The Samaritan Woman
Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John
(though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples),
He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
But He needed to go through Samaria.
So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.
To get to Galilee from Judea,
one had to go through Samaria.
In fact the Lord JESUS needed to pass through Samaria
as He had a divine appointment there!
Operating in a human body,
The Son of GOD became hungry, thirsty and weary.
So He sat by the well
Besides, the city needed to 'get well'!
It was about the sixth hour.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."
For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
JESUS breaks all cultural barriers and connects with her as a human being with a physical need.
He has a need that she can meet!
People are usually more willing to receive from us if we show readiness to receive from them first.
Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
Then the LORD reveals to her what He can offer her.
The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?
Her human mind cannot fathom the origin of living water. She was looking down to something that comes from above!
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"
Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
Water is necessary to sustain life and we need a source that can keep replenishing that need. The LORD is quick to take the opportunity to open up her mind to think spiritual. He relates the natural to the spiritual truth. He was the Fountain of living water!
The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
The mind of the woman is still on the physical level.
Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
All this while JESUS is purposefully causing to let the bucket of her life deep down, from the physical now to the soul.
The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,'
for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."
JESUS comes out with a word of knowledge.
The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
From looking at Him as a Jewish Man, then sir, the woman now acknowledges JESUS as a Prophet.
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."
Imagine the bucket of her life descending down into the deep well gradually!
While the woman of Samaria is preoccupied with the differences between the LORD and herself that would disconnect and distance them from each other, the LORD is bringing her to a place where she could connect with Him spiritually.
Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
The LORD could see her bucket almost down at the water level in the well of Living Water. "The hour is coming, and now is.."
The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."
The woman is just one breath from receiving the breath of eternal life: Her bucket is just about to tip into the well of Living Water, coming up filled with new life!
Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
The encounter!
The revelation of the Messiah!!
The Giver and Fountain of Eternal Life!!!
Her Savior!!!!
At this moment the Holy Spirit, the water of life, floods into the woman, connecting her with the Living GOD! She is made alive spiritually!!
And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"
What amazingly divine timing!
There must have been such an atmosphere of the divine Presence and awe that the disciples, having many questions in their minds are unable to voice them; they are speechless!
The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,
"Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"
The woman goes into the city as a water pot full of living water.
Although her mind is somewhat confused, her pot is overflowing!
Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
Surprisingly, the men of the city took the word of this outcast woman of bad moral reputation seriously and came out of the city to the well to see JESUS, because she seemed so DIFFERENT NOW!!
If you have had an encounter with GOD and have received the water of life, you will bring others to the well of living water, the LORD JESUS.
In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."
Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"
Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
Just as the body is satiated with food, there is great fulfilment in the soul when we do the things GOD has created and called us for.
Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
How is your spiritual vision?
When you see a wheat or paddy field, are you able to visualize the souls that are ready to be brought to the LORD?
And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.'
I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."
This is the Kingdom work we ought to give highest priority to and be occupied with constantly. Matt 6:33
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."
The woman shared a simple, clear, honest testimony which was powerful enough to draw her city to JESUS!
So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
The love of the Saviour draws the sinner as a metal to a magnet!
And many more believed because of His own word.
Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."
Once we bring someone to the LORD JESUS, let us step aside and allow them to form a direct relationship with Him.
Are you thirsty?
Come to the Fountain of Living Water.
Drink deeply.
Then let your life overflow as a blessing to others.
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
John 7:37-38
