Jesus Sat Here!

The following article was published in the Arthur Graphic-Clarion in June 2012.

For ten days at the beginning of May I was blessed to be able to make the trip of a lifetime to Isreal and the Holy Lands.  I had often said that this was a trip I wanted to make at some point in my life.  I called my recently retired father in New Mexico to see if he wanted to join me for this wonderful experience and he jumped at the opportunity.  So, off we went with 40 other people.

Our tour was organized by John Walsh and his Bible Telling ministry out of Bloomington, Illinois.  This provided an additional benefit because along with our tour guide giving us the history and details of each site we also had 10 professional storytellers along to tell the story from scripture at each site we visited.  It was very powerful and undoubtedly will benefit my reading and study of the Bible in the future.

During our trip we visited around 50 Biblical sites and heard over 130 stories told at those sites.  It was incredible to think about each setting and what had occurred there many years ago.  The sites in which we knew for sure that this was the place that Jesus walked, or that Jesus called his first disciples on the shores of Galilee were especially moving.

One of the most memorable places was the site of Jacob’s Well in Sychar.  This well is most likely around 4,000 years old dating back to the time of Jacob in the Old Testament.  The well is best known from the encounter in John 4 when Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman who is drawing water from the well.  Jesus says to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)

As our group heard this story told and stood around this well, our tour guide sat on the brick well and said, “This is one of those sites in which we can truly say, Jesus sat here.”  You could hear our whole group gasp in awe about what we had just heard.  Before we left I had to go and sit in that spot myself.  I had to drink some of the water that we were drawing up as we sang “Fill my Cup Lord” (You can still draw fresh water from Jacob’s well today).

What Jesus was explaining to the woman at that well is that he can provide us spiritually what the world cannot provide.  His source of strength and help will never pass away like the kings and kingdoms of this world pass away.  That thought kept going through my mind throughout the rest of our trip.  Yes, it is powerful to sit where Jesus sat, but it is even more powerful to realize that His presence lives on in our world and in our lives.  Even if you never have the opportunity to travel to the Holy Lands, I hope that you will tap into the eternal “living water” that is offered through Jesus Christ.  His well is one that never runs dry!

Pastor Glen Rhodes

Arthur Mennonite Church