The One

There are some facts about human nature that are true no matter what culture or what period of history we're living in. We all want to be loved and safe. We all need companionship of some kind: family, friends, spouse. We are sinful, and we seek our own way.

Women throughout time have been on the prowl for the right man. In the college dorm, we referred to him as The Boy. The One.

Cleopatra famously had relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. Queen Elizabeth I remained the Virgin Queen, convinced there was no one good enough, or unable to have the man she wanted. There's some dispute about that. Closer to our own time, Elizabeth Taylor had eight husbands.

We're all on that search. Some of us have been successful in that search and have married our Prince Charming.

But that search is not what we're really after.

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The Bible records a story not unlike the rest of us. We don't know her name, but we can probably fill in some of the details of her story. What is recorded for us is that she was ostracized for having five husbands and living with a man who wasn't her husband. We know her as The Woman at the Well, or the Samaritan Woman.

She met Jesus at that well, and they had a conversation. She herself acknowledges how odd that is: “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) John 4:9 More than that, though, she was ostracized by her own people and other women; scholars tell us she was at the well in the middle of the day so she could avoid the other women, who came at day break to fill their jugs. Perhaps she was embarrassed, or perhaps they shunned her or mocked her, as women through the centuries have done, like chickens attacking the weak, pecking their eyes out.

Jesus neither mocks her nor shuns her. He offers her the greatest gift: Himself. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” John 4:10

She's skeptical at first, but she's yearning. You can see it in the way she draws Him out. Your people say.... what do You think? We've been waiting for the Savior. Do You think He'll come?

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” John 4:25-26

I'm The One.

The One you've been waiting for, wishing for, searching for. I'm the answer to every question you've ever asked, and the ones you've been afraid to ask. I'm the supply for every need, physical water and spiritual life. I am He.

What is it you need today? Turn to Jesus. He's The One.