Isolation goes against what we hold to be true about the Beloved Community of Christ. As people of faith, as humanity, we were not created to be isolated. We are not meant to be alone. Which is why the story about Jesus and the woman at the well is so remarkable. It begins in isolation and moves toward invitation.
August 23, 2026
Finding God in the Chaos: Listening to the Still, Small Voice
Part 4: “In the midst of isolation, there is invitation”
John 4:1-29
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
John 4:1-29
Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee. To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well.
It was noon. A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.) The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.) Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.” The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water’? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?” Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever.
The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.” The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!” He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.” “I have no husband,” she said. “That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.” “Oh, so you’re a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?” “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews.
But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.” The woman said, “I don’t know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we’ll get the whole story.” “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.”
Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn’t believe he was talking with her…a Samaritan woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it. The woman put down her water jar and went into the city. She invited the people back in the village to “Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?”
In the midst of isolation, there is invitation John 4:1-29
Let’s try this againI’m going to show you a video and ask you a few questions while it is playing…
(Watch video)
What is your first reaction seeing this? How uncomfortable are you right now? Are you more uncomfortable for yourself or for the woman? Would you stop and join in? Or would you pretend not to notice? What would be your reaction if she made eye contact with you and invited you to join in? How many of you created a narrative about this woman based on what you saw without really knowing this woman’s story?
The woman is Gillan Wearing. She is a performance artist who conducted a social experiment long before there was Tik Tok or Instagram. She is standing in the middle of a shopping center in South London, dancing like no one was watching, just to see what people’s reactions would be. Would people only see the isolation, or would they accept the invitation to join in and dance? And as you can see, despite her confident abandon and arm-flailing, no one really bothers to stop. Sure, she gets a few glances but they continue on their journey. She remained in isolation while people ignored the invitation. All because the people were too busy, too focused on the task at hand. All because they used their preconceived notions about her to avoid and isolate further.
Which is typical human behavior whenever we encounter something which makes us uncomfortable, something which pushes us out of our comfort zone. We tend to ignore, avoid, and isolate. That is what the author of John is counting on when he shares this story in our text today. He wants us to hear the labels… Samaritan, outsider, woman. He wants us to speculate on why this woman was alone at the well at the hottest part of the day. He wants to see if we will be too busy to stop. He wants to see if we are too focused on the task at hand to set aside our preconceived notions and talk to the man sitting at the well, a man who is also sitting in isolation. The author of John wants to see if we will stop and talk with this man, this stranger. The author of John wants us to see if we will listen to what he has to say, if we will join in the invitation, the same invitation which is to the Samaritan woman to learn more about her faith. What the author of John wants us to see is that it is not just the Samaritan woman who is isolated. No, we are isolated as well. By telling this story in such a way, the author of John plays upon our assumptions about this woman and in doing so, he knows that we will close ourselves off to the Beloved Community in our midst. He knows that we have built up walls to keep others out. He knows that we have avoided situations which push us out of comfort zones. He knows that we have made assumptions about “those people” and avoided contact with them. He knows that we have allowed ideas, excuses and stereotypes to divide and separate. He knows that we have isolated ourselves all because people don’t think like us, don’t look like us, don’t act like us. Playing on all this, creating his own social experiment, the author of John wants see if in the midst of all that isolation, we will embrace the invitation extended.
You see, this Samaritan woman has a deep theological conversation with Jesus, a conversation which is longer than anyone else has with Jesus in the Gospel of John, and we miss it. We miss it because we are too focused on the task at hand, the task being…determining why this woman is worthy of Jesus’ attention and all this does is create more isolation and avoidance. By setting up this scenario, the author of John wants to see if we as Jesus’ followers will realize that the invitation extended to us, extended to others, extended to all God’s people is not about rescuing people. Rather it is about making room for relationships. It is about meeting people where they are. It is about recognizing that God’s invitation is bigger than our labels and preconceived notions. It is about having open hearts, open minds, open beings to where God is already at work in our midst.
Or let me say it this way… I shared earlier this week that I was uncomfortable with this theme of isolation and invitation. I shared that I knew that there were many reasons for isolation like health reasons, or our social battery is at zero. I know that isolation can be physical, emotional, social or spiritual, and that oftentimes we can be surrounded by people and feel unseen. I also know that isolation sometimes comes about not because we choose it but rather because it is placed upon us through factors beyond our control, factors like judgement, prejudice, or purposeful exclusion.
And I also know that isolation goes against what I hold to be true about the Beloved Community of Christ. As people of faith, as humanity, we were not created to be isolated. We were not meant to be alone. Which is why I find this story so remarkable. It begins in isolation and moves toward invitation. And it does so, not by force, not by sheer will, not by coercion, and definitely not by guilt. Nowhere in this story are the words forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation, sin or shame used. This story is simply about all of us moving from isolation to invitation because we have encountered the living Christ in our midst, an encounter which changed us, which helped us become the person God created and calls us to be, an encounter which opened our hearts and minds to a different way of being in relationship, in community with one another, an encounter which turned into an invitation to share the good news with others… because when we look at how this story ends… We are told “ Many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s word when she testified, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.” “So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. Many more believed because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is truly the savior of the world.” (John 4:40-42)
See there really is an invitation in the midst of the isolation. May we have the courage to have open hearts, open minds, open beings to receive it. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, August 23, 2026 – In the midst of isolation, there is invitation John 4:1-29.
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