New Year’s resolutions usually don’t work.  A 2008 study by Steve Shapiro (available here: http://www.steveshapiro.com/2008/12/11/interesting-new-years-resolution-statistics/) shows that 75% of Americans “almost never” keep their resolutions. Furthermore, the small minority that claim to meet their goals do not attest to being any happier.  We all believe that we can do things to improve ourselves, thus becoming healthier and happier.  If I just lose the weight.  If I just could find the time to read more.  If I had quiet times on a regular basis.  If I ran that race.  If, if, if, if…. 

The fact is that New Year’s resolutions profoundly misunderstand human nature. As the English reformer and archbishop Thomas Cranmer said: “What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies.” We often think that we can will our way into happiness, that we can decide to be more committed, that we can rigorously rearrange our schedule to love Jesus more.  But, true change starts in the heart, rather than the mind.  Jesus is not a resolution to be checked off; He is a person to be loved. Time and time again, we find ourselves at the well of self-reliance when Jesus has offered a bubbling, flowing, living spring.

We are familiar with the story of the “woman at the well.”  I propose, however, that we file for a name change.  Although she was “the woman at the well” when she first met Jesus, she became “the woman at the spring” after their encounter. Jesus left the province of Judea and headed to the province of Galilee.  He had to leave because some of the Pharisees were upset that He was gaining and baptizing many disciples. 

The region of Samaria was directly between where Jesus was and where He was going.  Most Jews used alternate routes to avoid passing through the region.  The Samaritans were considered to be “half-breeds” and “mongrels” by the Jews.  After King Solomon’s reign, Israel divided into two separate kingdoms.  The Northern kingdom eventually fell to the Assyrians who brought in foreigners to settle the land.  The conquered Jews of the Northern Kingdom intermarried with pagan foreigners.  The result was the Samaritan race.  In New Testament times, the Samaritan faith had evolved into a blend of Jewish monotheism and pagan superstition.  The conflict between the Jews and Samaritans is convoluted and multi-faceted and could fill pages.  But suffice it to say: these two groups of people hated each other.  The Samaritans lived on the “other side of the tracks,” and respectable Jews avoided contact with them.  As usual, Jesus did not allow Jewish rules and customs to deter him from mission.  Our passage says that He had to go through Samaria.  Jesus was motivated by mission rather than geography.  He had to find the lost, thirsty Samaritan woman

After a long journey, He stopped for a rest at Jacob’s Well outside the town of Sychar, also known as Shechem.  Jacob was the Father of Israel and was revered by Jews and Samaritans alike. At noon, a woman came to draw some water from the well. Noon was a strange time to come for water.  People usually came to the well in the morning or in the evening.  Maybe she was an outcast and did not want to see others. Maybe she had an immediate need for water.  The point isn’t why she came but that she came.  She was running an ordinary, mundane errand when she met the man that would change her life. She wasn’t at a conference.  She wasn’t in a healing line or on a victory march.  She was just living, doing the things that people did every day.  And Jesus met her there.  You see, Jesus came to seek and save those which were lost.  He came to find her; she was not looking for Him.  He comes to find us even when we are not looking for Him.  This thirsty person approaching was a Samaritan woman with a horrible reputation.  We find out later in the story that she had been married five times and was living with number six at the time.  According to some sources, a Jewish rabbi would not even speak to his own wife in public because she was a woman.  Jesus ignored the religious rules and started a conversation that would result in salvation.

“Will you give me a drink?” Jesus asked. This could have been the first time that a Jewish man had addressed the Samaritan woman in a friendly fashion. She was shocked.  She responded by saying, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan.  How can you ask me for a drink?”  Jews would be declared ceremonially unclean if they drank from the same vessel as a Samaritan.  Why would this Jewish man want to take a drink from her vessel?  And as a Samaritan, why should she be willing to share with this Jewish stranger?  Jesus completely disregarded this ethno-religious controversy.  He didn’t give it the time of day; he went straight to the Gospel message.  He said, “If you knew the gift of God and who it was that asked you for a drink, you would have asked him, and He would have given you living water.” This is Salvation 101. Jesus told her about the things of God, who He was, and what He can do.

Jesus is not only willing to “defile” himself by drinking from the Samaritan’s cup.  He is willing to allow this unworthy, sinful half-breed to share in His inheritance.  He offers her living water.  In ancient times, “living water” was used to describe a stream or a fountain. It was “living” because it was always moving and bubbling up.  Let’s contrast that to the water found in Jacob’s Well.  By definition a well is “an artificial shaft sunk to reach underground water, percolating or collected, or to reach a natural underground spring.”  Archaeologists have discovered Jacob’s well to be 138 feet, and it only collects rain water and dew. There is no aquifer or underground stream that feeds the well.  The water that Jesus was offering was fresh and flowing; it was not a stagnant build-up of rain water.  Later in the conversation, Jesus adds: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 

So here we have it: Jesus offers us a spring instead of a well.  At the well, the woman came on daily basis to labor for something that would only satisfy her needs temporarily.  She toiled for stagnant rain water.  As human beings, we can all relate to this.  This is why the bars have “regulars” and the xxx websites have “members.”  Sin is a repeat business; you will never be completely satisfied.  You will come to the well again and again. No matter how hard you toil to become wealthy; money will not be enough.  No matter how long you go to school; education will not be enough. No matter how many partners you go through; sex will not be enough.  Our fellow members of the animal kingdom remain content if they can acquire enough food, water, a stable environment, shelter, and opportunity to breed.  Humans, on the other hand, have infinite desires that can not be filled with this world’s finite resources.  We were made by God in love and for love.  Our desires can only be filled by Him. 

So, this year, don’t buy into the lie that you have to work harder to be happier, that you need to frequent the well more often to find your purpose.  Put down the water bucket and pick up the garden hose.  Drink freely and deeply of his love.