See Into Me

A Reflection on the Gospel for March 15th, 2020:
Third Sunday of Lent

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​John 4
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5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you[b] say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30 They left the city and were on their way to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

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Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

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“He told me everything I have ever done.”


I imagine the Samaritan woman was just minding her own business at the well. In fact, she may even have been hiding from her own business as she purposely came to the well when she didn’t expect anyone else to be there. And there she encounters a provocative conversation with a man who sees into her and tells her “everything she has ever done”.


It’s a daunting thought, that Jesus might tell us everything we have ever done. But in my experience, He hasn’t sat me down and, all at once, massaged my ego with all the wonderful things I’ve done, nor has He beat me over the head with all my mistakes. He has, ever so gently, memory by memory and experience after experience, over time, helped to reveal the wounds that need to be healed and the truth of who I am.


Jesus is unassuming and unobtrusive, yet unwavering in His conviction. He invites us to come along with Him, but He doesn’t impose. He respects our freedom: It is only after the Samaritan woman asks Him for a drink of the living water He offers that He reveals what He knows about her.


On my personal journey, the deep well of my soul first encountered Jesus in the Stations of the Cross. I was brought to tears by the story of His death, and on my first Easter as a Christian, I was amazed at the sheer possibility that Jesus was who He said He was. My newfound trust in God gave me the strength to confront very painful things, and along the way He has consoled me in the midst of my pain with powerful and very personal messages, like the one He gave the Samaritan woman.


It is only after I hear about myself that I am ready to go and tell others about Him — it is only after I am changed by hearing Him tell me how I need to be refined, and as I strive to grow in virtue that I can gain credibility as a messenger for Christ in the eyes of those who have never met Him.


“Many Samaritans from that city believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony.” Don't underestimate what Jesus can do through you if you invite Him to tell you a bit about yourself.




​Lindsay Elford

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

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