The Wearied Christ
by Alexander MacLaren
“Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well.”
“He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.”— John iv. 6 and 32.
Two pictures result from these two verses, each striking in itself, and gaining additional emphasis by the contrast. It was near the close of a long, hot day’s march that a tired band of pedestrians turned into the fertile valley. There, whilst the disciples went into the little hill-village to purchase, if they could, some food from the despised inhabitants, Jesus, apparently too exhausted to accompany them, “sat thus on the well.” That little word thus seems to have a force difficult to reproduce in English. It is apparently intended to enhance the idea of utter weariness, either because the word “wearied” is in thought to be supplied, “sat, being thus wearied, on the well”; or because it conveys the notion which might be expressed by our “just as He was”; as a tired man flings himself down anywhere and anyhow, without any kind of preparation beforehand, and not much caring where it is that he rests, Thus, utterly worn out, Jesus Christ sits on the well, whilst the western sun lengthens out the shadows on the plain. The disciples come back, and what a change they find! Hunger gone, exhaustion ended, fresh vigour in their wearied Master. What had made the difference? The woman’s repentance and joy. And He unveils the secret of His reinvigoration when He says, “I have meat to eat which ye know not of”—the hidden manna. “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.”
Full text at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/32282102/TheWeariedChrist.rtf
