How it all began…
The Samaritan woman’s encounter with Jesus at Jacob’s well is one of the more talked about biblical stories because it details what happens when any person meets Jesus. We can follow this encounter in John 4: 4-42
Here we have a person (much like you and me) who was living her life the way that she wanted to, going about her everyday chores and doing as much of what she wanted to do as her surroundings allowed.
Samaria at one time had been the city of the kings of Israel but had fallen during Israel’s captivity. The city was then inhabited by those few Israelites that remained and many refugees from other cities. This occurrence resulted in a sort of miscegenation or mixture of the races. The people in Samaria at this time were not regarded as “the seed of Abraham which explains why the woman was shocked that Jesus even spoke to her. But isn’t that just like our Savior. He comes to meet us at the point of our need.
Let’s look at the woman for a minute. She is a woman who by many standards we would term, “Loose”. She had been with different men and the one she was with when she met Jesus was not her husband. And Jesus told her flat out, “the one you’re with now isn’t yours!!!” Now, just that little part makes me want to preach!! Jesus is our greatest example and He knew when to speak and when not to speak. He didn’t mix words and we should follow His lead today. Stop hemming and hawing around sin. Whether it’s in your family or friends lives, we owe them the truth. We should love them too much to let them die and go to hell. Tell them. Do it in love but still tell them!
Now, what I liked most about this woman is that when Jesus told her, she didn’t fight Him. She didn’t try to act as if she wasn’t doing what He said. You know that’s what some of us do, we make a lot of noise because it was said. Not because it wasn’t true.
She acknowledged her sin and that opened the door for her to be able to receive the help He had to give. She answered Him and said, “Sir, I perceive you are a prophet”.
Then just like most of us she wanted to let Him know that she knew a little something about the matter. “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain but you Jews say that in the city of Jerusalem is where we should come to worship."
Jesus didn’t mind the fact that she challenged Him. He didn’t get an attitude. He gave her more truth. Again He didn’t side step the issue at hand. Permit me to paraphrase:
“Don’t get hung up on where to worship because the time is coming when that will change as well. But in fact, you don’t know what you worship because salvation is of the Jews.” Here they are having a true exchange. I can imagine that as they were talking, that the fallow ground of her heart was being broken and washed with the water of the Word. So much so that when she left Him, she felt compelled to go and tell others. And it was in her going to tell others that they too were compelled to come, hear, and believe on the Christ.
Here we have a person (much like you and me) who was living her life the way that she wanted to, going about her everyday chores and doing as much of what she wanted to do as her surroundings allowed.
Samaria at one time had been the city of the kings of Israel but had fallen during Israel’s captivity. The city was then inhabited by those few Israelites that remained and many refugees from other cities. This occurrence resulted in a sort of miscegenation or mixture of the races. The people in Samaria at this time were not regarded as “the seed of Abraham which explains why the woman was shocked that Jesus even spoke to her. But isn’t that just like our Savior. He comes to meet us at the point of our need.
Let’s look at the woman for a minute. She is a woman who by many standards we would term, “Loose”. She had been with different men and the one she was with when she met Jesus was not her husband. And Jesus told her flat out, “the one you’re with now isn’t yours!!!” Now, just that little part makes me want to preach!! Jesus is our greatest example and He knew when to speak and when not to speak. He didn’t mix words and we should follow His lead today. Stop hemming and hawing around sin. Whether it’s in your family or friends lives, we owe them the truth. We should love them too much to let them die and go to hell. Tell them. Do it in love but still tell them!
Now, what I liked most about this woman is that when Jesus told her, she didn’t fight Him. She didn’t try to act as if she wasn’t doing what He said. You know that’s what some of us do, we make a lot of noise because it was said. Not because it wasn’t true.
She acknowledged her sin and that opened the door for her to be able to receive the help He had to give. She answered Him and said, “Sir, I perceive you are a prophet”.
Then just like most of us she wanted to let Him know that she knew a little something about the matter. “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain but you Jews say that in the city of Jerusalem is where we should come to worship."
Jesus didn’t mind the fact that she challenged Him. He didn’t get an attitude. He gave her more truth. Again He didn’t side step the issue at hand. Permit me to paraphrase:
“Don’t get hung up on where to worship because the time is coming when that will change as well. But in fact, you don’t know what you worship because salvation is of the Jews.” Here they are having a true exchange. I can imagine that as they were talking, that the fallow ground of her heart was being broken and washed with the water of the Word. So much so that when she left Him, she felt compelled to go and tell others. And it was in her going to tell others that they too were compelled to come, hear, and believe on the Christ.