Lent Day 10: Perfect timing when you're worn out

Jesus "had to go" through Samaria, which wasn't a preferred route. Jews avoided anything to do with their mixed race neighbors. They would rather take the longer coastal road to northern Israel - or avoid the middle ground with a trip along the Jordan river.

But Jesus says, "I do only what my Father tells me," and he feels an urge to go through Samaria.

Jesus is worn out from travels so he is probably looking forward to some rest. Yet he meets a woman who is thirsty - physically and spiritually. Here's the story of their encounter.

Now Jesus ... left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’ (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’ (John 4:1-10)

> I'm wondering if I am open to taking a new route when God prompts me. Jesus' trip will change a whole village. (More about that on Monday, Lent Day 11.)

> I'm wondering if I would have shrugged her off or ignored her because I was exhausted. "I've done enough for today. Surely God can't want more from me." Or would I build a bridge to communicate and connect?
> I'm wondering if I would talk to someone who was unlike me - and disdained by my friends or fellow citizens. 

> I'm wondering if I would have the courage to offer her living water, the relationship with God that I enjoy. I am confident that Jesus has ransomed me for God through his blood, shed on the cross. He offers me power and his righteousness through his resurrection and intercession at the right hand of the Father. 

Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us (Romans 8:34.)

> Do I (and do you) share that Good News with others as Jesus did? Why or why not? 

Think of someone who needs the hope and joy that Jesus offers his followers. Are you willing to bridge the distance between them and you, to share the Good News with them?

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