During the long journey the people of Israel had after leaving Egypt, they began to really forget why they left in the first place. They could not wait until they could get out from under the rule of pharaoh and the hardships they had to endure. They forgot how their cries went up to heaven and the Lord moved with pity sent the different calamities upon the Egyptians, ending with the death of all of the first born.
As they continued on their journey, they forgot how the Lord fed them manna in the desert and kept them safe from pharaoh and his army. They lacked the faith that was required by the Lord and they tested the Lord by saying “Is the Lord in our Midst or not?”
Moses was even afraid they people would revolt against him and stone him. But as always, the mercy of the Lord was made evident when He told Moses to strike the rock with the staff he carried, and water flowed from the rock.
This battle back and forth, with the people having so little faith in what was being done for them by the Lord is not ended here. The people continued to display their lack of faith on the whole journey, until we hear the Lord say that only those who were born on the journey would be the ones who would see the promised land. Not even Moses would get that honor.
There is one of the lines in this section from Paul’s letter to the Romans that stands out for me and should be a reminder for us as to just how incredible was the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. It is the line where Paul says that “…with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.”
Paul is reminding the Roman community of believers that we have been justified by faith and that we have peace with God through Jesus. He proves His love for us, even while we are still sinners, by sacrificing Jesus on the cross. That love for us does not end, it’s always there if we acknowledge it and form a loving relationship with the Lord.
The Gospel of John and this story of the women at the well is a long teaching segment that is full of lots of meanings, both for the people of Jesus time and for us still today. What makes it very powerful is the fact that the woman is able to grasp what Jesus has been able to teach her in just a short period of time and her enthusiasm for going back to the village to tell all she could find just how important this person was, what He had taught her and revealed to her.
It almost seems to be too strange to believe that this woman could understand what Jesus was teaching her right from the start when His own disciples were not able to grasp what He had been teaching them for a period of time already. She knew there was a rift between the Samaritans and the Jews, she knew and understood how they both came from the line of Jacob, and that the water from the well was only a symbol of the living water that Jesus would be able to provide.
Even after the disciples returned to the well with food for Jesus and them to eat, their lack of trust and faith in Jesus was still apparent as they were chastising the woman who was talking to Him. Not only were they questioning her, they even questioned Jesus for talking to her. Jesus has to keep teaching them and reminding them of His greater purpose here on earth and that they were not yet able to see/understand what His mission really was.
What we all should rejoice in is that those who heard the woman and began to believe because of what she had told them turns into a much deeper belief after they hear Jesus for themselves and began to have faith because they too become witnesses to the Good News of Jesus Christ.
How much more will we be rewarded for our faith who believe after 2,000 years have gone by?