Cooper--Jacob's+Well

__Jacob’s Well __

“Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again.” These are the words that Jesus spoke to the lowest woman of the lowest people at Jacob’s Well. She was Samaritan woman and He was a Jewish man. The reason this was so bad was because Samaritans were Jewish people who had married a person of a different race, which was considered terrible. Jewish people weren’t supposed to talk to Samaritan people, because they were “unpure”. Also, men were not supposed to converse with women whose husband wasn’t with her. She was even considered lower because she had been remarried five times, and was living with a man who she wasn’t married to, which is a sin. So overall she was low because of her: race, gender, lack of faithful marriage, and social desirableness (Living Water).

Jacob’s Well is a religious landmark. In the wilderness, Israelites asked Moses for water; in the heat of the noon sun, Jesus defies all society set before by asking a Samaritan for water. On His way to Galilee, Jesus chose to go through the Samaria, when there was a more desirable path straight to his destination (Heartlights). While His disciples went to the town to get food, Jesus rested at the well. While His spirit was full of energy, His physical body wouldn’t let Him go another step. Sometime around noon a woman came to the well. Noon was a weird time of day to go draw water, since it was the hottest point of the day. But the woman purposefully came at the oddest time of day, so that she would not be ridiculed or face the judgment of the other townswomen (Higgs). While she was about to draw her water Jesus spoke to her. He asked her for water. We may not think much of this, but that was pretty bad at the time. But those few words sparked the evangelism of a whole town.

The woman was confused at first. //Why would this man be talking to// me//?// She just politely asked Him why He was talking to her when she was who she was. They went into the longest one-on-one conversation recorded in Scripture (Thirsty for the Truth). During this conversing, Jesus asked the woman to bring her husband to the well. She told this stranger the truth- she had no husband. But Jesus caught her untruth; she had been remarried 5 times and was now living with a man she wasn’t married to, which was a sin (Thirsty for the Truth). The woman then realized this was no normal traveler, maybe a prophet? Not exactly.  Jesus surprised her by taking the conversation in a different direction, becoming very serious. “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” “I know the Messiah (He who is Christ) is coming. When He comes, all things will be revealed,” she said.  “I who you speak to am He.” Well, she didn’t expect that! But she realized that it was true and went to tell the town (John).

During the end of that talk the disciples wandered up and stood silently. It’s a good thing, too! If they would’ve asked what Jesus was doing talking to someone like her, she would’ve probably been less eager to be saved (Higgs). Just like the early disciples left their fishing nets to follow Jesus, the Samaritan woman left her water jar at the well to evangelize her town. She abandoned her drinking water for God’s “Living Water” (Living Water). She went to the town and told everyone that she had found the Christ. They went to see Him and were saved. They accepted her, saying “We no longer believe because of what you said, but we have now heard and know that this is the Messiah.”(John). All that this means is that thanks to her, they had all been forgiven. She went from being a social outcast to being an evangelist of the community (Higgs).

 Today, water is something we take for granted. But Living Water is the water of the Holy Spirit. It is written in John 4:13 that “Those who drink the water of the earth will be thirsty again, but those who drink [the Living Water] will never thirst again. This water is God.”  (Living Water). 2000 years before Jesus walked the Earth, God actually blessed the land of Shechem as a Holy Land (Noontide at Sychar). It was blessed again by Moses after it was built, because of its “religious importance”. It was also of “family importance”, as Jacob built the well for his son Joseph to signify his love for his son (Heartlights). Jacob built the well in Sychar, Samaria, which is an Aramaic speaking country. The well is very commonly called Bir Ya `qub, “the well of Jacob.” (Heartlights). Sychar was actually a beautiful place. People called it “the Eden of Palestine,” which was the Garden of Eden- the place of ecstasy where Adam and Eve once took up occupation. For a long time, the well was unprotected. The opening of it was over ground, but a chamber once around it was found sunken into the land around it. The well itself was 75 feet deep, supplied by rain and an underground spring. Recently, authorities of a Grecian Church bought the well and the region around it. A wall and chapel were built around it for protection. Even more recently, a church has been built around it.

Today Jacob’s Well is a tourist site and a place of religious importance. Approximately 2000 years ago it was the place that all rules were broken. The events that took place are completely amazing. For a Christian this is a really moving story, and for non-Christians it’s still one of the reasons the world is better than it was back then. Whether you have a religion or not, Jacob’s Well is a truly moving place.

<span style="display: block; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">Works Cited <span style="font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">MacDuff, Ross John. //Noontide at Sychar: Or, the Story of Jacob’s Well, a New Testament Chapter (john IV) Providence and// Grace. General Books, LLC, 2007. <span style="font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Higgs, Curtis Lee. Bad Girls of the Bible: and What We Can Learn From Them. Colorado Springs, CO: Random House, Inc, 1999. <span style="font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Ewing, W. “Jacob’s Well”. //Heartlights: Search God’s Word//. 2001-2010. Accessed on October 29, 2010 <http://www.searchgodsword.org/ehc/isb/view.cgi?word=Jacob%27s+well&action=Lookup>. <span style="font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">John. “Jesus and the Woman of Woman of Samaria.” //ESV Bible.// 2001. Accessed on November 4, 2010 <http://www.gnpcb.org/es/search/?q=John+4>. <span style="font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Dykstra, Laurel. “Living Water. (FEBRUARY) (Brief Article)” //Sojourners Magazine// 2008. <span style="font-family: 'Bell MT','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Higgs, Curtis Lee. “The Woman at the Well: Thirsty for the Truth (Women in the World.)” //Today’s Christian Women// 2006.