Message: By the Well / John 4:19-26

Today’s Gospel takes us to Samaria, to Jacob’s well near the town of Sychar. It is noon. Jesus is tired and sitting alone. The disciples have gone into the town to buy food. Then a woman comes to the well, and Jesus says to her, “Give me a drink.”

She is surprised. She is a Samaritan woman, and Jesus is a Jewish man. Jews and Samaritans were hostile toward one another, and many Jews avoided passing through Samaria.

In fact, they had once been one people. Israel is another name for Jacob, and from Jacob’s children came the twelve tribes. They entered the promised land and became one nation. But after the time of Solomon, the kingdom was divided. Over time, the relationship between the two grew worse. Even worship became divided. Samaritans worshipped on Mount Gerizim, while Jews worshipped at the temple in Jerusalem.

So, it is no accident that Jesus meets this Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. That place carries a memory. It reminds us that, though they had become like enemies, they were once one family.

It was also unusual for a man to speak publicly with a woman who was not related to him. So more than one barrier stood between them. But Jesus steps across those lines and begins to speak.

Noon was not the usual time to come to the well. Most people came earlier, when the air was cooler. The well was not only a place to draw water. It was also a place where women gathered, talked, and shared daily life. But this woman comes alone. She comes at the hottest time of day, when no one would want to be there. Her life seems marked by shame and loneliness. The sun is bright at midday, but her life feels shadowed.

Her life seems to have no firm ground. She has had five husbands, and the man she now lives with is not her husband. Jesus knows this and names it. But he does not do this to judge or humiliate her. Instead, he opens a space where she can face her life truthfully and begin again.

It was a deeply patriarchal society, and women had very little power to survive on their own. Men could divorce and remarry far more easily than women could. When a marriage broke down, a woman could easily become vulnerable, poor, and dependent on others. In such a world, many women had little choice but to rely on men in order to survive.

So, this woman seems to have moved from one fragile relationship to another, trying to find safety. But her story is not only about the system around her. She remained within what had trapped her, accepting it rather than seeking a way out. Again and again, she leaned on things that could not truly quench her thirst. She looked to marriage for safety and dignity, yet her deeper thirst remained. She stayed in painful patterns, and that only made the relationship weaker.

A healthy forest needs space between the trees. That space lets in light and air. This happens when each tree has deep roots. Otherwise, one tree leans too heavily on another, and neither can grow well. In the same way, human relationships also need room to breathe. And to make space for one another, people also need deep roots.

This is why the story turns to worship. The deepest thirst in her life is not only social or emotional. It is spiritual as well. The woman asks where the proper place of worship is. Should it be on this mountain or in Jerusalem? Jesus responds that true worship is not merely about place, but about worshiping in spirit and in truth.

The Greek word for worship carries the meaning of bowing down or kneeling before the Holy One. True worship is not only about the right place, inherited customs, or fixed forms. It is about turning our whole being toward God, who is the ground of life.

Viktor Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning, describes a moment that helps us see what true worship can be. He wrote about a moment after he was freed from Auschwitz:

“One day, a few days after the liberation, I walked through the country past flowering meadows, for miles and miles, toward the market town near the camp. Larks rose to the sky and I could hear their joyous song. There was no one to be seen for miles around; there was nothing but the wide earth and sky and the larks' jubilation and the freedom of space. I stopped, looked around, and up to the sky—and then I went down on my knees. At that moment there was very little I knew of myself or of the world—I had but one sentence in mind—always the same: "I called to the Lord from my narrow prison and He answered me in the freedom of space." How long I knelt there and repeated this sentence memory can no longer recall. But I know that on that day, in that hour, my new life started. Step for step I progressed, until I again became a human being.”

A psalmist expresses something similar: “Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me in a broad place” (Ps 118:5). This is the shape of worship. This is what kneeling before God can mean. It is turning toward God with our whole life. To worship in spirit is to be open to the Spirit of God. To worship in truth is to stand honestly before God with no mask, no hiding, and no false front.

This is why worship matters. In worship, rootless people begin to find ground. In worship, those who carry shame may begin to lift their heads. In worship, lost hearts are gathered. In worship, truth is spoken, and mercy is received. In worship, those trapped by fear may begin to be set free. In worship, lives are turned toward the One who gives living water.

As a faith community, we are called to create a place where people can worship in spirit and in truth. Through our life together, we make room for moments when people can experience and celebrate God’s presence. We are called to be a community where questions are not pushed aside, where pain does not need to be hidden, and where grace is stronger than shame. In this community, we learn to worship in spirit and in truth. Worship should shape the way we live. It should teach us how to listen, how to welcome, and how to remain near those whom others avoid. Through our lives, others may come to the well and meet Jesus Christ.

By the well, at noon, the Samaritan woman meets Jesus. He is tired, but he does not remain silent. He does not step back because her life is complicated. He does not turn away because of the barriers that stand between their peoples. He comes near. He speaks. He stays. He invites her to the living water.

By the well, Christ meets us. By the well, Christ knows us. By the well, Christ speaks truth and gives grace. By the well, Christ offers living water. By the well, restless hearts may begin to rest.

May our congregation be a true place of worship. A place where the thirsty are welcomed. A place where truth is spoken with gentleness. A place where grace is stronger than shame. A place where lives can grow deep roots. A place where broken relationships can be mended. A place where people can begin again.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Min Hwang