Weary

John chapter 4.

Jesus and his disciples, at least some of them, are moving on. Jesus has things to do. John the Baptist has mostly receded into the background, and John the author has changed allegiances.

Let’s see where they are.

He (Jesus) left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

Samaria. What an awful place to be. At least, if you’re a Jewish person in the first century. Samaria was bad side of town. Samaria was where the dogs lived, where the ones you spit on live. You go around Samaria, you don’t linger. There’s nothing valuable there.

But Jesus had to go through Samaria.

Where do you have to go through? As you pursue this life, this calling, you’ve got some ugly places to travel through. Flat tires, divorce, root canals, or kidney stones. Bankruptcy, lost children… chemo or pink slips or rejection. There’s no rest for the weary, is there?

Jesus was wearied from his journey, you know.

There’s a reference in Christianity: We go from glory to glory. Sometimes it’s used incorrectly. It doesn’t mean, we flit from one perfect day, from one victory, directly into another. Wouldn’t that be fun?

But glory to glory is from 2 Corinthians, a letter from Paul to the Corinthian church. He’s referring to us gazing at the Lord, and being changed to look like him. You know that’s the goal, right? That when we look at the Lord, we look more like him. We are changed, from glory to Glory. Let me show you the verse. This is out of the King James Version.

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

So glory to glory. Not, we hop from mountaintop to mountaintop, no.

Real life isn’t like that. Real life has valleys and pits and swamps and detours and night time in between the mountaintops.

Jesus was wearied from the journey.

Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.  A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

The sixth hour, by the time-keeping methods we think John used, probably meant about noon. They live in the middle east, and he sits by a well. He’s been teaching, leading, organizing, and traveling through rocky, desert-like ground. And it’s high noon.

And he needs a drink.

Jesus was human. He was weary. The Mercy man knows mercy because he knows what it’s like to be in need.

Are you weary on your journey? There is no condemnation in needing rest and food. The Mercy man knows when you’re going through difficult and ugly places.

Sit awhile, and drink from the well. Let him restore the nourishment you need.

I was weary this morning. This weekend I had a beautiful time of prayer and intercession and connection with some of my favorite people, and I bore a lot of the responsibility and burden for it to go well. I mean by choice I bore it. I just cared so much, and I pressed in for spiritual release and protection and prayed intently for the time. It went well, and I loved it. 

But today, at home, I was exhausted.

It was tempting to sleep in, veg out in front of the TV,  eat something delicious, and to feel completely, utterly, condemned. 

I kept re-hashing everything I did wrong. I kept hearing lies that sounded really, really true, about how much I failed and how silly I was to think I had accomplished something. And how terrible, terrible of a job I did. 

I don’t need to go into detail. I tried to keep it under control. I hate half delicious, half healthy. I slept some, I did watch a movie with my son.

But the condemnation was the worst.

I was weary from the journey, and the enemy just wanted to kick me while I was down. I think this is pretty normal.

But do you know what Jesus did when He was weary?

He sat down by the well, and asked for a drink of water.

Are you weary on your journey? Do you know what the Lord of Heaven says?

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

We have to go to the Source when we’re weary. We can rest our physical bodies, yes, but Netflix doesn’t recharge us. He does. The enemy wants to take us from the mountain to the pit, to add insult to injury, to starve us as well as beat us. But there is shelter, there is water, there is life if we want it!

What do you do when you’re going through hard places? When your soul is weary, when your body needs rest?

Jesus is the Source of our strength. He’s the water for our souls, He’s the quencher of our thirst. Yes, we need to refresh our bodies. Sleep and water and vitamin C and even massages and vacations all have their place.

But when your soul is weary, in hard places and rough terrain, where are you drinking? Are you drinking from dirty wells, or hunting in the fridge for strong drink? Are you feeding your soul on gossip or worldly pleasures? Are you getting your nourishment from places where there is none?

Why don’t you go to Him, instead? Let him bathe your weary heart and give rest to your aching spirit.

I’m going to Him, won’t you come, too?

This post is part of an ongoing series covering the book of John. You can follow by email, or you can go to the lead page and go at your own pace. Just click here.