"Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did" by Jennifer Lopez

“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did”
by Jennifer Lopez

Most of us spend our lives trying to manage what I call "containers." I know I did. In my previous life as a police officer, all my friends were police officers. After I retired from the force, all my friends were the people I went to church with. I went out of my way to avoid “sketchy” looking people, like the homeless. I even avoided making eye contact with them. I worried about how I looked or who I was seen with.

Scripture: John 4:5–42 (The Samaritan Woman)

Today, we see Jesus coming to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near to a plot of ground known as “Jacob’s Well”, it was about noon. The reading says Jesus was sitting by the well because he was tired by his journey. A Samaritan Woman came to draw water from the well. Jesus said to her “Give me a drink”.

Jesus is sitting by the well at high noon—the hottest, most honest part of the day—waiting to dismantle everything a woman thought she knew about belonging.

The text says Jesus "had to pass through Samaria." Geographically, that wasn't strictly true; he didn’t have to pass through Samaria, many Jews took the long way around to avoid "unclean" territory. But Jesus had a theological necessity.

He wasn't just traveling; He was hunting for a heart.

Why was this woman an outcast among outcasts? There are two reasons she was a Samaritan (ethnic/religious) and she was an outcast in her own Samaritan community (social/moral).

Here is the breakdown of why her presence at the well was so significant:

1. The Wrong Time of Day

The most telling detail in John 4 is that she came to the well at the "sixth hour" (noon).

• The Norm: In the ancient Near East, drawing water was a social activity performed by women in groups at sunrise or sunset to avoid the blistering heat.

• The Isolation: By coming at high noon, she was intentionally avoiding the other women of the town. This suggests she was a social pariah, likely the subject of gossip and shunning by her neighbors.

2. Her Marital History When Jesus reveals her past, the depth of her social "scandal" becomes clear:

•Five Husbands: Having five previous husbands was extraordinary. While she could have been a five-time widow, it is more likely that she had been repeatedly divorced. In that culture, only men had the power to divorce, meaning she had been "discarded" five times by five different men.

•The Current Situation: Jesus points out that the man she is currently with is not her husband. Living with a man outside of marriage was a serious moral transgression in Samaritan society, which adhered to a strict version of the Torah. This "living in sin" made her a moral outcast among a people who already felt they had to be "holier" than the Jews.

3. The "Triple Barrier"

When Jesus spoke to her, he broke three massive social taboos of the 1st century:

1. The Racial Barrier: She was a Samaritan (hated by Jews).

2. The Gender Barrier: Rabbis of that era rarely spoke to women in public—even their own wives—as it was considered undignified.

3. The Moral Barrier: She was a woman with a "reputation."

What does this tell us about Jesus? Jesus will always cross the boundaries we build to keep ourselves hidden. He isn't deterred by our "Samaria."

The conversation starts with a simple, human request: "Give me a drink." Jesus uses her physical need (water) to expose her spiritual drought. We often try to fill our "soul-thirst" with things that evaporate: relationships, achievements, or even staying busy. Jesus calls this out gently. When He asks about her husband, He isn't playing "gotcha" journalism; He’s performing a diagnostic.

Jesus is saying, "You’ve been drinking from the well of human validation, and you’re still parched." He tells her in verse 14: “those who drink of the water that I will give will never be thirsty”.

3. From the Jar to the Joy

The climax of the story is what happens in verse 28: "So the woman left her water jar..."

The very thing she came with—the symbol of her daily grind and her physical survival—she abandoned. Why? Because she had found the Source. She ran back to the people she used to avoid and said, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did."

The miracle is this: She was known completely, yet loved entirely by Jesus. Usually, when someone knows "all we’ve ever done," we run away. With Jesus, it’s the reason we run toward Him.

4. The Harvest is Now
The sermon ends not with a private conversion, but a community transformed. The Samaritans didn't just believe because of her; they stayed because they heard Him for themselves.

We often think we need to be "fixed" before we can be a witness. But this woman became the first evangelist in John’s Gospel while her "jar" was still sitting by the well.

So what can we learn or take away from this passage?

• Stop Hiding: Jesus is already sitting at your "high noon" well, waiting for you.

• Drop the Jar: What are you carrying that you no longer need?

• Share the News: Your "mess" is the platform for His message.

I will close with a song by one of my favorite artists, Casting Crowns that goes like this:

Leave it all behind
I have what you need
But you keep on searching
I've done all the work
But you keep on working
When you're running on empty
And you can't find the remedy
Just come to the well.

VERSE 2
You can spend your whole life
Chasing what's missing
But that empty inside
It just ain't gonna listen
When nothing can satisfy
And the world leaves you high and dry
Just come to the well

CHORUS:
And all who thirst will thirst no more
And all who search will find what their souls long for
The world will try, but it can never fill
So leave it all behind, and come to the well

VERSE 3
So bring me your heart
No matter how broken
Just come as you are
When your last prayer is spoken
Just rest in my arms a while
You'll feel the change my child
When you come to the well
And now that you're full
Of love beyond measure
Your joy's gonna flow
Like a stream in the desert
Soon all the world will see
Living water is found in me
‘Cause you’ve come to the well

AMEN

Jennifer Lopez is a deacon for the Episcopal Church, St. Matthew's, Tucson, Arizona.

"Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well" oil painting by Guercino, 1641. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, Spain

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