Poetry based on John 4
In the dry, parched place,
wind blows. Sun scorches.
Mouths thirst.
Isolated thoughts nag
a weary soul.
Rocks of harm stack,
stones of judgment pile,
pebbles of coarse words mound,
sand grains of tedium
add to the heap.
The dam of cynicism erects:
moments of missed grace,
good news ignored,
generosity abandoned,
lies believed.
She, a harsh survivor,
does what she must. She
covers her vulnerable heart
with a sheath of frosty scorn
and carries out her task.
In this scorched land,
a voice comes proclaiming
water. Gushing water!
Gushing life! For the first time,
she tastes hope.
For the first time,
the sound of being known,
truly known,
touches her soul.
Her first tear leaks.
One Christ encounter
changes her course.
Her tears continue to roll.
She cannot stop
gushing about the
merciful Divine.
Scripture Reading:
John 4:1-18 MSG
Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.
To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.
A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)
The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)
Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”
The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water’? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?”
Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”
The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!”
He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.”
“I have no husband,” she said.
“That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.”
How does this story end? Read the rest here!
Prayer:
Loving Jesus, you come to me knowing everything about me, more than I can fathom! Let this sink into my soul and move me to worship you, gushing love and action in your name. Amen.