The Woman of Samaria. We can learn so many things from her story. We could spend four weeks in this chapter of Scripture. It is so rich and full of wisdom. I know it is a lot of verses to read, but please take the time right now to do so.
John 4:1-42
Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 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.” She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?” So the woman left her water pot, and went into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case 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 labor.”
From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”
My husband is a cattle farmer. One of the ponds in the pasture is spring fed. It is a very large pond, full of fish, turtles, snakes, and who knows what else. It is the source of water for the cows in that pasture. We have never had to worry about those cows having water, because that pond is always refilling itself. This past year, a levee broke at that pond. As quick as you could blink, the pond was empty. All of that fresh water was gone. Jeremy had to have someone come with a bulldozer and repair the levee. Once that levee was repaired, the pond began to refill itself. As long as there are walls to hold the water, this pond will always be full. There is a spring under the ground that is always flowing with water. Even if the levee breaks again, we can repair the wall and still have a pond full of fresh water.
Jesus talked to the woman of Samaria about the water that springs up to eternal life. Just like the water in our pond, it will never run dry. Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we will always be full of the Holy Spirit. He will never, ever leave us. He will be with us until the day we go to Heaven, and then we get to live forever in His presence. But, just as Jesus was explaining to the Samaritan woman, we have to drink the water. We have to accept Jesus. We have to take that step of faith. When we do, we will always have Him. We will always be full of that fresh water of salvation, and we will never thirst for Jesus again.
Once Jesus explained that to the woman, she began to have a taste for who Jesus was, but she still didn't quite get it. She thought that He was a prophet. She was confused because of her background as a Samaritan. The Samaritan woman said to Jesus in John that for the history of the world, people have worshipped God where she was. But now, the Jews say that you have to go to Jerusalem to worship God. She had a bad taste in her mouth for all of this. Jesus tells her that there will come a time – and that time is now – when it doesn’t matter where you worship. 1 Timothy 2:8 says, "Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension." Jesus also tells her that it does matter who you worship. He tells her that she worships what she doesn't know – the false gods, the idols, and God the Father. To understand more about the Samaritans and their idol worship, look at 2 Kings 17:24-41.
There is a lot we can learn about true worship from this passage of Scripture. True worship is not just singing songs. It is an inward act of the soul, loving God so much that you are willing to do anything to show that love. I love to worship through music. I always have. But I have to remind myself that music is not the only way to worship.
Jesus shared the truth with the woman of Samaria. She then took the truth and shared it with the men in the village. The Scripture tells us that many were saved because of the woman at the well. There is a lesson to be learned here about the harvest. Even if the language of the Scripture is confusing in those specific verses, the message is clear. We are to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to tell His truth to all men. I do have a desire to share Jesus with others. That is one of the main reasons why I write this blog. I want others to know Jesus, and to know how to discern the truth of His Word for themselves. I hope that you take advantage of the opportunities around you to share the truth of His Word to others.
There is so much more in this story that we could talk about. But for me, the two main lessons were about true worship and about sharing Jesus with the world. I want to worship God with all of my heart and soul, and I want others to know about Him and how wonderful He is. I hope you have those same feelings. I hope that you can take the message of Jesus with you every day, everywhere you go.
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