John 4 tells about an encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at a place called Jacob’s well. Through their conversation something of the glory of Jesus is revealed. It’s enough to convince the woman that Jesus is the Messiah. And more conversations convince many others that Jesus is the promised Savior. Extraordinary!
Here’s how it starts. Jesus is bone tired. So he sits down by the well while his disciples go into town to buy food. He’s obviously hungry, but that will have to wait till the disciples return. Meanwhile, he’s thirsty. So when a woman comes to get water from the well, he asks her for a drink. That’s how their conversation begins.
It’s all so ordinary and human. Of course Jesus is tired. Of course he’s hungry. Of course he’s thirsty. He’s human, after all—like us in every way, with the same basic needs that have to be satisfied every day.
Jesus is not disguised as a human. He is fully human, just as he is fully God. And nothing about his humanity sets him above common human experiences—even ordinary ones like fatigue, hunger, and thirst. This will be true of him until the day he experiences the ultimate reality of being human: that we are vulnerable to suffering and death.
Jesus, most of our lives are so ordinary. Most of your life must have been ordinary too. So you understand us completely and love us totally. And we thank you for that. Amen.
About the author — Bob Arbogast
Bob Arbogast is the pastor of Celebration Fellowship church in Ionia, Michigan. In his spare time, he plays guitar in a West Michigan blues band. He and his wife Jan have been married forty years and have three adult daughters. Bob has been praying the psalms since 2002.
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