Have you ever felt “empty”? In the gospel of John, we hear the story of Jesus meeting a woman by a well. We are told that Jesus was tired after a long journey and sits by the well to rest and have a drink. He was in need of rest, in need of doing something other than walking through the hot, dusty desert, at least for a little while. Perhaps Jesus was feeling a bit empty himself. We are also told that there is enough evidence to infer that the woman was probably feeling quite empty as well.
First, she was a woman. Women did not hold very high standing in the community at this time, to begin with. Second, she was a Samaritan. Samaritans were not looked upon kindly by many of the other groups. The fact that the woman was at the well at noontime tells us that she was probably not a welcome member of the community. Women generally went to the well early in the morning to avoid the late-day heat and sunshine and to socialize with the other women.
Since the woman in our story was not there in the morning, we can infer that the reason she waited until later in the day was that she had been outcast by the rest of the village because of her history.
She had been married several times and was now living with a man who was not her husband. While we do not know all the details of her life, whether she was widowed or divorced, we can guess that she was an outcast. She was an outcast, and if anything can make one feel empty, it is being an outcast.
At the well, those who are empty are filled. At the well, we are filled. It doesn’t matter how low we are feeling, it doesn’t matter why we are feeling so low.
Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well. They met at a strange time of day and she avoided the rest of the community. We see that Jesus meets her at the well, even though all the others have come and gone. There at the well, Jesus offers this woman exactly what she needs.
This story reminds us that Jesus meets us as the well, too. Jesus meets us at the well no matter when we arrive, no matter how empty we are, no matter how battered or bruised life has left us. There at the well, Jesus offers us each exactly what we need. He offers us the waters that will nourish our lives and our spirits so that we are filled.
Let us draw deeply from the well of living waters that God offers to us today because at the well, we are filled.