Why We Keep Putting Up Barriers to God
Lessons from a surprising conversation about living water
Welcome to today’s reflection.
A chance to pause and consider deflection, distraction, and the quiet persistence of grace.
There are some stories that feel less like ancient history and more like a mirror held up to our own lives. One of them is the account of a conversation between Jesus and a woman at a well. On the surface, it is a simple moment: a thirsty man asks for water. But the layers beneath it are startling.
This was no ordinary encounter. In that culture, devout men avoided being seen alone with women who were not their relatives. A conversation with a stranger, especially one with a reputation, carried the risk of impurity, gossip and crossing moral boundaries.
The woman Jesus met at the well was a Samaritan, which is significant. Centuries of hostility stood between Jews and Samaritans, laced with bloodshed, prejudice and deep mistrust. Even worse, it was clear that the woman had lived a life deemed questionable by her community. She came to the well at noon, the hottest time of the day, when no one else would be there.
She was a lady trying to avoid others, but that day she encountered Jesus.
The first shock is that Jesus speaks to her. Not only speaks, but asks to drink from her vessel.
No wonder she is shocked. She responds with defensiveness, questions, and attempts to change the subject. It reads like an awkward conversation. Jesus, with patience, goes off on one to talk about something she cannot quite grasp: living water. A kind of water that quenches the thirst of the soul, not just the body.
She hesitates, then in the end blurts out: “Give me that water.”
As soon as the conversation cuts close to her heart, when Jesus points out that he knows her story, she starts to put up barriers. She talks about religion, traditions, places of worship and attempts to distract from what’s really going on.
In the end, when the questions get too close, she tries one last tactic. She points vaguely to the future: “One day the Messiah will come, and it will all be sorted.”
Jesus answers with quiet directness: “That’s me. I’m here.”
