When I was a little girl in elementary school in the mid-70s, we had no bullies or unruly children in our classrooms. We sat quietly, raised our hands, and loved our teachers. We quarreled but never dared speak hatefully to our peers or swear at our teacher. How did we get to metal detectors in schools and epidemic levels of depression, anxiety, anger, fear, emotional crisis, mental breakdowns, and relational isolation across the age spectrum?
More importantly, what can one person do?
While listening to a podcast about Jesus and the Women at the Well, I realized it might be the first recorded “Christian” revival that upended an entire community. It stood out to me because the Woman at the Well was the messenger who took the gospel to an unlikely community—the Samaritans.
At that time, men were the leaders of the community. The Woman at the Well had a backstory that she was reluctant to share with Jesus. People would probably cross the street to avoid her. She was not the typical image of an evangelist. Jewish sentiment at that time avoided the Samaritans because some were not “Jewish” enough. How does one encounter with Jesus change an outcast so much that she sticks her neck out and implores a community to drop what they are doing to come to Christ? (Did the possible rejection and ridicule even occur to her?) I was seeing this story with fresh eyes.
And then I realized the Woman at the Well does not have a name. Why leave out her name? Honestly, I don’t know. Perhaps it is because John wanted us to see the power of the message of Christ instead of being distracted by or enamored with the messenger. Or maybe He wanted us to stop qualifying or unqualifying ourselves from sharing Christ with others based on our backstory.
You can read her conversation with Jesus in John 4. As I read it, a few things stood out to me. The Women at the Well believed in the Messiah and knew He was coming. Therefore, she knew and respected the written Word of God. She read between the lines and knew Jesus spoke of something more than water. She asked Jesus to “give” her eternal life. She must have understood from Abraham that righteousness was a gift of new life apart from the works of the Law.
When she confessed Jesus was a prophet, He revealed He was the Messiah. She must have felt God’s love and acceptance knowing the Messiah sat and spoke with her. After that, their conversation was interrupted. Radically, she goes into town, shares her encounter with Jesus, and brings many people to see the Messiah for themselves. Based on her testimony, perhaps due to her changed demeanor, they stopped what they were doing and went to Jesus.
As a result of the townspeople’s encounter with Christ, many people were saved over the next two days that Jesus was in Sychar. It occurred to me that, like her, many of us are looking for Jesus, the answer and hope for our times, and we need someone to share with us the same life-changing hope she found in Christ.
How did her encounter with Christ have such a profound impact on her community? After having five husbands, she understood pain, disappointment, rejection, defeat, and hopelessness. She realized that Christ didn’t come for a drink of water. Jesus came for her—and for you and me too! Out of the abundance of His love, she spoke and shared that love with others. She knew her neighbors and friends were in the same frail boat as herself, even though their storms were different. They, too, were searching, waiting, and longing for the peace and contentment that overcomes the waves and storms of life. Perhaps the impact was profound because she did not share Christ to change people. She shared Christ because the abundance of love overflowed with a new compassion for others.
When I [Nehemiah] saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people [who were under attack while rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem]: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses [community].”
Nehemiah 4:15
Where are the Women at the Well of our day? Where are the Nehemiahs who rebuilt the ruined walls of his time and inspired a generation “to fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses?” Where are the priests of the Lord who look out for the widow, orphan, and alien? Where are the Esters who risked their life for the love of others? Where are the Gideons with a ridiculously small army of light standing against the darkness?
I believe they are all around us. They are you. They are me. They are the body of Christ, the ministers of reconciliation. They are the nameless men and women tucked away in different communities, quietly capitalizing on opportunities to share the love of Christ.
I was waiting and watching for the revival of our times. But the Woman at the Well showed me that it is the other way around and maybe even simpler than I thought. Revival is waiting for me to love my neighbor! The Women at the Well hasn’t inspired me to “keep the faith.” She compels me to SHARE the love of Christ with others, not to change them, but to love them because Christ came for me—for all of us. Don’t discount what God can do when we love in word and deed.
Love changes us.
Life Center’s passion is to help people see and walk in God’s love until the abundance of peace and contentment compels them to share Christ, too.
Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV
