English Standard Version
Have you ever read a book twice? You pick up on a lot more the second time. There are very, very few books that I've read twice, but I've read The Count of Monte Cristo three times, and each time is a richer treasure, because it's a new understanding every time I read it. It actually gets better each time, a feat I didn't believe was possible.
This is a little how this conversation between the Samaritan woman and Jesus goes. When he first mentions water, she assumes Jesus to be a fool, because he offers her water without having any means of reaching the bottom of the well. This is a practical woman who sees things as they are, and she doesn't look beyond the simple truth that Jesus seems to possess none of the water he's offering her.
When he tells her what this water can do, she's willing to slide by the fact that she can't see where the water is coming from, because she sees the practical value of not having to come to the well at noon when it's hot, of not having to endure endless trips to the well -- Jesus offers something of practical value to her. It's moved into the realm of intriguing based on the temporal worth it offers her.
The more time we spend around Jesus and around Jesus' church, the more time we spend in Scripture and prayer, we uncover a little more. So many of us want instant gratification -- we want to show up at the well and receive everything we've ever asked for as soon as we get there, and then when that doesn't happen, we end up wondering where Jesus is and why he hasn't shown up. Society is very instant, so we want that from Jesus... but discipleship is a process, where we learn and grow a little, day by day, so that with every conversation, every layer, we come a little closer to the truth.
Step by step, we grow, but only if we're willing to remain in the conversation, to continue to listen and to hear, to linger and see what God might have to say to us today.
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