As we continue our Lenten sermon series, “Our Journey with Jesus,” we come this Sunday to one of the most moving and transformative encounters in the Gospel of John — John 4:5–30, 39–42. It is the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well.
Lent is a season of self-examination, repentance, and renewal. It is a journey inward with Christ so that we might also journey outward in love and witness. This passage beautifully captures both movements.
The scene begins with weariness. Jesus is tired. He sits by Jacob’s well at noon — the hottest part of the day — and asks a Samaritan woman for a drink. In that simple request, boundaries begin to crumble. Jews and Samaritans did not share fellowship. Men did not typically engage women publicly in theological conversation. Yet Jesus crosses lines that others guarded carefully. Our journey with Jesus often begins right there: at the crossing of barriers we once assumed were immovable.
What unfolds is a conversation about thirst — physical thirst, yes, but also the deep spiritual thirst within every human heart. “Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty,” Jesus says. He speaks of living water—the life of God bubbling up within us. During Lent, we are invited to name our thirsts honestly. Where are we seeking fulfillment? What wells are we drawing from? And are they truly satisfying?
The conversation grows more personal. Jesus reveals that he knows her story—her disappointments, her complicated relationships, and her longing. Yet he does not condemn her. Instead, he invites her into truth and into worship “in spirit and truth.” Here we see something essential about our journey with Jesus: he meets us fully, knows us completely, and loves us still. Transformation begins not in shame, but in being known and received.
Then comes the turning point. The woman leaves her water jar behind and goes back to the city. The one who came alone and perhaps avoiding others becomes a bold witness: “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!” Her encounter becomes testimony. Her private conversation becomes a public invitation.
And the result? Many believed—first because of her word, and then because they encountered Jesus for themselves.
This Sunday, we will reflect on what it means to leave our jars behind. What are we clinging to that keeps us from living fully in Christ’s living water? And how might our own encounters with Jesus become invitations to others?
Lent is not merely about giving something up. It is about receiving living water—and becoming a people through whom that water flows freely into the world.
I look forward to continuing this journey with you.
Pastor Kevin