Someone to Talk To

“When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’”
John 4:7

In my opinion a morning spent at the local café talking and sharing life with my girl friends is a well spent morning. The same can be said of a quiet Saturday talk with my husband or a phone call with one of my daughters. What a blessing to have people in our lives that we can talk to. 

For many who follow Jesus, the story of the woman at the well is familiar story of life transforming truth at work. As I read her story again the woman’s life situation stood out. See she had come to fetch some water at a time when she knew no one else would be there. It is probably safe to say that she wasn’t invited to chat with the “respectable” women in town. She comes to the well expecting to be alone and is surprised to find a Hebrew man sitting there and he talked to her. The Scriptures provide us with the important bits of the exchange, but I suspect there was much more to the conversation. How long had it been since this woman had, had someone to talk to? Did she and Jesus talk for an hour or more? Jesus always takes the time to talk, especially to those no one else wants to talk to. 

Earlier in John’s Gospel another conversation is shared. This time Nicodemus, a religious leader finds Jesus late at night (John 3). Nicodemus has questions; he needs someone to talk to because the other leaders would not understand. Jesus made time to talk and to listen to a lot of people - tax collectors, widows, his friends and his enemies. Jesus spoke life giving words into each person, but I can’t help but think that the time he was willing to spend was just as powerful. 

We will all face times when we feel like we need someone to talk to and some of those times we may not have access to the people we need or want to talk to. In those times there is always someone willing to stop everything and spend whatever time we need - his name is Jesus. 

We all need someone to talk to.

A Prayer
Father, thank you for listening, thank you that you Son listens, thank you that your Spirit listens. Thank you we can always have someone to talk to in Jesus. Help us to know when we need to be that person someone can talk to. May our time and our words bring life giving change and hope. In the name of Jesus, who is always someone we can talk to - Amen.