Season 5 - Episode 22
To listen to an audio version of this post, visit www.covenantchurch.ca/podcasts/covenant-weekly.
Good Morning, Covenant Family. On Sunday, Brent led us in a consideration of Jesus’ interaction with a Samaritan woman at a well. He suggested that Jesus didn’t just meet her there, but that he likely was waiting there for her. That seems to be a great reading of the passage. But there is something else before Jesus being at the well that makes thinking about Jesus waiting for her even more compelling. Today, we’re going to consider what led Jesus to this well, in this place, at this time. This is the Covenant Weekly for February 3, 2026.
Chapter 4 of John begins by talking about the journey Jesus and his disciples embark on between Judea, in the southern part of the country, and Galilee, in the northern part. There were multiple routes between Judea and Galilee and compelling reasons for a Jewish person to consider both. One route, not an uncommon one, was to go through the somewhat hostile territory called Samaria. This was the fastest route, but it put Jews in contact with a people they often considered lower than them or unclean. There are times it seems Jesus and his disciples didn’t take this route. The other route was longer, but avoided Samaria. It was on the Eastern side of the Jordan River.
Knowing that there are two routes, both viable for different reasons, makes John chapter 4 verse 4 somewhat interesting. John writes, “Now he had to go through Samaria.” Why did Jesus have to go through Samaria? He had geographical options. The story tells us that they hung out in this Samaritan town for two days so he didn’t take this route because he was in a rush. But something compelled him to take this route.
There are some who say Jesus knew that this woman would be there, through divine foreknowledge. That isn’t something the text indicates and I worry that this theory does injustice to the reality of Jesus’ humanity and dependence on relational connection with the Father. I think, what we can fairly say, is that something in Jesus compelled him to go this specific route. And my guess is that once he started to interact with the woman (or maybe only after his interaction with the woman), he understood why he had to go through Samaria.
We like to think we are agents of full free will. In some sense we are, however, there are all kinds of things - our pasts, our trauma, our pleasures, our desires - that shape us and give drive to our choices and direction. Just because we believe in Jesus and the efficiency of his death and resurrection doesn’t mean the things driving us have changed. One of the invitations of the Gospel, the good news of Jesus, is to partner with God in the reshaping of ourselves, our mind, and our hearts so that the things compelling us are aligned with the heart of God. This includes the messages we tell ourselves about both God and ourselves. This includes being open and sensitive to the inner stirrings of the Spirit of Christ.
We are compelled by messages, voices, and urgings beyond our control. AND we have free will as to whether or not we will follow their lead or not. We even have free will to partner with God in changing what we are compelled by.
A great example of this is the man we call the Apostle Paul. At one point he was compelled by religion and jealousy and probably fear to pursue Christians and to try to stamp out this new Jesus-centred faith. After a dramatic encounter with Jesus and an extended time being formed within Christian community, he went out sharing a message which invited people to be reconciled to God through Jesus. His life and teaching put him in danger - at risk of beatings and execution. But, he says in 2 Corinthians 5 that he was compelled to do this work. What compelled him? Not guilt. Not wanting to be heard. Not a desire to be famous in the church and to be known as the guy who wrote most of the New Testament. Not fear. None of those things drove him. Instead, he says, “Christ’s love compels us.” (2 Cor. 11:14) He had been reshaped from the inside out to be compelled by Christ’s love instead of the things of his past. This included, at times, being compelled simply through being sensitive to the Spirit. (We see this in Acts 16 where it says the Spirit of Jesus didn’t let them go one direction and then, through a dream, they were called to go another direction.)
My point is this. We are all compelled by something. Jesus was ultimately compelled to go this route through Samaria. Whether or not he had some foreknowledge about this woman, it came through sensitivity to the Father’s leading. As you go through your journey, what is compelling you forward? This is often hard to discern because sometimes the things compelling us are so deeply rooted in our psyche that we need help unpacking them. But it is important to consider. Because the more we can be aware of what is compelling us, the more we can work in partnership with God to put off the things that aren’t aligned with God’s heart and pay attention to the things, people, messages, and promptings that are. If you’re interested in exploring this more with me, I’d be glad to sit with you. I’m certainly no expert in this. In fact, I’m a relative novice on this journey, but if you’re looking for a fellow traveller in thinking about these things, feel free to reach out!
In the meantime, though, maybe a good place to start is by praying for God to show you, lead you, and guide you on your journey. You could start by regularly, and with thought, praying the prayer Jesus taught us to pray. There we are taught to ask for God to lead us, not into temptation, but with deliverance from evil. Going through life with eyes up and sensitive to the Spirit’s lead is a good first step.
And sometimes we’ll find ourselves compelled to go somewhere or do something and we won’t know why. We won’t know what is leading us. That’s just fine. If we follow while keeping in step with the Spirit of Christ, like Jesus, we might just find ourselves in a conversation with someone when we (and they) least expect it!