WATCHWORD:
1 Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). 3 So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. 4 He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. 9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” 10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” John 4:1-10
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” John 4:19-26
39 Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40 When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, 41 long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. John 4:39-41
Meditation:
I Am He
“The deep division between the people of Samaria and the Jews of Judea was long entrenched, and, over the centuries, had been passed from one generation to the next. Some believed that the animosity began when Samaritans opposed the reconstruction of the Jerusalem walls, after the Babylonian exile, more than 500 years before. It was also a time when Samaria was known as a refuge or a hiding place for criminals and Great Sea pirates. Samaria had always been a mix of races, ethnicities, and beliefs that ranged from idol worship, to the worship of God on Mount Gerizim, instead of the Temple in Jerusalem. This fact, alone, inflamed the Jews. Compounding the problem and keeping the tension alive, was that Samaritans, who believed in God, only accepted the Torah, while rejecting the Hebrew Bible, the oral law and the Prophecies. Forgiveness was not a part of the lexicon for either Jew or Samaritan. Whatever the reasons, the hatred and distrust persisted and was a real chasm between peoples”. (An excerpt from The Inn, part of my yet-to-be published manuscript – Stan)
The passage of John 4, “The woman at the well”, is a pivotal story in the ministry of Jesus, and it is cloaked in mystery. Who was this woman? Was she really from the nearby village? What kind of a woman was she? We have the impression that she was a woman of questionable morals, but we might come to that conclusion without facts, without any understanding of the life that she had led.
She appears in scripture at Jacob’s Well, and we learn that she had five husbands, or five men she had lived with. There may have been reasons for that, maybe it rested with the men, possibly her life had been cruel and she had made poor decisions. We simply don’t know. But we do know a few things; we know that somewhere in her past life she had an understanding of the coming of the Messiah. Where had she learned that? It certainly was not revealed to her in the Pentateuch, the Torah that Samaritans studied. So, where did her knowledge come from? We don’t know. That is part of her mystery.
We know that she had no hesitancy in answering Jesus’ request for a drink. Apparently, she did not share the fear Jews as did other Samaritans. She had no hesitancy in answering Jesus request and challenging him, with “Why are you asking me for a drink?”. That would have been considered dangerous, or at least bold, in the culture of the Samaritans.
There’s something about this woman that has a certain appeal. There is a strength in her character that somehow belies the ‘harlot’ image that we may assume without reason. Who was this woman and why was she here at exactly the time of Jesus’ arrival?
Yes, there’s something about this woman that Jesus embraced. She is the first, aside from His disciples, to hear, first-hand, from Jesus that He is the One, that He is the Messiah! Yes, this is a woman, a special woman, that Jesus equipped, through this brief conversation, as one with a story to be shared—her story.
Life journeys equip us in ways that we may not fully understand. The sharp turns our lives have taken, the mountains we had to climb, or the losses we had to suffer, all have, in special ways, added texture, reason, and faith to our Jesus story. Like the woman at the well we have been embraced by Jesus for we know that he is the Messiah. And like the woman at the well, whose experience touched the lives of all living in this village, we are to go and share. So be it.
Bulletin Board:
NOTE: Jesus left Jerusalem because there was growing tension with the religious establishment. On the matter of baptism, he considered it important that it continue as a demonstration of repentance and cleansing in preparation for the Messiah. Here we learn that Jesus delegated the actual practice of baptism to His disciples. By not Himself baptizing, he made the superiority of His position above that of John the Baptist to be felt.
The woman at the well is an interesting story. Maybe we shall see her again as more of her story is told.
Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word and the wonderful lessons that it contains. Thank You that there is no one that is beyond Your grace.. and that salvation is available to all who will hear and receive the truth of the glorious gospel of grace. I pray that I may learn as Jesus did to listen to Your voice and be guided by the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit so that I will know when I must go through a certain place – to do your will for Your praise and glory, in Jesus name I pray, AMEN.
