This episode will focus on John 4. This chapter of John's gospel contains what is for me one of the most powerful stories in the life of Christ. Many know it as the story of the woman at the well. It's a story that first of all puts on display the "have-to" of Jesus. There are many stories in the gospels that tell us what Jesus did...there are a few that tell us what he HAD to do, what he lived for. One of those stories is found in John 4:1-42.
But it's also a story of worship and worship we will see is initiated by God at the intersections of real life, in the midst of adultery, broken marriages, racial conflict, and need. Jesus is seeking worshippers and in this moment, his search doesn't lead him to a religious place or even a sacred space. He doesn't find a beautiful place by a stream in the woods. On this day, he'll sit by a well on a dusty trail, near a village filled with people that his friends want to avoid. Bone-weary from his journey; he decides, "Even now, even here, there will be worship." Worship doesn't always require choirs or bands singing songs that move our hearts. It doesn't always take liturgy or communion or even a sermon. Sometimes all you need is a well, a woman with a thirsty heart, and Jesus. Because worship is the natural result of a thirsty heart and mind and soul that has been satisfied by God. Worship is what happens when the life of God begins to flow through the dry wastelands of our soul.
