We live in a culture that is geared toward the next best thing. The focus of our attention is on how to organize our lives in this world and fulfill our desires. What should I buy next? What should I eat, drink, wear, read, and listen? There is always something new to look forward to in our lives. In the event that we are upset, or is no longer able to fulfill our needs, we will simply walk away, looking for our next thing or a person to fullfill us. In today’s world, our souls rarely settle down. When we’re looking for the next big thing, we don’t even notice where we are going to.
It’s about finding happiness, fulfillment, and rest that can’t be found anywhere else. Despite this, we don’t see that Jesus Christ who speaks in spirit and truth is the only way to satisfy our desires. Through scripture, the story of Samaritan woman at the well reveals something profound about us: until the Anointed one opens our eyes to our own need, we remain blind to our own needs. There was one particular aspect of this story that made me cry the most and that was the loving nature of our God. the love of Jesus Christ, our God. I would like to point out that the first person to whom Jesus ever revealed his identity as Christ was this Samarian Woman. Jesus could reveal himself to the rich and famous. He revealed himself to this Samaritan woman who was considered a sinner, poor, foreigner, outcast, and didn’t have much to boast about her life.
Now, let’s read the scripture together. John 4:7-29
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans)
Jesus answered her, “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 have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “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.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “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. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
Thanks. Now, the Samaritan Woman at the Well, who is she, and why is she alone there?
As Jesus was in the Judean countryside with His disciples, the story of the Samaritan woman began (John 3:22). Jesus had to pass through Samaria on His way to Galilee from Judea. This, in and of itself, was uncommon for Jews to do, since Samaritans were mixed race (part Jew and part Gentile) and widely hated by Jews. So Jews usually avoided Samaritans because they hated Samaritans and also considered them enemies as well.
In the middle of the day, a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well. The climate in Samaria is hot at that time, so people would have been resting. Most women would come early in the morning or late at night to collect water. This woman regularly comes to the well at this time of day. She’s been married five times and is currently living with her boyfriend. She probably avoided attending the well when other women were there because she didn’t want to be embarrassed by her situation. Despite that, Jesus decided to meet this specific woman at this specific time, out of divine intention.
In this story, how is Jesus revealed as Christ?
We see Jesus reveal Himself three times through the conversation with the Samaritan woman. In the first place, Jesus reveals himself as the Living Water (John 4:13-14). In response to the Samaritan woman’s request for a drink, the Lord responds by offering her something even greater. As Jesus says in the scripture:
“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 have given you living water.” – John 4:10
The Living Water that she needs in order to live is him, who is the wellspring of life, the spring of life that she needs in order to survive. It is Jesus who promises her that he will give her living water that will give eternal life, and he invites her to bring the rest of her family, specifically her husband, so that they can also receive the goodness he is offering. It is at this point that the conversation turns to her personal history and the current state of her marriage. She tells him honestly, “I don’t have a husband.” (4:17). Jesus confirms what she’s said, and reveals he knows and has seen her more than she ever imagined. Without judgment, he tells the fuller story of her past, and she immediately knows that he’s a prophet. It was at this point in their theological discussion that she decided to ask him about the proper place for worship, one of the main differences between Jews and Samaritans, one of the major differences between their views on God. As a response, Jesus offers a vision of a time in the future when all true followers of God will worship not in a particular location, but rather in the Spirit and in the truth (John 4:23-24).
In light of Jesus’ mention of the future, she expects that the coming Messiah will bring her great joy. There is a sense of anticipation in her words about the fuller understanding that she will receive upon the arrival of the Messiah. In response, Jesus declares, “I am he.” I am the Messiah.
It is through this unexpected turn of events that this woman, about whom Jesus had earlier asked for a drink, now finds that her own thirst for understanding salvation has been quenched. The Messiah has arrived, the one she has been waiting for all her life. During that time, the disciples interrupt their conversation, but she has already heard all the information she needs to hear at that point. It is at this point that she drops her water jar and rushes back to the village where she tells everyone she meets, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done in my life.” I found Messiah (4:29).
As the disciples left their fishing nets behind when they followed Jesus, so, too, does she leave her water jar behind, in a sign of her full embrace of this call to follow Jesus.
Please find the conversation between the Jesus and the woman, a clip from ‘the Chosen’.
As I mentioned in the begining, there was one particular aspect of this story that made me cry the most and that was the loving nature of our God. the love of Jesus Christ, our God. I would like to point out that the first person to whom Jesus ever revealed his identity as Christ was the Samarian Woman who was considered a poor sinner, foreigner, outcast, and didn’t have much to boast about her life.