf, etc…I have seen enough of these guys to fit the stereotype. But then, I take the time to get to know him. I find out he is a successful eye surgeon, a family man, engaged in ministry at his church and is very generous with people…not what I expected…and sadly, I probably now treat him differently than if he fit in the box I originally put him in.
How much of our life is like that? Especially in this world where everyone is throwing so many different messages and information and demands at us that we have to quickly process. It happens so hurriedly we often miss what may be really important. We treat people like we do other things in our hurried life….make a quick assessment, see if it is worth engaging or not, and move on.
We see it in Scripture as well. (And we can treat Scripture the same way…we make a quick assessment and miss something valuable.) I have a friend who has been captured by the story of the women at the well. He is fascinated by the grace of Jesus and the response of the woman. He is regularly going back to the story and noticing new things.
Many of us know that in Jesus’ day, He had no business engaging with the woman at the well and treating her like He did. Not only was she a woman, but she was a Samaritan woman! And not only was she a Samaritan woman, she had been divorced several times, and was living with a man…She was someone to be shamed. You don’t show compassion and respect and love to her!
If you spend a little time looking at this story, you may catch some of that…the impact of this exchange. However, there is something else to notice. Did you notice that the woman at the well came to get water but left with none? The Apostle John tells us she left her water jar behind - “So the woman left her water jar and went away into town.” (John 4:28) - Why did he make a point to tell us that? It seems significant. Perhaps John was trying to tell us that a deeper thirst in her got "watered" during her time with Jesus that day. It made the more noticeable physical thirst less relevant if for but a moment.
Often, I long to be "watered." People we engage with daily and stereotype and treat according to that stereotype long to be “watered” as well. We don’t know what they have gone through or are going through. We can’t quench their deeper thirst, but stopping and showing a little compassion, respect, and love goes a long way. And pointing them to Jesus so they may be filled will all the fullness of Christ (Eph. 3:19) will take them to a well with living water.
This all came to me because a man in our community who seemed to be a good guy did something horrific. He killed his wife (a popular TV reporter and radio personality) and then himself. She had told him she was going to divorce him. They had three school-aged children. I knew where this guy worked. He had worked there for over 25 years. One of the guys I hang out with weekly has also worked at the same place for over 25 years. I asked my friend if he knew him. His response was, “I guess not well enough.”
When Jesus says follow Him, I think He is inviting us to refrain from our quick assessments, to stay alert, and get to know each other. It may be risky. It may be like an adventure - not sure what is going to happen around the next turn - but you never know how you may minister to someone. They may even forget what they thought they needed to quench their thirst…or silence it.
