Come to the Well

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The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”“I have no husband,” she replied.Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”-John 4:15-18 NIV

              How many of us have every done a Google search on our computers or smart phones? If you have, you may know that each time you open your browser, that browser keeps a record of you searches and the websites you may have looked at. In tech talk this is your browser history, or just your history.  And security experts say you should routinely erase or clean out your “history.” But, guess what, we all have a history. And not just a google history. And every now and then we are reminded of or look at that history. And sometimes, like if our computers get hacked, people find out our histories. 
             To be found out or discovered without being known can leave us dry and desolate. It leaves us thirsty and dehydrated, thirsty and longing for something different, something more, but always returning to the same well hoping be quenched. We all have a well in our life that we keep returning to. For some of us, like the Samaritan woman who mets Jesus at the well, it is the well of marriage. Guilty. For some people, it is the well of perfectionism. Some go to the well of hiding and isolation. Others drink for the well of control or power. For many, there is the well of addiction. Or the well of busyness, denial and anxiety. 
            Jesus invites us to be "found out." He invites the Samaritan woman drink from the well that is eternal, life giving recognition. He knows us, he knows our past and he yet accepts us, internet histories and all. He doesn't care about your past, only your future, a future that involves being filled with the living water that is the presence of Christ. And we should want to offer that well to others. 

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