Listen

A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” His disciples had gone into the city to buy him some food.

The Samaritan woman asked, “Why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each other.)

Jesus responded, “If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would be asking him and he would give you living water.”

John 4:7-10

Think

We are thirsty for a relationship with God and other people; however, we often miss the opportunity to quench that thirst. We judge people and we listen to the judgments others make. Those judgments keep us from forming relationships which might be life giving.

In today’s scripture passage, Jesus takes the opportunity to form a relationship despite the expectation in their cultures that the two should not talk. Jesus ignores these judgments, though, and chooses to see her as God intends her to be seen – as someone worthy of God’s love and Jesus’ attention.

We have the opportunity everyday to walk down the hallways of our schools and workplaces and see people as God sees them. We can reach out to the one person others have judged and is left alone at a lunch table or walking down a hallway. May your God-given thirst for relationship strengthen you to be God’s presence in the life of someone previously judged by you, your friends, or society.

Kellie Wilson

Pray

God, I am thirsty for relationship. I thirst to be liked and to have friends, and this desire often prevents me from reaching out to the lonely, scorned and judged. God, help me today to rely on your strength so that I may ignore others’ judgments. Help me reach out to someone who has as strong of a desire as I do for someone to see them and love them. Amen.

Go

We all thirst for a sense of identity and mission. We thirst to know who we are and what we are called to do.

Ultimately, it is God who tells us we are beloved. This good news is water for our thirsty souls.

Now go and give this water to the thirsty.

Go and let others know they are beloved through your words and actions.