A TREE BY THE SEA

That night the young woman settles into her cot, the events of the day replay as she attempts to quiet her thoughts. The cabin in the orchard camp is dark as she closes her eyes. In her mind she is transported through space and time. She is at the well with the Christ when the disciples return. They are shocked to see Him talking to her. She’s the woman with the waterpot. She is the woman whom the Messiah sought.

They don’t say a word but in their expressions the disciple’s thoughts can be clearly heard. Why would Jesus speak with her? The woman takes a brief moment to acknowledge them, remembering that she is a despised Samaritan. She is confident as she slightly tips her chin. Her eyes unable to hide her joy at the Messiah’s revelation. She leaves her pot next to the well and goes her way into the city to tell the men,

“Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did…”

She wonders aloud, “Could this be the Christ?” And many believe as she testifies.

They had been wondering too. Is there a God who cares about the things that I do? When I pray does He hear me? When I sing does he know? When I am sad does He long to come close?

Back at the well the disciples offer Jesus a meal and urge Him, “Rabbi, eat.”

But he answers with, “I have food to eat of which you do not know…My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me…”

They question one another about who had met their master’s physical need. They remember how He was hungry when they left him there by himself, looking parched and dusty at the edge of the well.

He interupts the men, His face lights up with passion as He explains to them,

“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”

Now the disciple’s look confused as they try to decifer His words.

Their Teacher goes on to explain,

“Do you not say, ‘There are still four month and then comes the harvest’? Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the feilds, for they are already white for harvest!”

His excitement contrasts with the diciples’ bewildered expressions. The teacher is just getting started though with His lesson.

“And he who reaps recieves wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together…”

When they had left their Rabbi resting at the well he had been tired from their journey. Now His face looks other wordly. His voice lifts like a love song, and His hands dance along as He endeavers to convey the ideas glittering in His eyes.

The Messiah continues to try, “For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps…’”

The disciples nod at the familiar phrase. Now they understand what Jesus is trying to say. When one man sows and another reaps, one man works while another sleeps. One man gives and another man keeps.

“I have sent you to reap that for which you have not labored, others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

They nod again like this makes perfect sense. Their Messiah is here. Things are about to get intense. The world will finally recognize the truth. To know God you must be a Jew. The law was given to Moses and passed down through the priests. The temple, the Torah, the most Holy feasts. The disciples can see, the works of their ancestors never ceased.

But there is something that the disciples may have missed. Because there was a moment when mercy and truth met together; righteousness and peace kissed.

A conversation had transpired between Eternal God and a woman. She was invited to know Him. All of her secrets were laid bare as she found out that there is Someone who listens to her prayers. There was a woman who once met Him at a river, and one who once met Him at this well. They both realized that the Christ, the Savior is not just for the Jews, He is not just for the righteous, or those born with the truth.

The Word who became flesh stood before men. He called them His disciples and He called them His friends. He labored alongside them reaping a harvest only He could sow, row by row, plowing a path maddeningly narrow.

So, if you are the woman at the river, or the woman at the well, if you are one of the men who they couldn’t wait to tell, or if you are one of the disciples so sure of yourself, you can know that Jesus finished His work when he rose from the dead and defeated Hell.

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”