I wonder if Jesus ever got His drink of water from the woman at the well? It does tell us He was walking from Judea to Galilee and that He was tired and sat down there. Reasonable enough to be tired since it would have been at least a two day walk between the two places. A walk they undertook quite frequently.
I wondered if asking her for a drink was just a conversation starter… while it may have partly been, I recon He was genuinely thirsty too, but the story doesn’t fill in that detail as it flips over to the way the conversation went. Telling her to go get her husband was certainly a way of honing His point being that she didn’t have one – and He knew it.
So He communicates with someone from a region where the people typically ignore/hate/despise each other. Much is made of the fact Jews wouldn’t associate with Samaritans but the feeling was entirely mutual. It was just as big a deal in terms of race/history, that she spoke to Him as well.
He asks to drink from her vessel as he has nothing to drink from – this is just not done!
He then suspends His own need for drink and food to have this conversation. He engages with her, knowing her sin, knowing her story, and knowing her thirst. All three things concurrent. All three things making her who she was. All three things making her receptive… but not just receptive – READY.
While things were seriously messed up between the people groups, they did have shared ancestors and history. Both regarded the other as wrong.
But she knew her beans.
She knew there was a Messiah coming. Not just as rumour… but belief. Her readiness enabled her to not defend her sin or reject Him. She grabbed His message and told everyone she could to come hear what He had to say. And they did. And instead of being unwelcome, He stayed there for two days. And many came to believe in Him. And not because they had no sin, but because they did.
