Tell Me the Dream Again: Healing and Wholeness After Hiding Sýnishorn

He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.

The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”

Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”

John 4:4-10, nlt

For the Samaritan woman, going to the well in the middle of the day would have been unheard of because of the heat. The first time I learned that detail of her story, I thought of all the times I’ve gone out of my way to avoid others for fear of being truly seen and/or the judgment and rejection I was sure would follow.

Places called “community” can be scary for those of us who have learned to hide.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, we live in a world that has created systems and norms—many of which benefit some and harm others. There’s a lot we don’t know about the woman at the well, yet the glimpse we’re given of her hiding and how that hiding couldn’t keep Jesus away is deeply moving.

Jesus went out of his way to find her. He went out of his way to humbly ask her for a drink, positioning himself as one who needed her help. While being all-knowing and the Living Water, he asked her about who she was and what she was doing. Like others he’d asked questions to, he gave her space to share her reasons.

Before this moment, she didn’t know that Jesus was going to find her and that he intended to see her, be with her, and pursue her. God is doing the same thing for you and me, even when we don’t know it. God is already coming to meet you and me where we’ve tucked parts of ourselves away. God is bringing water for our thirsty souls, inviting us to come out of hiding.