At the Well

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He met her at the well.

Jacob's well.

Jacob, who, in search of a pure bride of spotless lineage, had traveled far from home, to the well where his father's bride had been found.

You must not marry one of those Canaanite women.

So he traveled far in search of a bride, and he met her at the well. Dazzled by her beauty, he worked seven years to pay the bride-price, and the seven years were as a day.

Then seven years more, because the father gave him Leah instead; Leah of the gentle eyes, who had no form that he should desire her.

Yet it was through her that the promised one came; the stone that the builders rejected that has now become the cornerstone.

It was through Leah that he came, and when he came, he had to pass through Samaria, and he stopped to rest at Jacob's well.

He met her at the well, a Canaanite mongrel; broken, rejected, and used up.

He met her at the well. He asked her for a drink, and she asked him why. She was no Rebecca.

But an hour is coming and is now here, when neither on this mount nor in Jerusalem...

And he cried out with a loud cry:

If anyone is thirsty, come to me! The one who believes what the scriptures say of me, from that one will flow rivers of living water.

He met her at the well, and he speaks to us now, reshaping all our fairy tales until the fact is more beautiful than all the lovely shadows.

He has slain the dragon, and rescued the ugly stepsister, transforming her into a valiant princess. He restores our souls, and he meets us at the well.

He is the well, and he invites us to draw water, not for him only, but also for his servants and camels.