Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Have you ever had a chance encounter with someone you didn’t even know, which turned out to be very significant, maybe it was even a ‘defining moment’ in your life? As we continue the journey of God’s “Grand Narrative” let’s follow Jesus today, as He goes ‘off road’ and a chance encounter changed everything for a whole town of people!
This is another of those stories about Jesus, which is found in only one place, this time it’s John 4. Jesus left Jerusalem, where He and Nicodemus had a profound, life changing discussion, remember? (John 3) And Jesus headed north, back to familiar Galilee. Amazingly, instead of following the well-traveled route AROUND the region of Samaria, Jesus went ‘off road’, right to the town of Sychar, a Samaritan town!
As you perhaps know the prejudice hatred Jews had for Samaritans would cause Jews, going to Galilee from Jerusalem, to walk many miles AROUND Samaria, rather than the much shorter and direct route, through Samaria. Those prejudicial attitudes stretched back hundreds of years to when that part of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians and foreigners were brought in to populate that area and intermarry with Jews, thus resulting in what Jews considered “half breed” Samaritans.
No Jewish religious leader worthy of any respect would intentionally walk into Samaritan territory… but Jesus did. It appears a few of His followers courageously followed Jesus, perhaps intrigued to watch how Jesus might deal with these ‘half breeds’.
Jesus stopped at the town well for a drink, and that’s when this unexpected encounter happened. As you read John 4, you’ll meet an unnamed woman who came to draw her water at the hottest part of the day, and many scholars presume it was because she was ashamed and did all she could to avoid conversation with anyone. Jesus asked her for a drink, as she was drawing up her water from the well. Her stunned response is a reflection of the prejudice: “You are a Jew; I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:9)
Have you noticed that Jesus seemed to love shocking people with His truth statements, as we saw with Nicodemus? So, Jesus said to this stunned Samaritan woman: “If you knew the gift of God and WHO it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would give you living water!” (John 4:10) Can you imagine the look on her face? And then Jesus did it again! He pointed to the water the woman had just pulled up from the well,
Jesus said: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst! Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life!” (John 4:13,14) Oh my, now this dear woman was beside herself, trying to figure out WHO is this guy and WHAT is he talking about? Perhaps she thought, ‘he may be a lunatic, and I need to leave this well immediately for my own safety’?
But she didn’t, and instead she took the bait and engaged this strange man in an unexpected conversation which ended up changing her life! She said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water!” Can you imagine a smile on Jesus’ face right about now? Jesus then stunned her again by saying: “Go call your husband and come back here.” (John 4:15,16) Now that seems very admirable, doesn’t it?
Are you cautious about conversations you find yourself in with persons of the opposite gender, regardless of their age or yours? Jesus was showing her great respect, but also Jesus, being God in the flesh who knows everything, was touching her at her most vulnerable place, her relationships with men. “I have no husband…” she responded.
I wonder if Jesus paused, maybe looked away and felt the weight of that painful admission. I need to ask you my friends, do you have anyone in your life who you believe understands your deepest pain? Do you believe Jesus does?
Then, perhaps with tears in His eyes, Jesus tenderly looked at this Samaritan woman, as she drew up another bucket of water from the well in the midday heat, and Jesus said: “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband…” (John 4:17,18) I wonder if she dropped her water bucket and maybe gasped. How did Jesus know that painful truth about her?
Now before we jump to conclusions or start throwing stones, I invite us to pity and have great compassion for this dear woman. We must assume at least one, maybe more of those husbands died, leaving her a widow. Perhaps others of them simply abandoned her. And because the man she was now with was not officially her husband, it tells me an unscrupulous man was taking advantage of her, providing her shelter and food, but probably demanding things of her that were very painful for her, including fetching his water in the heat of the day.
This was a remarkably tender and very vulnerable moment. Certainly nothing this woman had expected when she came to draw water that hot day.
Jesus then said to her, as Messiah: “…a time is coming when true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks…” (John 4:21-24) The woman amazingly responded “I know the Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” And in that moment, in that ‘off road’ place, Jesus made the statement He longed to make to every person: “I who am speaking to you – I am HE” (John 4:26) If you like to mark in your Bibles, my friends, you should underline that or draw a box around it! Jesus declared boldly, clearly, to a Samaritan woman, that HE is the Messiah!!
As you read the rest of this remarkable story, you’ll see the woman ran to town, told some people what had happened at the well and soon many people came rushing out from Sychar to the well to see this man who claimed to be Messiah! They asked Jesus to stay the night in Samaritan Sychar, and He stayed two nights and met with the people telling them God’s message of truth and hope.
John records that Sychar was a changed town because many believed in Jesus and they proclaimed: “…We know this man really is the Savior of the world.” (John 4:39-42) I personally believe John, who authored this story, was an eyewitness to this remarkable Sychar changing, ‘off road’, event. I urge us to pause and give serious thought to what happened here. Read it through two or three times so you don’t miss anything and ask God to help you understand the far-reaching implications!
Some wonderful ‘lessons learned’ notes at the Grand Narrative link below will help you, and then a worship song with the link at the bottom of this page, and I’ll meet you here again tomorrow, my friends.
Today’s Scripture: John 4:1-42.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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