I’ll Meet You at the Well
by David Wright
If I claim to be a follower of Jesus, I must live as Jesus lived, we are told in 1 John 2:6. That is a tall order penned by the Apostle John. But it is possible only because of the grace and truth that is exemplified in who Jesus is.
John 1:14 states, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Try as I might, I cannot live like Jesus lived and exude grace and truth toward others without the Spirit of Jesus in my heart. It is His truth and grace that must live in me that enables me to share these attributes with those I love.
Consider Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well in Samaria in John 4:1-42. He and His disciples were traveling to Galilee. Their route through Samaria was the shortest and most direct to travel but, in that day, Samaria was typically avoided by Jews. Samaritans were not respected or trusted. But Jesus, full of grace and truth, stopped at what was called Jacob’s Well. There He met a woman who at noon had come to draw water for the day. It was a hot day. Jesus and His disciples had walked a long way. Hungry, the disciples had gone into a town to buy food, and Jesus was alone at the well.
He asked the Samaritan woman for a drink. She responded that as a Jew, He would normally not ask a Samaritan for a drink. His response to her amazed her. It was full of truth and grace. Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” She was surprised and full of questions for Jesus. He explained that everyone who drinks only earthly water will thirst again but drinking the living water that He would provide would never thirst again. She asked Jesus for the water He described. His response was another surprise for the woman. He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” The mood of the moment changed, and truth and grace were about to change an entire village, not just one Samaritan woman.
The woman understood from her interactions with Jesus that He was different. She referred to him as a “prophet.” She accepted the hard truth that He shared with her so gracefully that she returned to her village to tell them the truth that set her free. She was aware that a Messiah was to come, and Jesus let her know that she was indeed speaking with The Messiah.
As she returned to the village to testify to whom she had been speaking, Jesus’ disciples returned with food they had purchased and encouraged Him to eat. This opened the door to one more teaching moment for His disciples. With truth and grace Jesus taught them again and again.
I invite you to closely review the entire passage of John 4:1- 42. Focus on the importance of grace and truth as an essential spiritual tandem that each believer must have in our individual spiritual toolbox.
I also invite you to consider who are the “women and men at the wells” in our lives we may encounter in our daily walks. The wells in our lives may be our homes, neighborhoods, churches, shopping centers, gas stations, restaurants, truly any place where we encounter people. As followers of Jesus what are the lessons His Spirit and Word teach us regarding grace and truth?
For me, I think of a middle-aged single mom with a 14-year-old son. Her life especially has been turned upside down with the sudden death of her daughter four years ago, and the death of her mother this last summer. The people that came around the two of them were not her biological family. Her biological family abandoned both she and her son. Those who drew alongside these two were her in-laws. A sister and brother-in-law, a mother and father-in-law (an uncle, aunt and grandparents of her son) and members of a church where only the 14-year-old son attends.
Although she has been blessed with love, grace, and truth (as well as patience), it is her son who recently responded to a question with Godly wisdom. This young son was baptized in May. He was a believer in Jesus long before this, but he told his grandmother that he felt it was time for him to be immersed. With his mother and his small, extended family circle gathered around him, he was joyfully immersed.
Since that Saturday in May every Sunday his mother has awakened just in time to take this young son to church. She drops him off at the door and he enters the church building alone to worship alongside friends and grandparents.
Recently his grandfather told him, “You know we would be happy to pick you up and bring you with us to church.” He responded with grace and truth and a bit of prayerful wisdom, “I know you would, and I appreciate that so much. But I believe and pray that one of these Sundays, Mom will accept my invitation to come inside and worship alongside all of us. I really believe that will happen someday. I hope she sees how Jesus has changed my life and hope she will accept Him and allow these changes to take place in her.”
Jesus promised each of us in John 8:32 that we “will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Let us share this truth of Jesus and do so with the grace that demonstrates God’s kindness to the ungrateful, the unloved, and the lost with whom we encounter at life’s wells.
