The Samaritan Woman” “…Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. IT WAS NOON. A WOMAN, A SAMARITAN, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.) The SAMARITAN WOMAN, taken aback, asked, “How come you, A JEW, are asking me, A SAMARITAN WOMAN, for a drink?” (JEWS IN THOSE DAYS WOULDN’T BE CAUGHT DEAD TALKING TO SAMARITANS.) “…Just then his disciples came back. THEY WERE SHOCKED. THEY COULDN’T BELIEVE HE WAS TALKING WITH THAT KIND OF A WOMAN. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it…” (John 4:4-9, 27 MSG) Perhaps in order to avoid the “Respectable Townswomen” who filled their water jars at Sunrise and Sunset, “The Samaritan Woman” came to the well at Noon, the Hottest Hour of the Day! This immoral woman, who had had five husbands, now lived with a man who was not her husband. When Jesus Purposely passed through Samaria on His way to Galilee, He MET and SPOKE to the woman at Jacob’s Well, near the city of Sychar, BREAKING THREE MAJOR SOCIAL RULES OF THE DAY: 1. FIRST, women were considered Greatly Inferior to Men; in PUBLIC, NO Middle Eastern Man EVER Spoke to a Woman, Not Even to His WIFE, MOTHER, OR SISTER! 2. SECOND, NO JEW EVER Spoke to a SAMARITAN! Jews believed Samaritans had Betrayed Their Faith because They Had Intermarried With Foreigners! The Jews and Samaritans Hated and Avoided Each Other At All Costs! 3. THIRD, NO SELF-RESPECTING MAN, ESPECIALLY A TEACHER, WOULD EVER SPEAK TO A WOMAN OF SUCH DESPICABLE REPUTATION! This Woman Was a Well-Known Social Outcast and Moral Misfit! JESUS, HOWEVER, DISREGARDED ALL THREE OF THESE SOCIAL BARRIERS WHEN HE CONVERSED WITH THE SAMARITAN WOMAN! Jesus Revealed Himself as the Greatly Anticipated Messiah, Offering Forgiveness, Redemption, and New Life! “Therefore if ANY PERSON is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a NEW CREATION (A NEW CREATURE ALTOGETHER); THE OLD [PREVIOUS MORAL AND SPIRITUAL CONDITION] HAS PASSED AWAY. BEHOLD, THE FRESH AND NEW HAS COME!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP); “We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious [power] of the Father, SO WE TOO MIGHT [HABITUALLY] LIVE AND BEHAVE IN NEWNESS OF LIFE” (Romans 6:4 AMP); “BUT TO AS MANY AS DID RECEIVE AND WELCOME HIM, HE GAVE THE AUTHORITY (POWER, PRIVILEGE, RIGHT) TO BECOME THE CHILDREN OF GOD, THAT IS, TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN (ADHERE TO, TRUST IN, AND RELY ON) HIS NAME” (John 1:12 AMP) “The Samaritan Woman” drank from His Cup of Living Water, Ran Back to Town, TO THE VERY SAME ONES WHO DESPISED HER, THE PEOPLE OF SAMARIA! THERE SHE PROCLAIMED WITH UNEMBARRASSED EXCITEMENT THE ARRIVAL OF THE PROMISED MESSIAH! The people of Samaria Eagerly Responded to Christ! For They Too, Yearned For His Living Water! “BUT WHOEVER TAKES A DRINK OF THE WATER THAT I WILL GIVE HIM SHALL NEVER, NO NEVER, BE THIRSTY ANY MORE. BUT THE WATER THAT I WILL GIVE HIM SHALL BECOME A SPRING OF WATER WELLING UP (FLOWING, BUBBLING) [CONTINUALLY] WITHIN HIM UNTO (INTO, FOR) ETERNAL LIFE” (John 4:14 AMP). “HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME [WHO CLEAVES TO AND TRUSTS IN AND RELIES ON ME] AS THE SCRIPTURE HAS SAID, FROM HIS INNERMOST BEING SHALL FLOW [CONTINUOUSLY] SPRINGS AND RIVERS OF LIVING WATER” (John 7:38 AMP). Later, Jesus would even Challenge His Disciples to Witness in Samaria: “But You Shall Receive Power (Ability, Efficiency, and Might) When the Holy Spirit Has Come Upon You, And You Shall Be MY WITNESSES In Jerusalem and All Judea AND SAMARIA and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth” (Acts 1:8 AMP). And Philip, a Deacon, Would Even Open a Mission in Samaria: “Philip [the deacon, not the apostle] WENT DOWN TO THE CITY OF SAMARIA and Proclaimed the Christ (the Messiah) to them [the