Quickly and quietly the woman made her way towards the well

The sun beat down on her as she lowered the bucket down into the deep, dark hole

Left outside alone

By the tight-knit group of ladies who kept a running tab of who was acceptable and who was “questionable”

Left outside alone

By the whispers of the established insiders, who have made it painfully clear

That the woman wasn’t welcome at the well in the cool of the day.

So, to save herself from the awkward glances and the discomfort of being shunned

She had to draw her water at noon, when the sun was at it’s hottest.

When nobody was at the well

Cliques

I hate them with a passion

Because at the very core of our being

We want to feel accepted and find a place where we belong

You don’t see it at first

But over time, it slowly dawns on you

That you are becoming more and more isolated by the ‘in’ group

Being shut out by others is harsh and cold

Left outside alone

Means your branded ‘the outsider’

And no matter how much people-pleasing efforts you try to fit in

It doesn’t work

LEFT OUTSIDE ALONE

But there is hope

Because Jesus doesn’t do cliques either

John Chapter 4 tells the story of a woman who has been left outside alone

She isn’t named

She’s just ‘the woman at the well’

And Jesus unexpectedly talks to her

A Jew speaking to a Samaritan was a big no, no

Plus, a man approaching a woman in public was another social barrier

But in the ‘I don’t conform to your stupid rules’ style of Jesus

He asked her for a drink

“Would you draw water, and give Me a drink?” (John 4:8)

Right there, Jesus cuts through the barriers

That has held this woman in a prison of isolation

Jesus didn’t see an outcast

He just saw a broken soul who needed a touch from Heaven

Through their conversation, Jesus revealed that He knew her big secret

That she had been married five times

And the man she was now living with, wasn’t her husband

Not something that would go down well in the polite, ‘How’s your week been?’ conversation around the tea urn and plate of biscuits after Church

This woman no doubt knew her failures

She felt the sting of her mistakes every time she was shunned at the well by the other women

But after her one on one conversation with Jesus

She saw Him

The coming Messiah

Jesus told her that, ‘The Anointed is speaking to you. I am the One you have been looking for.’ (Verse 26)

If this woman in John Chapter 4 had still been wrapped up in the phoniness and hypocrisy of the ‘Well Women Society’ social evenings and gatherings

She would have never had encountered Jesus

Because she wouldn’t have needed to draw water in the midday heat

Jesus

Who made her feel

Loved

And

Accepted

Welcomed her into His presence

So, thanks to the mean girls who made her feel like an outsider at the well

The woman at the well finds herself in the pages of the Bible

She has been talked about in hundreds of sermons across the world for centuries

She was the first woman evangelist

Because she went and told the whole village about the ‘stranger she had met and He knew everything about her’ (verse 29)

There is no mention of the select group who tagged this woman as a ‘Home wrecker’

Jesus saw her pain and reached out to her

He knew what it felt like

To be shunned

He knew what it felt like to be an outsider

To be left outside alone

And just like the woman at the well

It doesn’t matter how many mistakes you’ve made

Jesus accepts you

And welcomes you into His presence

Even when you’ve been left outside alone

Wendy xo