A lesson from the well

August 28, 2008

I sensed it upon me….that sucking feeling in the pit of my stomach. It felt as if my energy, my vitality and willingness to face the day was being drained and in its place heaviness and dread was descending upon me. I really thought about what was going on. What is wrong with me? Am I falling into depression? Why don’t I want to face each morning? Why do I feel like I do not want to read my bible any more, or go to church, let alone give another talk? The sceptre of burnout had crawled up on me and I had not even noticed it. I guess that now in hindsight I can see that if you drive and drive and drive and do not take the time to “refuel” emotionally, physically and spirituality, then it is only a matter of time until you are driving around on fumes and good to no-one. I needed help – I needed to re-charge – I needed to get back with it.

John 4:1-4: 1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria. (Emphasis mine)

I’ll try and stop myself from launching out into a fully-fledged history lesson here, so I’ll just say that Samaritans were not particularly liked in Israel at that time. The Samaritans were the descendants of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, back there when Old Testament Israel was divided into two separate kingdoms. Tthe Northern Kingdom was comprised of ten tribes of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom was comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin with Jerusalem as their capital. With time there was a lot of inter-race marrying in the Northern Kingdom between Israelites and their Assyrian captors, and this intermarrying led to the “seed” or race of the Northern Israelites being “polluted” according to the religious laws of the time that did not allow Jews to marry gentiles. The mixed descendants were with the passage of time referred to as Samaritans, and were seen as an unholy and foreign race, outside of what the Israelites would deem to be the “Commonwealth of Israel” and the “Children of promise”.

In Jesus’ day, the Romans divided western Palestine into three provinces: Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. Samaria occupied the centre of Israel, and when religious Jews had to travel from Galilee to Judea, they did not even enter the region of Samaria, preferring to take the long way around Samaria, travelling through the desert wastelands of Perea. Against this background, the intention of Jesus hits like a thunderclap “He needed to go through Samaria”. This would go against every religious fibre in any Jew’s being. Jews avoided Samaria like the plague, but Jesus went against all religious tradition and doctrines of men and purposely declared that he had to go through Samaria, thus breaking with all tradition in one powerful symbolic blow. No religious baloney was going to keep the Messiah from declaring that the true light had indeed arrived.

As if that were not enough, the place that he came to in Samaria was called Sychar, which in the Hebrew language came from the word meaning “intensely alcoholic liquor”, “drunken”, “strong wine”. Just imagine that, the place probably had a reputation of its own: drunkenness, debauchery, partying and the typical inner-city subcultures that accompany this of sexual promiscuity and the like. No wonder many avoided the place, they wanted to remain “pure” and “uncontaminated” from the world, they wanted a “clean testimony” before the chief rulers of their communities, they did not want to associate themselves with people who were outcasts, lowlifes, drunkards and so forth, but not so with Jesus. He did not have a choice. He said that he absolutely HAD to go through this area, and stop in this very city, because the Son of Man had come, to seek and save that which was lost.

This is so encouraging for me because I was lost. I was going under with all this burnout stuff – and then I read that Jesus did not mind the stereotypes, he cared nothing for the stigma and “what will the neighbours say?” He just HAD to go to this place because he was going to sit on a well and he was going to meet someone that the cared for greatly.

John 4:7- A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink”.

To our religious ears this sounds as a classic right? - The little helpless country girl being asked by the thirsty Lord to serve him. Oh what a picture of service – the drawing out of the water, the sweat and labour involved, the heat of the day, the uncompromising glare of the sun whilst this lady has to strive to meet the demands of the Lord. Stop right there please. Jesus was only exposing the lack of faith and the religious roots in this girl. Has that ever happened to you? Jesus keeps on exposing my religious roots every day. Some have said that this well represented the “Well of tradition” it was called “Jacob’s well” after all, and it carried a heavy religious significance in the minds of both Jews and Samaritans at that time. It formed part of their religious history and heritage. This woman was accustomed to drawing daily from this well of traditions.

John 4:9- Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans

This girl was “in the know” wasn’t she? A perfect response. The woman let Jesus know that there were BOUNDARIES and BARRIERS in their relationship – In those days, Jews did not deal with Samaritans, and women were not though of very highly either. Yes, the “wall of separation” was all too evident. Little did she know that she was dealing with the one who transcends all the barriers of men, be they religious, denominational or what have you. This Jesus is the one who “is our peace, who has made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us” (Ephesians 2:14) Jesus is the one who has broken down ALL the walls of separation between men. There is no more division between Jew and Gentile, Baptist and Methodist, Lutheran and Pentecostal, men and women. All the separating factors have been “abolished in his flesh” “by the cross” and we are all reconciled with God into one body (See verses 15 & 16). He makes the divided united – He can even bridge the gap between God and you today.

