Where Rose Writes Very True Stories

I freaking love these boys. And I freaking love this picture of them.

So, two Mondays ago, when this picture was taken, we had a Family Home Evening. We read about The Samaritan Woman at the Well. It’s one of my favorite stories, it’s in the Gospel of John.

The Jewish people in the days of Jesus really, REALLY hated the Samaritans. They didn’t agree with the way they worshipped God. They didn’t agree with the people they married. They believed they were all going to Hell.

Now, this Samaritan woman, would go out alone in the middle of the day to the well outside of town to get water. This was apparently odd. Women would often travel together earlier in the day when it wasn’t so hot. She deliberately went alone when no one was there. Likely because she was probably bullied and looked down on. She’d had some misfortune, a lot of which likely wasn’t her fault, but had more to do with the laws and customs at the time. People didn’t see it that way, though. She’d likely also made a lot of mistakes, which people didn’t really look at with compassion.

Jesus arrives at Samaria, sending His disciples into town for food while He hangs out at the well… and waits.

The lady is probably not happy to see someone else at the well when she gets there. I imagine her thinking, “Oh great. Just my luck. I hope He doesn’t talk to me.” She starts to draw water and, just her luck, He asks her for some.

She’s annoyed, and basically says to him that He’s Jewish and must know she’s a woman of Samaria, *why* is He talking to *her*??

As they talk, though, the world around them changes. She feels a light. He offers her “living water,” which she thinks is ridiculous at first, but hears Him out as He promises that whoever has this living water will never thirst again, for it will be a well within them, springing up unto everlasting life. He asks her to go get her husband. She says, “I have no husband.” He tells her, basically, “That’s true. You’ve had 5 husbands, and you’re not married to the man you’re with now.”

She’s shocked, and that light gets brighter. Here is a man who must be a prophet—a prophet who addresses her concerns, and discusses with her how to worship God (you don’t need to go to any mountain or city, you worship in spirit and truth), speaking to her as an equal. Someone who seems to know everything about her, and isn’t judging her. She says, “When the Messiah comes, He’ll tell us everything.”

Jesus says to her, “I, who speaketh unto thee, am he.”

She knows He’s telling the truth. She can feel it. She leaves her water and runs into the city to tell everyone. One of the very first times Jesus declares He is the Messiah, is to this lady.

I asked my boys, “What does this story tell us about Jesus?”

Canon says, “He really doesn’t care who you are or where you come from, or what you’ve done, He only cares about where you’re going, and who you can become.”

Boom. Mic drop. He is 1,000% right. I don’t know how I’ve got so lucky to have such brilliant kids.