John 4:7-30

I recently attended a funeral for a woman who spent her life in service to other people and her church. Martha was the woman that helped my in-laws as their primary care giver in the last years of their life, just as she had helped countless others during her life.

Her funeral was packed. The church held about 250 people, and about 350 showed up. Michael and I stood for the entire service (all 2 ½ hours of it!). She was from a large family, and they all turned out – as did many of her friends and acquaintances.

The minister started off his portion of the service talking about the fact that he was supposed to give a eulogy, but that his words were inadequate – Martha had lived her eulogy. How many of us would have that said at our funeral, and how many of those in the audience would agree? When the minister made that statement about Martha you could see heads nodding and hear murmurs of agreement.

Our scripture today is a familiar one – the story of the woman at the well. Jesus conversed with this woman, even though she was a Samaritan, someone that Jews would not normally talk with. Moreover, she had married five times and was not someone of “high morals.” He engaged with someone that needed him.

There are many lessons that can come from this scripture, but perhaps the most important one is that Jesus gave us a lesson on who we should care for. The lesson is that we should care for anyone that needs us. That is what Martha did with her life. Can we say that about ourselves?

Prayer: Lord, help us to recognize those that need us, and to treat them like you would have treated them while you were here on earth.

Susan Rucker