Our unnamed hero for today has one of the longest one-on-one conversations we have with Jesus. It all started when Jesus and His disciples left Judaea to go to Galilee. The direct route went through Samaria, and many Jews would circle around it because of their prejudice. Jesus would not do this because He loved all people but also because, as God in the flesh, he knew there was a need there.
When they arrived outside the city, the disciples left Jesus sitting on a well where women would come to fill their water pots while they went to buy food. It was noon, the hottest part of the day, and Jesus was tired and thirsty. In John 4:7, the story begins. “There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.” Several things bring attention to this event. First, a Jewish man sits on a well where the Samaritans come to get water. Many Jews would go around Samaria because the Samaritans were considered half-breed Jews. The Jews were prejudiced. Second, we find a woman coming in the heat of the day. Speculation says that because of her lifestyle, she would not have been welcomed when the other women would come in the evening when it was much cooler. Third, a Jewish man was having a conversation with this woman.
In verse 9 this woman asks Jesus “How is it that thou, being a Jew, asks drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” He answers her in verse 10, “If thou knew the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou would have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” She is a bit confused and still has no idea who she is talking to. She continues the conversation in verses 11 and 12. “Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?”
As the conversation continues, Jesus tells her, “Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” She still does not understand who He is, but she is intrigued by Him and wants whatever He has to give her. She asks Him in verse 15, “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” Still, the woman is thinking on a physical level, but as Jesus responds, she begins to see that He is like no other man she has ever met. He begins to take the conversation in a different direction. This direction reveals to the woman that Jesus is no ordinary man. He knew her, truly knew her and everything about her. This is the conversation in verses 16-26.
John 16-26 “Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.”
Here is where our woman becomes a hero. When this woman comes to know the Messiah, it changes her. She immediately drops her waterpot, goes into the city, and tells the men in verse 29, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” She shows evidence she had met the Master, she is what a true Christian should be. She goes and tells! No longer was she worried about the scorn of others or the inappropriateness of a woman running into the city to talk to men who were not her family or husband. She wanted everyone to know who Jesus was. By doing this, she brought others to Him and opened the door of salvation to the Samaritans, the people that the Jews despised. She proved that salvation was for all who would believe.
In verses 39 – 42, we see the response of the men. John 4:39-42 “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Let’s apply the beautiful picture this story has taught us. God loves everyone. We are not to allow prejudice to infiltrate our thinking. We are to go to everyone and anyone God puts in our path and tell them about Jesus. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. All humanity is lost and doomed for hell without Jesus. We must not allow any barriers to keep us from spreading the word of salvation through Jesus Christ. There is no other way. No one is too sinful, too poor, too rich, too different from us to be saved. We must get out of our comfort zone and our own little circle of people and spread the word. We must be as eager about it as this woman was. It is not enough to know these things; we must do them.
