Give me Jesus, give me Jesus. You can have this whole world, give me Jesus.1 This is a song I often sing when I am feeling troubled, anxious, or worried. But I know there was a time before our Savior came to journey with us. What did people who struggled back then sing about? When they found themselves in the valleys of their lives, did they sing psalms, did they pray, or both?
The majority of John, Chapter 4 is dedicated to a conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at the well. On that particular day, Jesus, tired from his journey, chose to sit by the well. It was about noon when he sat down. Imagine sitting next to Jesus and looking around him from the same vantage point. Did he watch people as they passed the well? Or did he see the woman approaching and follow her journey as she got closer?
What did he see? Was the woman walking toward the well with her head down? In 1st century Israel, I am not sure if they had words for depression or melancholy. If so, was the time she selected to go to the well, in the heat of the day, her way of avoiding others? Or did she go then so she could be alone with her thoughts?
What was her first thought as she saw that there was a man sitting at the well? Jesus asked the woman for a drink of water. The rest of the conversation was about spiritual refreshment. As they spoke, the woman was transformed by what Jesus was saying to her. When he revealed that he was the Messiah, she left her water vessel, returning to the village to share the Good News.
The Samaritan woman’s conversation with Jesus was one of the first revelations that our Lord walks among us. In today’s world, we are an Easter people. Our Lord and Savior is with us in all ways and at all times. Especially when we are journeying through valleys, possibly with our heads bowed down by the burdens we bear.
Jesus is with us, walking beside us, in the midst of our struggles. Our Savior offers us the same living water that he offered to the Samaritan woman. As we continue our Lenten journey, be assured that Jesus knows where we are, and what we are experiencing. We are never alone. May we turn to Jesus during our times of trouble, leaning on the Lord to care for our spirits and our souls, today and every day. And Amen.