Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
Jesus was having a great time baptizing in the
countryside of Judea, and so was His cousin, John the Baptist. But when the
religious folks (Pharisees), started planting seeds of division, Jesus packed
up and headed north toward Galilee.
4
But He needed to go through Samaria.
5
So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of
ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was
there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the
well. It was about the sixth hour.
No wonder He was “wearied from His journey.” Jesus was the Word became flesh
(John 1:14). He was Divine, yet, man. Not superman.
He sat, weary, probably hot and thirsty, but there’s
no mention of Him performing a miracle to bring water from the well.
He waited.
Quenching His physical thirst was secondary to the
Divine appointment He had with someone in dire need a quenching a Spiritual
thirst.
He didn’t go to the well for Himself. He went for…
7
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8
For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
You see, He didn’t make that long, hard, journey, and stop
at that particular time, and that particular place, just to quench His own
thirst, but hers…and yours.
Or, did Jesus just happen to take that route
that led them to this town, by this well, at this hour; a time when nobody
visits the well? Oh, and did He just so happen to send all the
disciples to town for food. All of them? Was it all just coincidence?
Or, Providence?
Even though, as a man, He got tired and thirsty, He walked
in the Spirit, so He was at the right place at the right time for the right
reason.
He walked a life of Divine timing, and Divine
connections.
We should follow His example. He walked in the Spirit, thus was not overcome by lusts
of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). The Spirit is willing, the flesh is weak (Mt. 26:41).
He could’ve done it Himself. Miraculously call water
up from the well.
But He waited.
Picture it.
The Almighty, thirsty and weary, waited, to ask for help from someone most folks wouldn’t even talk to.
9
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 speaking to her may have startled her. Jewish
men, rarely spoke to any women in public. Especially Samaritans. They were despised
by Jews.
You see, after Joshua and crew settled the Promise Land,
they grew and prospered as one nation under God. But then, they got fat and
sassy and corrupt and divided.
A house divide cannot stand. They split into two
tribes. Ten northern tribes had Samaria as their capital, and two southern
tribes, (Judah and Benjamin) kept Jerusalem as capital.
Around 722 BC, God allowed Assyria to take captive the
ten northern tribes, leaving only the poor and those who worked the land. Then,
the king of Assyria sent foreigners into Samaria; they intermarried with the remnant
of the northern tribes, and thus, birthed what is now known as the Samaritans. (2 Kings 17:24; Ezra 4:2-11).
The Jews were sinfully prejudice. They hated
Samaritans so much, they’d cross to the other side of the Jordan when heading
north or south, just so they didn’t step foot on Samaritan soil.
So, the woman at the well was at the very least, surprised,
that Jesus, a Jew, spoke with her.
Many say her answers were rude, snarky, sarcastic,
sassy…but, she has a story. Everybody has a story. And hurt people, hurt
people. Some folks are so full of hurt, that when they open up, it’s what falls
out. They can’t help it, at first. It’s what’s inside. Jesus said, out of
the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Luke 6:45.
So, cut her some slack.
She was probably intimidated. Perhaps even scared.
10 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.”
I wonder if Jesus was thinking about the River of Life, flowing from the throne of God (Revelation 22:1). Or, the springs He just left a few days earlier. They were called Aenon which means, spring or natural fountain, or… living water.
Notice the giving heart of God. He immediately starts talking about what He has to offer her. We don’t know for sure if she ever gave Him a drink. We’ll see in a little while she leaves her waterpot.
11
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? 12 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”
Notice now, she doesn’t just call Him, “You being a
Jew,” but uses the respectful word, “Sir” also translated, lord,
or, master.
Additionally, she says, “our father Jacob.” Not,
my or, your, but, our father. The word, our,
in the original text is only used when emphatic. As if with emphasis,
she bares her heart’s desire to be a part of family.
His family.
Whatever is radiating from Him, she wants it.
How could this dear woman not be drawn to Jesus, who
spoke to her like she was a person, not a dog. Did her heart catch a glimpse of
the Messiah and spill out her mouth when she uttered the words, “Are you greater…”
13
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst
again, 14 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.”
Whoever drinks of this water will thirst
again. Say those words before every new venture, adventure, acquisition. No matter how much you drink,
it’ll leave you thirsty. Whoever drinks of this water, this whatever,
this relationship, spouse, career, house, RV, wealth, position, power, fame,
fortune, drug…will thirst again.
Nothing but Jesus, can satisfy that thirsting soul.
15
The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor
come here to draw.”
Now, finally, she asks what He told her she should ask
at the beginning. “Give me this water.”
She didn’t catch the concept yet. She was still
thinking of fulfilling the flesh. I won’t have to lug the jug all this way back
and forth. But now at least she was asking the right question and looking in
the right direction, toward Jesus—the Source of Living Water.
