John 4:5-42
5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
John 4:5-42
This story of Christ and the Samaritan women has always challenged me.
Jesus does not act like the society of His day would have assumed He should. He is intentional in the circumstances and resultant outcomes. This has always challenged my thinking of my own personal everyday encounters. Do I gravitate towards the norms of society or God’s leading more? What factors come into play when I’m engaged or making choices?
This past Sunday we were discussing Acts 11 in Sunday School. In that passage a similar truth is presented to readers. In Acts 11 Luke records Peter has this dream and as a result it is revealed to Him that God tells Him to engage in actions contrary to his view of the world as had been framed by the OT law. Peter struggles at first to completely agree with God but succumbs too God’s leading. I can relate to Peter’s struggles.
What are the social norms that frame your view of the world that are not God? Perhaps you have a real problem with someone of a different political affiliation? Perhaps hate is the default and not heart break when the topic of same sex attraction is heard of or witnessed. Or maybe you feel victimized in someway because of whatever stereotype you perceive yourself to live bound in. Jesus teaches in this passage a clear message. The “food” (v.34) or that which consumes our minds and ultimately our hearts should be saturated in God’s good news and nothing else. Jesus tells us that the free acceptance of us that He offers changes our perspectives.
The encounter the sinful Samaritan women had with Christ did not change her past however it certainly changed her future. This occurred as recorded by John as a result of her “testimony” (v.39) The people of Samaria knew her past however, what convinced them of Christ’s revelation and realness was the change they saw in her. I’m curious what changes and resultant testimony might need changing in our lives today that only an encounter with Christ could produce? Perhaps there is some social norm we need to consider in light of John’s account of Jesus at the well? Perhaps there are tendencies within us not of God we gravitate toward that we need to give and now live in Christ as a living testimony of His power and grace? Remember, Jesus never celebrates the sin rather, in His grace offers to take sin upon Himself in order to free individuals to follow God’s will and not their own.
Who’s influence is reflected in your testimony to the word today?
