Filled to Overflowing

Filled to Overflowing

Thirst: Part 6
March 29, 2026

John 4:27-42

The woman put down her water jar and went into the city. She said to the people, 'Come and see a man who has told me everything I’ve done! Could this man be the Christ?' They left the city and were on their way to see Jesus.

 ~ John 4:28-30

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Good News is contagious.  Once we really get it, we can't keep it to ourselves.

Imagine you were cured of cancer by an amazing doctor with a brand-new experimental treatment.  Wouldn't you be telling all your friends with cancer about it, hoping that this doctor could help them too? 

"If our faith is real, if being a Christian makes a deep difference in our own lives, it matters that we be able to talk about that with the people we care about and the people that Christ cares about” (Martha Grace Reese, Unbinding the Gospel, 13).

Many of us as Christians are more likely to invite someone to our new favorite restaurant than we are to invite someone to church, and we are far more likely to introduce someone to our best friend or even to our favorite TV series than we are to introduce them to Jesus. 

For the woman at the well, Jesus was likely one of the first people who ever truly loved and accepted her for who she was, flaws and all.  He knew her better than anybody and yet he didn't judge.  He was a Jew and she was a Samaritan, but that didn't stop him from reaching across the lines.  He was clean and she was unclean, but he wasn't afraid of getting dirty.  Nobody else in her life had ever loved her that much.  Her excitement is overwhelming, and it is contagious.

The people probably think she's crazy.  They know her.  They know her past.  They know she's got no reason to be so joyful.  But they can't help but wonder what has changed inside her, and so they come to meet Jesus for themselves. 

She has no idea how the people will respond, but it doesn't matter.  She's not even certain if Jesus is really the Christ, the Savior, at all?  She's not clear on her beliefs.  She has no religious answers and little to know biblical knowledge.  I'm not even certain we can say that she "got saved," in the way we often think about salvation... at least not yet.  But her encounter with Christ impacted her so much she could not keep it to herself. 

Before we met Jesus personally, each and every one of us saw Jesus alive in someone else.

Who needs to see Jesus alive in you, so that they will come and see the one who knows them and loves them too?

It's Not About the Plumbing

It's Not About the Plumbing

Thirst: Part 5
March 22, 2026

John 4:21-26

The woman said, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you and your people say that it is necessary to worship in Jerusalem.”

  ~ John 4:19-20

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We've all heard it said, "Don't talk about religion or politics in polite company."  On one hand, this kind of social etiquette has resulted in the inability to have rational dialogue and healthy disagreement about anything of great importance.  Simply look at the comment section of any online article or social media post about a religious or political topic and you'll see what I mean.

On the other hand, these topics can easily be used as a distraction from the real issue at hand.  If we don't like something a person is saying, all we have to do is find something about their political views or religious beliefs that we don't agree with, and immediately we are able to brush off anything they say as irrelevant.  When teaching on Jesus' command to love and forgive our enemies, for example, I have been told on more than one occasion that I only believe that stuff because I'm a "liberal."  That assumption has then been used to accuse me of believing many other things which I don't support. 

Many Christians avoid sharing their faith because they fear the response someone might give if they start talking about "religion".  But in his conversation with the woman, Jesus didn't bring up religion at all.  He talked about water and about her family, but not once did he mention church or sin or heaven or hell or any of those other topics we are so uncomfortable bringing up.

It is the woman who brings up both religion and politics, and particularly the hot-button issues that most strongly divided the Jews and the Samaritans.  I'm not convinced she brings it up as a serious inquiry.  She may genuinely have a religious question about the appropriate place to worship, but in this context, it feels more like a distraction.

She doesn't want to talk about her life.  The conversation has gotten too personal.  Solution... let's talk about something else, and not just anything else, but something that will surely offend this Jewish rabbi so much that maybe, just maybe, he'll leave me alone.  Better to get him arguing about where to worship than to let him see me cry over my miserable life.

I have been in more than my share of conversations where a person threw out every theological dilemma they could think of, from the problem of evil to evolution to the hypocrisy of Christians to the beliefs of other religions, etc., just to make it clear why they would never come to church.  The more I can provide "satisfactory scholarly answers," the more irritated they get, until they finally run out of excuses and quickly end the conversation.

They were never really looking for answers.  They just didn't want to talk about the deeper issues.

What if we were more concerned with the heart and soul of a person than about defending our beliefs?

What if we focused less on where people should worship and more on the presence of God already there in our midst?

What if the Spirit of Truth was already speaking into our conversations, just waiting to be heard?

Come Out of Hiding

Come Out of Hiding

Thirst: Part 4
March 15, 2026

John 4:16-20

"Jesus said to her, 'Go, get your husband, and come back here.'

The woman replied, 'I don’t have a husband.'

'You are right to say, ‘I don’t have a husband,'' Jesus answered. 'You’ve had five husbands, and the man you are with now isn’t your husband. You’ve spoken the truth.'" 

~ John 4:16-18

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For this week’s reflection, take some time to listen to hear the Samaritan woman’s story afresh through the spoken word video below.

To be known is to be loved;

And to be loved is to be known.

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What does this simple truth look like in your life?

Give Me a Drink

Give Me a Drink

Thirst: Part 2
March 1, 2026

John 4:7-10

 The Samaritan woman asked, “Why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each other.)

 John 4:9

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We all have those times when God seems distant.  We feel like our prayers are empty and our works of piety are in vain.  We realize that we are empty, that we are nothing, and we would not be surprised in the least if God gave up on us. 

But what if the problem is not that God is too distant, but too close... in fact, way too close for comfort?

By every religious and social custom of his day, Jesus clearly should not have been talking with this woman at a public well in Samaria.  She had three strikes against her that would keep any righteous man far away... she was a Samaritan, she was a woman, and she had a shameful history, even if it was not entirely of her own making. 

Some have speculated that she did not come to the well during normal cooler hours because she didn't want to face the gossip the other women in town must have been speaking about her as they drew water for their "proper" families.

It's interesting how she is so blatantly aware of Jesus' impropriety in asking her for water, and yet Jesus seems entirely unconcerned with her status as a Samaritan or a woman with a past.  Jesus is not worried about being made unclean.  He is not concerned about what others might think.  And he's not even coming with some ulterior motive to convert her to his religious beliefs.

Jesus is simply tired and wants a drink of water.  Period.

I wonder how many times Jesus has come to us, to ask us for a drink or even just to sit down and enjoy a casual conversation, and we responded by pulling away because we knew deep down that we were unworthy of his company. 

What if Jesus wanted to come to us in the form of a homeless person, or an irritating co-worker, or a family member who has hurt us deeply, or a child who won't sit still and be quiet for five minutes.  The faces of Jesus are everywhere, for he says that whenever we care for the "least of these," we have provided for him. 

We don't always recognize his presence, but we can sense the uncomfortable holiness of each encounter stirring deep in our souls, or maybe in the pit of our stomachs, and we want to retreat. 

We know that God already knows us better than we know ourselves, but somehow, we still want to pretend we can keep the worst parts of ourselves a secret.  We're afraid of being exposed.  We like to pretend we're OK, but next to Jesus, we know we are not. 

And if we're truly honest, there are just certain places we don't want to be seen walking around with Jesus.

Just like the woman at the well, we are far more uncomfortable around Jesus' holiness than Jesus is around our sin.

• What is one place in your ordinary routine that Jesus might show up unexpectedly if you were open to it? 

• How would you respond?