Breaking in, the woman at the well.
Just after Jesus has been visited by Nicodemus, he is traveling and on his way stops at a well in Samaria to rest, while his disciples go to the town for supplies. Its here he meets a Samaritan woman.
The Jews and Samaritans very rarely even talked, and if anything they were almost hostile to one another but Jesus used this fact as an example, and breaks tradition and common protocol by requesting a drink from a Samaritan woman who is drawing water at the well.
As a point of reference the drawing of water was not normally done by ladies of station but by servants or those on the lower levels of society, and it was a common meeting places much like a bar or pub is now.
John 4:7 a woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give
me to drink.
The Samaritan woman replies, and says how could you a Jew ask for a drink from me?
Jesus says if only you knew who offers asks you and the gift you would be asking
me, for living water.
Its at this point that it starts to become clear that the Samaritan and the Jesus are talking
about different worlds. The Samaritan woman is desperately trying to understand why
this Jew is even speaking to her grasp what Jesus is saying but can only see the reality of
her own world, Jesus is talking about the water of life and she is concerned that he
doesn't have a bucket. Jesus is offering her the most precious gift and she is more
concerned with the trappings of her tradition and religion and if Jesus is greater than
Jacob.
The fact is she is blind to what Jesus is talking about; we must be aware that often what
We witness and speak about may seem foolishness to those who do not know Jesus, but
It is simply because they have had that sense dulled to the degree that they can’t even see
It. It’s not necessarily because they think we are strange or peculiar, it’s because they
Cannot see it.
The book of Corinthians says.
2Co 4:4 in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving ones, so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ (who is the image of God) should not dawn on them.
It's a fact that the God of this world Satan, would like all of God's people to remain blind and ignorant of the fact that there is more than can be seen with the eye, and behind the veil of this world there is a spiritual backdrop of heaven and hell that is the true reality.
There's line in a popular film the goes.
"This world has been pulled over your eyes and hides the fact that you were born into bondage as a slave."
Which is exactly the way it is, and that’s what Jesus is talking about. We are born into the bondage of sin that blinds our eyes
There is also another line a little further on in the same film.
“What I am offering you is a choice. Take this red pill, and see how deep this goes or take this blue pill and you will wake up and not even remember that any of this happened.
This is like the choice that Jesus is offering, only its not a film.
Take the red pill, that is colored with the life giving blood of the one who gave his life that you may be free, and have your eyes opened to the truth and the reality.
Or take the blue pill, and walk out of here today, and continue the life you have led in ignorance of what really is.
Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind.
Mat 11:5 the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel proclaimed to them.
and in John
John 9:39 And Jesus said, I have come into this world for judgment, that
They who do not see might see
Jesus continues.
John 4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water
Shall thirst again.
Jesus continues with his analogy, this water. Meaning the water of the world, the
temporary sustenance that does not last and has very little value. The temporary
satiation of our worldly thirsts and passions that grow out of control and dominate our
lives. Like the sailor lost at sea who gets so thirsty that he drinks the sea water, but the
salt in the water makes him thirstier and thirstier until he loses control of his need and it
consumes him.
The water that this world offers will consume us, make no mistake, for all our self
control and discipline, without Jesus we will be totally absorbed into its self will and
totally captured and enslaved by its allure.
John 4:14 but who ever 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.
Jesus then says drink what I offer, then you shall be truly satisfied, and never thirst
Again, infact you will become an everlasting spring. What does a spring do it gathers life
to it and helps to quench the thirst of those around them, and shares the everlasting life.
In a desert a spring is where life is drawn to.
But how does the woman respond...
Give me this water so I do not have to come her any more to do this drawing of water,
and that I may not thirst again. It's like a wall
The next thing Jesus says though almost seems out of context.
John 4:16 Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come here.
Why does Jesus change tact, what made him suddenly change the conversation from
living water and everlasting life to "Go call your husband ".
Jesus does this to break through into her life, he does this to make her consider her own
heart state and condition, without this breaking in, there will be no conviction of sin and
no repentance and salvation. Suddenly the conversation has changed levels and
is now hitting against the woman’s conscience, her pain and guilt. Without this contact
with the woman’s heart the meeting may be forgotten or just regarded as part of the day,
the connection must be made. If we are to effect the people around us and bring them
to the foot of the cross and the saving grace of Jesus we too must break in on their
Hearts, we too must like Jesus did awaken their conscience.
This is the Holy Spirit in action, showing what to say, and how to touch the heart,
1Jo 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
Jesus was anointed, and indeed so are we, above all things the Holy Spirit lives in us for this, the setting free of the captive and the preaching of the Gospel to the poor.
We are anointed to preach the good news.
Anointed means, to have something on us, “ The Spirit of the Lord God “ anointed means to have been marked and empowered for a purpose.
This is what I want us to understand, we have to like Jesus break through into peoples lives. It is good that we have many friends and associates, but on what level? And on what level does this remain.
In the ministry of Jesus we see that he nearly always got through, and if he didn’t he left the place and moved on. But we must break through into people’s lives that surround us, and like Jesus give them the water of everlasting life.
We are called Christians because we carry this anointing power to be a light in the darkness, we must break through so that the blind see and the lost our saved.
In the account of Jesus and the Woman, we can see the Holy Spirit giving Jesus what he needs to capture this woman’s attention.
He says out of the blue, after she says I do not have one.
(John 4:18) for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband. In that you spoke truly.
It is only the Holy Spirit that can do this, and if he did it for Jesus he can do it for you and I.
After this the woman knows whom she is talking to.
And she is concerned now because of the difference between the Samaritans and the Jews, her only point of reference is now is the religion she knows.
But Jesus blows all that away and says to her.
shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to
worship Him.
John 4:24 god is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit
and in truth.
Jesus does not care about where we have been, our creed our color, our religion. His only
Concern is life and life abundantly.
His only concern is to see his Father glorified and the lost come to the throne of grace
And worship the father in Spirit and in truth.
We must beak into the lives of people around us, and open their eyes to the truth then
Give them the way to salvation
This is why Spirit and truth, because religion will always tell us what we do not have, and
how bad we are but will not give the answer and the way out of it.
It is no good making people aware of their failings if we do not also point them to the
way of life and salvation in Jesus Christ.