The Woman at the Well

As I mentioned previously, I was really touched by the story of the woman at the well found in John 4.   There is just something about this unnamed woman that makes me wonder about her background story and what she must have been like after spending two days with Jesus in Sycar.  I personally believe that she probably became one of the female disciples of Jesus, following him and learning from him and leading others to him.  


Because of my connection to her, I decided to write my sermon in a first person narrative.  It seemed to go over okay but I could tell it took a few people a minute or two to realize that it was a first person narrative.  


Enjoy!

I am the woman at the well.  And I’ve come here to tell you my story not so that you might feel sorry for me, but so that you may become a sower and reaper like me. 

For years now, people have thought that I am a prostitute and in many ways I wish that was true for my story is one that is much sadder.  If I was a prostitute I would at least be in charge of my sexuality instead of being cast aside from husband to husband.  Instead my fate is much worse.  One that is still whispered about centuries after I have lived.  I am barren.

When I was a young bride, just married to my first husband we had dreams for our future, dreams that were filled with young children running around our feet, boys that would help him in the field and girls that would help me with my daily chores, including fetching water from the well.  But years past and I produced no children for my husband.  And even worse than never conceiving, I had multiple miscarriages, I even had one pregnancy, one that we thought would be our miracle, our blessing from God, who was born blue and not breathing after I labored for almost two days. 

And so my husband divorced me, as I was unable to provide an heir for him.  Fortunately another man was willing to marry me, only for me to realize that this new union would suffer the same fate.

So after 5 husbands and no living children I felt cursed.  I know people in the town talked about me.  They felt sorry for me but yet they stare and gossip, rumors spread about me.  Some women even kept their children from me for fear that I will some how harm them, when really all I longed for is to hold a child in my arms, to hear them laugh, to see a child smile at me. 

For the last few days before I meet that mysterious man at the well, I was filled with tentative hope.  I had learned not to get too excited when I had reasons to believe I might be once again with child.  So I was not too shocked when I woke up that morning to realize that once again I had been cursed.  So that day of all days, I could not handle going to the well in the morning for water.  I knew the other women would gossip about me.  But worse than that would be seeing all of their children, children that are the age my children would have been, had they survived.  And so I waited.  I busied myself with other chores, I took my time. And then at noon, during the heat of day, I set out for the well, knowing that for sure I would be alone.

But I was not alone. Instead on one of the worst days of my miserable life, a day when I was certain I would be homeless by nightfall once the man who has taken me in found out that I was still not with child, I met the savior!  This man that I know has and will change me and has given me a purpose in a way that those 5 husbands of mine would never have been able to, even if I was able to give them children. 

This man Jesus has given me a purpose.  He is the messiah, he is the Christ and he has come to proclaim all things to us.  But while he is the messiah he is still but one man and needs people to go and tell others about him.  And that has become my purpose.  All you have to do is meet him, and hopefully you will know like me that he is the one who was sent by God to be our Savior. 

But I don’t expect you to believe right way.  For some people it takes time.  Jesus told me about man named Nicodemus that he met with just a week before he met me at the well.  A man that was full of questions for him about Jesus being the messiah and how one is able to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Nicodemus’ faith was not quick, but Jesus knew he would be transformed and he too become a reaper and sower for Jesus. 

And once you know who Jesus is, well hopefully you will want to tell everyone.  He is much to exciting to keep to yourself.  Though I’m sure after awhile the excitement wears off or you feel like everyone knows him so why do you have to say anything, or maybe you feel like you are not the ideal preacher, the ideal evangelist, the ideal teller of good news.  But God has made you the way you are.  And God knows you and to know you is to love you and to love you is to know you and therefore you are the ideal preacher, the ideal evangelist, the ideal teller of good news. God has taken me, a barren woman, a woman that was cast aside by 5 men, and has turned me into the first sower and reaper for Jesus.  And God takes you with all your imperfections and makes you a sower and reaper as well. 

So as you go into the field, into the world, to sow and reap know that God is always with you, and that saying “God works in mysterious ways” is true.  When I think about all the things that had to happen in order for me to meet Jesus, in order for me to be transformed it is almost mind boggling.  Jesus was traveling from Jerusalem to Galilee, he did not need to go into Samaria, into the mountains and yet he did.  For some reason Jesus decided to send the disciples into the city while he stayed behind at the well for surely we would not have had this life changing conversation if the disciples were around.  If I was not so heart broken that day, if I was not so ashamed to show up with the other women in the morning, then I would not have been there at noon to meet Jesus.  And yet all these things happened so that I would be transformed.  So maybe the saying should really be “God works in the coincidences.”  When you don’t plan every moment, when you let go of some of the control, God takes over and it is then that you met Jesus. 

So come, give God some of the control in your life.  Come meet Jesus in everything you do and everywhere you go. Come be loved by the messiah who give us all purpose.  Come sow the seeds of faith in others.  Come reap the harvest of those who have heard God’s word and are ready to become workers in God’s field.  Come and see!