John 4:10-14 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Here we have Jesus, sitting down on what some call the “Well of Tradition”. Do some of you feel that way today? Seems like you are in a place where tradition and customs define your life? Every day doing the same thing, the daily grind, the hard work, not wanting to escape into the freedom that you desire because somehow you feel trapped by your circumstances. Just consider this: Jesus sat at the same place you are at right now, the well of tradition, but he did not drink of that water! The water in this well was not his source! He had a heavenly source – his water came from above, not from beneath – he had access to a heavenly fountain and had LIVING WATER to give to all that were thirsty! No matter how stale, traditional, formalistic or dreary your life, your walk, or even your church environment is, there is a fountain in the heavenlies, and we are all invited to drink from it! Not only that, we can all have of this living water to give away! I needed this in my battle against burnout.

John 7:37-39 - 37On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The Lord started this conversation with the type of focus that is so common among Christians today. The Lord said “Give me to drink”. The emphasis was on the woman DOING. Even Christians are caught-up with DOING something worthy for the Lord. And while we can only have great respect and honour for all those who give of themselves daily for Christ, we would do well to see that in this occasion, Jesus changes the focus from DOING something FOR him, to RECEIVING something FROM him. There is a great difference between working to draw out the water, and receiving from Him the living water! It is the Lord’s gift to you, and one can only gratefully accept what another gives as a gift. You don’t have to pay for it. I was onto something. One of the keys for my recovery was within my grasp and I was determined to get well.

Romans 5:17: 17For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

More and more I am seeing the story of the Samaritan woman as the contrast between a SLAVE or SERVANT and that of a SON. The woman represents the place in life where I was, the typical servant, working herself down to the bone. Notice the woman was a Samaritan; she was not one of the elect Jews. She was an outcast, a stranger, a cursed thing in the eyes of the Lord. This speaks to us, for if we try and achieve success by going to our particular “well of tradition”, and drawing from that well, we will only be but a “Samaritan” before the Lord, for our noblest intentions and efforts will be as dirty rags before Him. Let’s quit trying to be slaves, servants and workers! “You are no longer a slave but a son!” (Gal 4:7)

Philippians 2:5-9: 5Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name

Jesus took-off the vestments of a Son and took-on the “clothing” of a servant, that you might take-off the clothes of a servant, and put-on the clothes of a Son. (See John 13:4,5) In the heavenly places, Jesus stepped down from the table of His Father, and took off his royal garments, then he agreed with his Father to wear the humble “towel” of servant hood, and move in obedience to minister life on earth, THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO JOIN HIM WHERE HE IS NOW AND PUT ON HIS ROYAL GARMENTS.

Galatians 3:26-29: For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Coming back to the passage we are studying, in John 4, verse 15, the woman finally gets herself into a right focus with Jesus. She says GIVE ME… The focus was now on RECEIVING from Him rather than DOING FOR HIM.

I am learning to stop trying to DO, for myself, and even for the Lord. I have not been called to DO; I have been called to BE. We get so caught-up in judging how well we are performing (DOING) that we forget that all that we are comes from HIM. We are called to BE Sons of God, and if would take our eyes off from ourselves and how we are performing for a moment, we might just see the Lord of all the earth standing in all His glory, and watching over us as he that watches the apple of His eye!

I am getting delivered from performing for the Lord. I still struggle with having too much on my plate – responsibilities, expectations of others, stress and general busy-ness. However I have realised that in the same way that the very essence of God stems out from who he IS and not what he DOES (God is called “I AM” and not “I DO”), if I am to stay free from burnout I have to realise that my identity is not wrapped up in what I can accomplish, but in who I am – especially as a SON of GOD. It is not easy for me and some of this stuff is rooted deep within, but day by day I learn to release everything and rest in God’s love.

In verse 19, the woman says “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet”. Jesus can be a different thing to different people. I hope that today we may know him as the SOURCE of our lives, the fountain of our LIVING WATER, the Great High Priest who WILL present us FAULTLESS before God’s glory with exceeding joy! (See Jude 1:24).

John K. Baw.

Comments

•