Week 34 - The Parable Of Two Wells
“Jesus said, ‘The water I give him will become… a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ (John 4:14)”
A visitor to an Australian outback cattle ranch was intrigued by the seemingly endless miles of farming country with no sign of any fences. He asked a local rancher how he kept track of his cattle. The rancher replied, “Oh, that’s no problem. Out here we dig wells instead of building fences.” The reason is obvious. There is no need to fence cattle in when they are able to stay within range of their source of life. Dr Mark Strom, the principal of my Bible College, related the above story during our community worship. In my mind, I began to picture a vast farmland and a herd of cattle lying idyllically beside a well. I then thought of the parable of the two wells. Let me share it with you.
Two Wells
Section titled “Two Wells”Once there were two wells, a privately owned well and a communal well. The private well is well looked after by its owner. Its pail is let down into the well only a couple of times each day and generally the well is quite free throughout the day. It still looks as new as it was when it was constructed perhaps 10 years ago. The communal well on the other hand is well utilised. It was donated by an organization only a year and a half ago but it already looks worn out.
Early in the morning, many farmers, housewives and children head for the communal well to fetch water for household use as well as for farming purposes. And again in the afternoon and evening, streams of people drop by the communal well to fetch water for drinking, cooking and washing.
One day, the village was flooded. The flood waters overflowed into all the wells in all the villages in the province. When the flood subsided, the water in these two wells (and every other well) was contaminated with animal waste and other contaminants that were washed into them by the flood.
A team of “well cleaners” came from overseas to help clean up the wells in the village. The process is time-consuming and expensive, involving pumping out the water, giving it a chlorine shock treatment and testing to see if it is safe for drinking. There was a stringent criterion for selecting the wells for treatment. The community well was selected among others.
Sharing Well
Section titled “Sharing Well”Based on the life-giving properties of physical wells, the Bible uses the well as a metaphor. For example, Isaiah’s description of drawing “water from the wells of salvation” with joy (
Like the communal well which was a blessing to many people in the village, God’s desire is for us to share our faith with people around us, too. However, it is costly. It wears us out and it is inconvenient. But, as the apostle Paul experienced, “His grace is sufficient for me” (see
Our lives should serve as witnesses to the salvation that we have received through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to the extent that we contagiously attract others to what has so captivated us.
Jesus at the Well
Section titled “Jesus at the Well”Interestingly, the last mention of a well in the Bible happens in
We need to step out of our comfort zone and attract others to the Lord. Are our lives dynamically connected to their source in Jesus? Do we freely and fearlessly cross boundaries to attract others to the same well?
Wells are for sharing… So, share well!
P.S. The idea for the parable of the two wells comes from “Operation Living Waters.” A team of Carmelites and friends went to a remote village (Barray) in Cambodia and helped to clean over a hundred wells during the great flood a few years ago.