March 11
Verse of the Day for March 11
Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.John 4:6 KJV
The Key of Stillness · Day 11 of 31
Reflection · 3 min read
In The Sixth Hour
John gives an unusual detail before the conversation at the well starts, and it is easy to read past on the way to the theology.
Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
Jesus, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. The word is the ordinary one for tired from walking. He sat down because he had been walking since morning in the heat and he needed to.
It is about noon. His disciples have gone into town for food. He is on his own, tired, thirsty, with no bucket, which is why the conversation begins with him asking a stranger for a drink.
One of the most consequential conversations in the gospels starts because he was too tired to keep walking and had to sit somewhere.
I do not think that is incidental. He did not push through to a better location. He stopped where his body said stop, and that turned out to be exactly the place.
He stopped because he was tired.That was the appointment.
There is a quiet permission in this. The Son of God sat down in the middle of the day because he had had enough walking.
The woman arrived at the well he was already sitting on.
Carry this today
Where has your body been telling you to stop?
Pray
Read John 4:5–10
5Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 7There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Keep praying
Reflection by Collins Asein, from the daily devotionals in the PrayerKey app. Bible text: King James Version.