I think that this story that we know as “The Woman at the Well,” could just as easily be entitled “The Messiah at the Well” because it is truly more about what Jesus did at the well than what the woman did. After all, the woman was probably there virtually every day, while Jesus, as far as we know, was only there this one time. So, what did Jesus do? Well, He crossed boundaries, big time. (I can’t help but wonder what Jesus would think about our “over-boundary” conscious world of today.) He sent His disciples off so that He was by Himself. Was He asking for trouble? He had to know that there was a fair chance that a Samaritan woman would come by to draw water from the well. He knew that it was not kosher for a man to be with a woman alone in broad daylight; let alone a Samaritan woman! And when such a woman did indeed come along, what did He do? He engaged her in conversation and even asked her for a drink! Why did He behave in such a way, a way that He had to know would have been seen as imprudent? I think that the very simple answer is that He was, as He shared with the woman, thirsty. He was thirsty for souls. At this point He was thirsty for the souls of the Samaritans. He was determined to make a connection, even if He had to break a number of behavioral norms. Perhaps He felt as though, He had been preaching to His own people, and even to His disciples, without the success, without the response He was looking for. Now He was in Samaritan territory and He was not going to pass through it without taking a shot at winning their souls. We, because of original sin, political correctness, etc., etc., are literally held bound by all kinds of social norms, but the Lord is not. One of the lessons in the story of “The Messiah at the Well” is that when it comes to winning our souls, He has never ending thirst and that He will not be prevented by any boundary from quenching it.
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