Learning From the Samaritan Woman
John 4:4-26, 28-30 4
But he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." 11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" 13 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." 15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." 16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." 17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, "I have no husband'; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!" 19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." 25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." 26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you." 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah. can he?" 30 They left the city and were on their way to him.
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Imagine going about your regular chores and ending up having a conversation with Jesus Christ! That is exactly what happens here with this Samaritan woman. She comes to the well to draw water, probably like she has done a hundred or more times before.
But this time is different. This time she talks to Jesus! What an extravagant gift!
I love the fact that Jesus initiates this conversation. And I am struck by the fact that He initiates it with a need He has! Look at the text. John tells us that Jesus was tired out by his journey. And it was about Noon, which means He was probably hot and tired, and this woman could give Him some water to drink: “Give me a drink.” This Samaritan woman had what Jesus Christ needed at that hour and place! What a marvelous thought! What an unbelievable privilege – to be able to minister to our Lord Himself! She didn’t even know Him yet.
Have you ever found yourself in a place where Jesus needs what you have? And you’re in a position to give it to Him? What would you do if He asks? It might slow you down to respond to Him. You may have to put off your “to do” list. But, think of it! Here is an opportunity to minister to Christ! He makes Himself vulnerable to us like that, I think, because it gives Him an opportunity to reveal Himself to us, and gives Him an opportunity to meet our deepest needs. And gives us an opportunity to respond to Him. It is the start of a relationship with Him. This is, as Jesus says, “the gift of God.”
That’s just what happens with this incredibly fortunate Samaritan woman. Jesus initiates the conversation, and then He keeps talking. And she’s smart enough to take the time to listen, rather than hurry off. And because she takes the time to listen, she learns about Jesus. Her first question to Jesus, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" reminds me of the Psalmist who says, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:4). I am convinced that this is the only way to have a relationship with the living God: utmost humility before Him. When we know who we are and who God is, we can’t help but be completely amazed at God’s unconditional love and grace in Christ Jesus, who comes to us to save us. There is no room for pride or merit or self-exaltation or demands on our part.
Her humility and interest keeps the conversation with the Son of God going. Jesus starts by telling her that if she knew who was speaking to Him, she would ask Him for water and, by the end of this conversation, He is not just telling her that He's the Messiah, but He uses the name of God to describe Himself: “I am” is speaking to her. What a revelation! She had been impressed that a Jew was speaking to her!
When Jesus first alludes to having living water that He is ready to give her, she responds with a question, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?” I am struck by her question. I have to admit, it reminds me of myself sometimes. How often do we do that? How often do we impute our meager, human abilities to the Lord Jesus Christ? How often do we project our finite limitations on to Him? “Oh ye of little faith!” He would say to those of us who know Him. “Do you think I need a bucket? Do you think I even need a well?” “I am He who created the seas.” This Samaritan woman has an excuse. She was just being introduced to Jesus Christ. But, what of those of us who know Him well? Do we still ask these ignorant, faithless questions of the resurrected Son of God, who has conquered death?
We now live in the hour when true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and truth all over the world. We don’t have to go to Jerusalem. Jesus Christ is alive. His Holy Spirit is present with every believer, everywhere, working God’s purpose in every corner of the world.
So what? What does that mean for us, as we go about our daily lives, our regular living?
The day that the Samaritan woman encounters Jesus Christ, John tells us that “she left her water jar” and goes back to the city to spread the good news. (Read on in this chapter, and you’ll see that her testimony draws fellow Samaritans to Christ). In other words, meeting Jesus Christ, makes a new woman out of her, changing the purpose and priority of her day. She has gone from drawing water from a well to drawing people to Christ! Does encountering the risen Christ change us like that, too? Or, do we go on trudging to the well, with a small bucket in hand, as if we don’t know any better?
Jesus comes to us today just as surely as He came to the Samaritan woman at the well. Look for Him during your regular day. He wants an encounter with you and me. Don’t be surprised to find that He has gone before you to find you at a place that you frequent, with a particular need that He wants you to meet. Don’t be surprised when He initiates a conversation. It is His way. Listen to Him. Respond to Him. Like He knew the Samaritan woman, He knows you. Get to know Him.
And you will be amazed at what He offers you, and what He can do. “Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
Drop your water jars. You cannot get this water from your wells.
"Lord Jesus, give me this water.” Amen.
