Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.” John 4:13-14
Are You Interruptible?
We spend a lot of time trying to check off the lists on the pieces of paper or devices we carry. We deem ourselves worthy if we get that done. Those lists can become another dry well we run to where we think we will find fulfillment. As Christians we can become narrowly focused on doing what we think we need to do instead of what Jesus calls us to do. The items on those lists are good things, but are they the most important things that we need to be doing?
This past Sunday we saw an example of Jesus sharing the Gospel with a Samaritan woman at a well. In this story we see Jesus cross the social barriers as a Jewish man (Rabbi) speaking to a Samaritan woman. We don’t really even know the true story about the woman except that she was married five times and the man she was with now was not her husband. She most likely felt like an outcast and had been treated as such many times, which is why she is at the well during the hottest part of the day.
That day the Samaritan woman came to the well to fill a bucket with water from the well, but she got her heart filled with the living water that satisfies forever more. She might have felt hopeless that day. She might have been hoping that no one would be there – no one would see her. In her personal life it seems as though she had been to all the wrong wells seeking to satisfy her longings. Her longings were likely the same longings we all have – to be loved, accepted, secure, significant, and to belong. Five failed marriages might have left her feeling unlovable, like an outcast, insecure, insignificant, and lost. These are heavy feelings to carry around all the time. Others avoided her and did not care what she was feeling but Jesus cared. He took the time to show her that he had what she needed and longed for.
Don’t we do that? Don’t we make a mess of our lives because we run to the same wells – the wrong wells – over and over again. Then we hide because we are ashamed. We feel like an outcast even if no one really knows our story. We know our story and we don’t want anyone else to know or to even see us. We feel judged even when we are not judged and this keeps us from the Living Water. This keeps us in the dry cisterns and muddy wells.
But Jesus knew exactly what this woman was feeling and he knew that no one else was taking the time to care. No one was asking how she was. No one was asking what she needed or if she was okay. But Jesus showed up to show her he cared. He listened and told her what she wouldn’t tell him. He told her he had what she was really looking for.
We do that - overlook the people we don’t really want to know about. Maybe we do know their story, and we really don’t want to talk to them. We know they have no one that cares but we don’t have time to stop and get caught up in what is going on today. The truth is that there is no such thing as our time. As believers time belongs to God and what we do with our time should all be for his glory.
That is what Jesus does. Jesus shows up for us when no one else will. He cares when no one else does. The Gospel gives us what no one else can – salvation from ourselves and our mess and true and lasting satisfaction. What we really crave is the Living Water that Jesus offers the Samaritan woman. What we really want is to worship in spirit and truth. We look for what will satisfy us. We want to feel worthy of someone’s love – and the Gospel tells us he loves us no matter how unworthy we feel.
Jesus was always willing to be interrupted, and to interrupt people in their shame and self-condemnation. He interrupted wrong thoughts and replaced them with truth. As his children we are to be available to be interrupted. We should be ready and willing to be interrupted. We are only here to do his work, but we tend to make it about our work. The important things we have to do are not in a list on a piece of paper. We are here as the hands and feet of Jesus to take the good news of the Gospel to those who need it – those hiding at the wells in the heat of the day.
Are you willing to be interrupted to share the hope and good news of the Gospel to someone who needs to hear that it is for them too?
