The well is deep

As I read the story of the woman at Jacob’s well, the words which grabbed my attention were her words to Jesus, “the well is deep.” We can reflect on her words in many different ways. One way is to say that Christianity in our country is being pushed away from public life. It is getting harder to see realistic expressions of faith in the media. In a sense you have to dig deep if you want to explore the Christian faith. And yet, it is well worth while to do so, because you will be infinitely rewarded. The harder you look for God the more you will realise he has been there all along. When something awful happens to us, we may cry out to God and realise he is just a prayer away. When we change direction in our life, either getting married, starting a family, buying a house or changing jobs we sometimes re-assess our life. We start to think of the big questions in life and we look for the answers. People don’t always turn to the church for answers, they may look on the internet, asks friends, read books. They sometimes look to other religions for the answer. But Jesus said. I am the way, the truth and the life.” There was no ambiguity in Jesus.

Another way of looking at the woman’s words is to look at how much God loves us. The well is deep. God’s love is limitless. No matter what we have done, no matter how bad it is, we can come to God and repent and be forgiven. We only have to look at stories in the Bible to see how much God loves us. The woman caught in adultery and brought before Jesus. The Pharisees wanted to compromise Jesus. They wanted Jesus to say “let the woman go.” But of course, Jesus would have devalued the law by saying that. Jesus looked at the woman compassionately, in an expression of love and justice he spoke to the waiting crowd. “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” The Pharisees had to examine their own hearts, and they realised they were not without sin, they drifted away one by one. Jesus addresses the woman. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” The woman went away to rebuild her life. Justice and love combined.

Jesus’s love was costly, he wanted to give people a second chance, he wanted them to see that love overcomes all things. And he was willing to demonstrate that in his very life and death. The well is deep. Jesus went to the cross to save us from the consequences of our sins. He died for us, and his love is limitless

Happy Easter

Peter