John 4

I was listening to a talk by Camille Fronk Olson while folding laundry yesterday and she was speaking about the woman at the well. One thing she said that hit me that I had never thought about before was how those that are considered the worst sinners always felt more at ease with Jesus than with anyone else.

The woman at the well was one a Samaritan, and two a woman. Just those two facts alone would make her one of the most unclean of the Jewish society. Not only that but Jesus confirms after talking to her awhile that she has had five husbands and now is living with someone that is not her husband. Men didn't usually speak to woman, even their wives in public because of how it looked and the laws at the time. This woman was all alone drawing water from the well in the middle of the day, probably so she would be able to avoid others being there, although it was the hottest and hardest time of the day to do so.

And the Savior came to her to speak with her.

The Savior doesn't start out pronouncing he is the Messiah, or that she needed to repent. He starts by asking for her help in getting a drink of water. Then she asks why and even how he is talking to her when he is a Jew and he knows she's a Samaritan! But he turns her question around to her and says in John 4:10 "If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." In essence he's saying it doesn't matter if you're Jew or Samaritan or American or European, everyone needs to come to Christ and drink his living waters. And it's through me we'll get over these differences that keep us apart.

And this woman realizing him to be someone more than just a man addresses him with a title of authority for the first time and says "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?" She is getting excited thinking that she would maybe never have to draw water from the well again!

Jesus responds in verses 13-14 "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh 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."

The woman answers she would like this, so the Savior tells her to go and get her husband and come back to them. Then the woman said "I have no husband." And Jesus rather than rebuking her says "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 was humble enough to answer the truth. And not try to hide her sins from the Savior. As they continue on in their conversation, she starts becoming more and more converted until finally she comes to the conclusion herself in verse 25 and states "I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." And Jesus answers in 26 "I that speak unto thee am he."

She then left her waterpot and went into the city saying in verse 29 "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" She didn't care what others thought of her now, the Messiah had come, and it says in verse 30 that "Then thy went out of the city, and came unto him." These were Samaritans mind you, coming to listen to a Jewish man proclaiming to be the Savior, and all because of a testimony of a woman that would be considered sinful to the rest of the world.

No wonder many of the Jewish leaders hated Jesus. He wasn't going about his work in any of the avenues they would consider to be holy and right. But the Savior's mission was to save people, and he is willing to save anyone save they have desire and act on what they know and learn to be right.