16
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
This may seem like an odd thing to say. What does her
husband have to do with anything?
Everything.
Now that she’s asked, Jesus is going to open her eyes
to who He is. But first He must open her heart.
Jesus looked at her, loved her, saw her heart and said,
“Go call your husband and come here.”
Do you remember how He did something like this to the rich
young ruler? The rich young man asked how he could have eternal life. Jesus
looked at him, loved him, saw his heart and said, “Go sell your riches and
come follow me.” Mark 10:17-27
17
The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I
have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one
whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
Wasn’t He kind? He complimented her for telling the
truth, technically, even though she was actually hiding the truth. The answer
she gave would imply she is alone, no husband, perhaps never married, or
widowed.
Jesus understands and doesn’t beat her up over it, but
simply tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, because He
is the Way the Truth and the Life.
Dear woman at the well, no husband, will be
able to quench that thirst, ever.
She’s had five husbands. We don’t know what happened.
Did they die? Not likely or she’d have been called a widow.
Preachers paint her in a poor light.
I don’t. I may be wrong.
They say she was men hopping.
But back in that day, a woman had a hard time surviving
without a husband. It was the husband who could and would easily divorce his
wife, for any and every reason (Matthew 19:3). Maybe she wasn’t a good cook. Perhaps
she snored. Most likely, she was unable to have kids. We don’t know.
We do know that five times she made vows that were
meant to be forever, and five times they failed. Now this time, the sixth guy, is
letting her shack up, but not willing to tie the knot. Not willing to commit. So,
tomorrow she may be out on the street.
She may feel stuck. I don’t like it, but I have no
other choice. She’s probably embarrassed, ashamed. Why she goes to the well
at noon—when no one’s there. Usually. Until today. When He showed up.
The other women would typically, go together, to hang
out at the water cooler and catch up on gossip, in the cool of the day, morning
or evening, but not in the heat at noon.
Jesus knew all this. Five times she put her trust in
man. Five times she thought this is it, the one, now I’ll never thirst again…but,
here she is, number six, no joy, no hope, no future, just settling, expecting
nothing better than a place to stay.
Until today. Until He shows up.
Jesus.
The perfect number seven.
Someone she can trust in, and never thirst again.
19
The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is
the place where one ought to worship.”
Religion is a powerful thing. It makes of none effect
the Word of God. Mark 7:13.
Jesus is talking about a Gift that bubbles up
from within, never ending, never running dry.
And she wants to put it in a box. Just give me the
rules, and I’ll follow. Tell me what to do, I’ll do.
He offers a relationship of Love and Truth and
Freedom. John 8:32.
But her default mindset translates that into rituals,
and rules, and religion…bondage.
The letter kills but the Spirit give life.
2 Corinthians 3:6.
21
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither
on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You
worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the
Jews. 23 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. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship
Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Woman…That is the same respectful name Jesus called Him mom, before turning water to wine. Now here, He’s about to turn years of tears into living water.
He told His mother, Mary, “My hour has not yet
come.” John 2:4. He tells this woman the hour now is.
He spells it out perfectly clear. It’s not worshipping
on this mountain (Gerizim) or in that temple, (Jerusalem), it’s not about what,
and when, and where…but Who. Salvation, the Messiah, Jesus, comes from the
Jews. Worship must be in Spirit, (not fleshly rituals, do this do that) from
the integrity of the heart, and in Truth, there is only One Way… I AM the
Way the Truth the Life. John 14:6.
25
The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ).
“When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
Now her brain finally catches up with her heart.
Jesus affirms.
26
Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
Only One Way, His name is Jesus.
27
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?”
As if on cue, the disciples showed up. They wondered why
He’d be talking to a woman, especially a Samaritan—but didn’t ask.
28
The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the
men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.
Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
The waterpot lost its value after just one sip of living water. She ran to town, she just had to share.
31
In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
They didn’t say, “Rabbi drink” so they probably used
her waterpot and guzzled some well water.
32
But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33
Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything
to eat?”
34
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to
finish His work.
Doing the Father’s will is the most energizing, life giving, nourishing, thing one can do.
35
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!
Picture this scene. While Jesus is talking to His disciples,
He sees a cloud of dust, about a quarter mile away, toward town. There they
come. People, lots of people headed toward them.
And who is that, leading the way? How can it be? Just
ten minutes ago she was a shunned, despised, outcast, but now behold, lift
up your eyes and look, she’s leading the whole town out to the WELL that
never shall run dry.
36
And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both
he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this
the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to
reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have
entered into their labors.”
39
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.” 40 So
when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He
stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own
word.
42
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.”
Indeed. Hallelujah. Amen.
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