But he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." 11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" 13 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." 15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." 16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." 17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, "I have no husband'; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!" 19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." 25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." 26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you." 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah. can he?" 30 They left the city and were on their way to him.
----------------------------------
Imagine going about your regular chores and ending up having a conversation with Jesus Christ! That is exactly what happens here with this Samaritan woman. She comes to the well to draw water, probably like she has done a hundred or more times before.
But this time is different. This time she talks to Jesus! What an extravagant gift!
I love the fact that Jesus initiates this conversation. And I am struck by the fact that He initiates it with a need He has! Look at the text. John tells us that Jesus was tired out by his journey. And it was about Noon, which means He was probably hot and tired, and this woman could give Him some water to drink: “Give me a drink.” This Samaritan woman had what Jesus Christ needed at that hour and place! What a marvelous thought! What an unbelievable privilege – to be able to minister to our Lord Himself! She didn’t even know Him yet.
Have you ever found yourself in a place where Jesus needs what you have? And you’re in a position to give it to Him? What would you do if He asks? It might slow you down to respond to Him. You may have to put off your “to do” list. But, think of it! Here is an opportunity to minister to Christ! He makes Himself vulnerable to us like that, I think, because it gives Him an opportunity to reveal Himself to us, and gives Him an opportunity to meet our deepest needs. And gives us an opportunity to respond to Him. It is the start of a relationship with Him. This is, as Jesus says, “the gift of God.”
That’s just what happens with this incredibly fortunate Samaritan woman. Jesus initiates the conversation, and then He keeps talking. And she’s smart enough to take the time to listen, rather than hurry off. And because she takes the time to listen, she learns about Jesus. Her first question to Jesus, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" reminds me of the Psalmist who says, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:4). I am convinced that this is the only way to have a relationship with the living God: utmost humility before Him. When we know who we are and who God is, we can’t help but be completely amazed at God’s unconditional love and grace in Christ Jesus, who comes to us to save us. There is no room for pride or merit or self-exaltation or demands on our part.
Her humility and interest keeps the conversation with the Son of God going. Jesus starts by telling her that if she knew who was speaking to Him, she would ask Him for water and, by the end of this conversation, He is not just telling her that He's the Messiah, but He uses the name of God to describe Himself: “I am” is speaking to her. What a revelation! She had been impressed that a Jew was speaking to her!
When Jesus first alludes to having living water that He is ready to give her, she responds with a question, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?” I am struck by her question. I have to admit, it reminds me of myself sometimes. How often do we do that? How often do we impute our meager, human abilities to the Lord Jesus Christ? How often do we project our finite limitations on to Him? “Oh ye of little faith!” He would say to those of us who know Him. “Do you think I need a bucket? Do you think I even need a well?” “I am He who created the seas.” This Samaritan woman has an excuse. She was just being introduced to Jesus Christ. But, what of those of us who know Him well? Do we still ask these ignorant, faithless questions of the resurrected Son of God, who has conquered death?
We now live in the hour when true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and truth all over the world. We don’t have to go to Jerusalem. Jesus Christ is alive. His Holy Spirit is present with every believer, everywhere, working God’s purpose in every corner of the world.
So what? What does that mean for us, as we go about our daily lives, our regular living?
The day that the Samaritan woman encounters Jesus Christ, John tells us that “she left her water jar” and goes back to the city to spread the good news. (Read on in this chapter, and you’ll see that her testimony draws fellow Samaritans to Christ). In other words, meeting Jesus Christ, makes a new woman out of her, changing the purpose and priority of her day. She has gone from drawing water from a well to drawing people to Christ! Does encountering the risen Christ change us like that, too? Or, do we go on trudging to the well, with a small bucket in hand, as if we don’t know any better?
Jesus comes to us today just as surely as He came to the Samaritan woman at the well. Look for Him during your regular day. He wants an encounter with you and me. Don’t be surprised to find that He has gone before you to find you at a place that you frequent, with a particular need that He wants you to meet. Don’t be surprised when He initiates a conversation. It is His way. Listen to Him. Respond to Him. Like He knew the Samaritan woman, He knows you. Get to know Him.
And you will be amazed at what He offers you, and what He can do. “Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
Drop your water jars. You cannot get this water from your wells.
"Lord Jesus, give me this water.” Amen.
posted by Ruth at 10:12 PM
1 comments