people];” (Acts 8:5 AMP). Yet the Good News of Jesus Christ Was FIRST PROCLAIMED TO THE PEOPLE OF SAMARIA THROUGH THE TESTIMONY OF A SINFUL, IMMORAL WOMAN WHO DRANK THE OFFERED LIVING WATER AND WAS FORGIVEN, CLEANSED, AND RENEWED, NEVER AGAIN TO THIRST! PEOPLE OF GOD, NEVER WATER DOWN YOUR WITNESS, BECAUSE OF WHERE A PERSON COMES FROM OR WHAT THEY’VE DONE IN THEIR PAST! GOD CAN AND WILL SAVE ANYONE! The Text In Full: “Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee. TO GET THERE, HE HAD TO PASS THROUGH SAMARIA. He came into SYCHAR, A SAMARITAN VILLAGE that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. IT WAS NOON. A WOMAN, A SAMARITAN, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.) The SAMARITAN WOMAN, taken aback, asked, “How come you, A JEW, are asking me, A SAMARITAN WOMAN, for a drink?” (JEWS IN THOSE DAYS WOULDN’T BE CAUGHT DEAD TALKING TO SAMARITANS.) Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, LIVING WATER.” The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘LIVING WATER’? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?” Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. ANYONE WHO DRINKS THE WATER I GIVE WILL NEVER THIRST—NOT EVER. THE WATER I GIVE WILL BE AN ARTESIAN SPRING WITHIN,GUSHING FOUNTAINS OF ENDLESS LIFE.” The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!” He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.” “I have no husband,” she said. “That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ YOU’VE HAD FIVE HUSBANDS, AND THE MAN YOU’RE LIVING WITH NOW ISN’T EVEN YOUR HUSBAND. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.” “Oh, so you’re a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?” “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—WHEN WHAT YOU’RE CALLED WILL NOT MATTER AND WHERE YOU WORSHIP WILL NOT MATTER. “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.” The woman said, “I don’t know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we’ll get the whole story.” “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.” Just then his disciples came back. THEY WERE SHOCKED. THEY COULDN’T BELIEVE HE WAS TALKING WITH THAT KIND OF A WOMAN. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it. The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. BACK IN THE VILLAGE SHE TOLD THE PEOPLE, “COME AND SEE A MAN WHO KNEW ALL ABOUT THE THINGS I DID, WHO KNOWS ME INSIDE AND OUT. Do you think this could be the Messiah?” AND THEY WENT OUT TO SEE FOR THEMSELVES. In the meantime, the disciples pressed him, “Rabbi, eat. Aren’t you going to eat?” He told them, “I have food to eat you know nothing about.” The disciples were puzzled. “Who could have brought him food?” Jesus said, “The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. As you look around right now, wouldn’t you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I’m telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you. THESE SAMARITAN FIELDS ARE RIPE. IT’S HARVEST TIME! “The Harvester isn’t waiting. He’s taking his pay, gathering in this grain that’s ripe for eternal life. Now the Sower is arm in arm with the Harvester, triumphant. That’s the truth of the saying, ‘This one sows, that one harvests.’ I sent you to harvest a field you never worked. Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others.” MANY OF THE SAMARITANS FROM THAT VILLAGE COMMITTED THEMSELVES TO HIM BECAUSE OF THE WOMAN’S WITNESS: “HE KNEW ALL ABOUT THE THINGS I DID. HE KNOWS ME INSIDE AND OUT!” They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, “We’re no longer taking this on your say-so. We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!” (John 4:1-42 MSG)
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 08:52:03 +0000
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