The wives of Isaac, Jacob, and Moses were each found at a well. Centuries later, Jesus found a Samaritan woman at a well and revealed to her his real identity. She said, “I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming.. . . Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you,–I am he.” (John 4:25& 26) He agreed to stay for two days because the minds of the villagers were open to accept him as the Messiah: And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” (John 4:41-42)

In this encounter there is no record of any “sign” or miracle that Jesus performed except his telling the woman of her own history. For two days Jesus simply talked with the villagers, and they believed. It could be said that this small group formed the very first Christian church. Jesus sat by the well out of tiredness (John 4:6) but knew instantly that it was the Father’s will for him to identify himself to the woman who approached. The simplicity of their conversation and the resulting invitation to stay in the village must have been a sweet response to him and even a foretaste to the way the Gospel would one day spread.

While we don’t have the physical presence of Jesus with us, we do have this account from John, and many other accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. The Bible gives us powerful witness to Jesus’ words and actions. To sit and read the Bible every day is what I call “Holy Spirit reading”,done simply to hear the “voice” of Jesus and of God Himself. If his voice could move a village to believe in two days, how could his book lead us to understand more and more of his life?

St. Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians that We have the mind of Christ (1st Corinthians2:16) Jesus’ mind was full of his Father. When tempted in the wilderness he quoted scripture, and never used any other word with the tempter. (Mark 4:4) Jesus turned to Scripture even on the cross…… He quoted Psalm 22: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15;34) If Scripture was so deeply imprinted in Jesus, how gracious a gift we have in the Scripture that he himself read. In the Scripture it can be true of us as of the Samaritan villagers :we can hear for ourselves the Word of God, and believe.

Love in Him,

Prue