Our hearts sink too. Five husbands! No wonder she was so comfortable speaking with a strange man. How could any woman survive five husbands? Between warfare, famine, disease, pestilence, and fatal injury, men in those days didn"t have lengthy life spans. Since a woman in that society was doomed to poverty or worse as a widow, it behooved her to keep remarrying.
Oh, but five weddings... Think of all the toaster ovens!
Clearly she wasn"t a young woman, nor had life been kind to her. We can imagine the premature lines on her face, her skin leathered by the sun, her hands dotted with age spots and calluses. We can fathom the hope that was born in her heart five times, only to be crushed again and again, sending her on yet another search for someone to love her, support her, comfort her, and protect her.
Five husbands was one thing. Excessive but not illegal. But living with a sixth man who was not her husband...well, that was fornication. No getting around that.
"What you have just said is quite true." John 4:18 Interesting that Jesus affirmed a second time that she"d spoken the truth. He did not accuse her of lying or twisting the facts. This wasn"t one of those hairsplitting, "it depends on what your definition of "is" is" sort of debates. He was merely pointing out what was true, perhaps to give her the courage to admit what was not true.
So...did she confess her sin? Rend her garments? Reach for sackcloth and ashes? Beg for forgiveness? No way, not this feisty female. She looked Jesus straight in the eye and, denying nothing, offered an astute observation: "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet." John 4:19 Talk about your funny one-liners! This woman was ready for HBO or Showtime with that zinger. It"s almost as laughable as Aaron"s explanation to Moses of why he"d fashioned a golden calf in his brother"s absence: "They gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!"2 Harrrr!
Like Aaron, this woman wasn"t trying to be funny. She was merely grabbing for something, anything, that would divert attention from the sin that"d just been uncovered. I"ve done it myself. Caught with my hand in the cookie jar, as it were, I"ll toss out some line meant to conceal my embarra.s.sment, which usually has the opposite effect-I end up drawing even more attention to my foolishness.
Notice that the Samaritan woman neither denied nor affirmed the Lord"s prophetic word about the six men with whom she"d been intimate. Instead, she cleverly shifted their conversation in a completely different direction.
You"re a prophet, eh? Then let"s talk shop.
"Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." John 4:20 Been there, honey. Before I knew Jesus as my Savior, if someone steered our conversation down a spiritual path, I veered off toward religion. Less personal, more debatable. It"s always easier to talk about church than to talk about Christ.
Jesus had struck a nerve, so the woman reacted by pushing him away using words that divided them ("our fathers" and "you Jews"), concepts that were corporate ("worship") rather than personal, and places that were safely distant ("Jerusalem") rather than frighteningly close. As close as her own soul.
The Lord might have been physically drained, but spiritually he was fully prepared to handle her diversionary tactics.
Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem." John 4:21 Note the strong language. "Believe me, woman." Ooh, I can hear that! Wake up and smell the coffee, sister. Jesus was trying to get her attention. And never mind Jerusalem or Samaria. The Father had another throne of worship in mind altogether: her very human heart.
Even with his own agenda in mind, Jesus listened carefully to her questions and responded to them first.
"You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews." John 4:22 Oh, Lord, you name-dropper! Sneaked the word "salvation" in there and pointed toward your very own name-Jesus, "Jehovah is salvation."
"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." John 4:23 The Father is not the only one who"s in a seeking mode. This Samaritan sister-in-waiting had been watching the horizon herself.
The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming." John 4:25 Aha! The first mention of the Messiah-the Anointed One-and it came from her lips, not his own. Having pointed to the prophecy, she backed off again.
"When he comes, he will explain everything to us." John 4:25 Had she grown weary of all the discourse? Was she suddenly anxious to dismiss both the topic and this stranger who knew too much, who saw too much? "He"ll fill us in when he gets here," she insisted, perhaps thinking that would be the end of it.
Jesus refused to let her off the hook. Instead he did an extraordinary thing: He revealed his calling and his ministry to her.
Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." John 4:26 Wait, Lord! What were you doing? Casting your pearls before swine? She was a...she! And a Samaritan. And a fornicator! And she was...
Thirsty is what she was. Thirsty for the truth.
Jesus saw past her hardened exterior to the parched interior of her soul and "respected her enough to fill her with the living water of faith."3 What a storyteller the apostle John was. At this crucial point in the narrative, he suddenly shifted the spotlight to stage right.
Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" John 4:27 Way to go, fellas. For once the disciples didn"t insert their dusty feet firmly in their mouths. They were surprised, but bless them, they were quiet. Such questions would have ruined everything. A former Bad Girl was about to make the decision of her life.
Did she challenge this stranger who"d called himself-gasp!-the Messiah? Did she shake her water pot at his followers and label them fools?
No, she did not. She believed. Believed! Having made such a leap of faith, she abandoned her search for plain water.
Then, leaving her water jar... John 4:28 Like an old wineskin, that earthen jar couldn"t begin to contain the refreshing water she"d just tasted. Did she leave it on purpose or simply forget it in the excitement of the moment? It doesn"t matter. She"d discovered something better, which enabled her to leave her sinful life behind her, forgotten in the dust, and move on.
Filled with living water, she sought other thirsty souls, eager to offer them a drink too.
...the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" John 4:28-29 Yes, it could, woman!
I think of the evangelistic b.u.mper stickers in the midseventies that proclaimed, "I Found It!" This woman must"ve been sporting a dozen of them, stuck all over her tunic. Not only had she found the gospel for herself, she wanted everyone else to find it.
"Come, see..."
Two things happen when we meet the Christ and see him for who he really is: (1) We confess our sins openly, and (2) we share the good news of forgiveness freely. That confession-testimony, if you will-comes effortlessly. It"s the fragrant aroma of a heart set free.
After that, sharing with others the who-what-when-where-why is only natural. We"d call a friend if we discovered retired Beanie Babies on sale, right? Then why wouldn"t we tell the whole world if we found the gift of grace at the best price-free?
People often ask how I can share my past without blushing. No problem. The shame is gone because the sin has been forgiven and (thank you, Lord!) forgotten. As to sharing the gospel, I try not to make a nuisance of myself, but when joy bubbles up, it has to go somewhere.
Sometimes I manage to stifle it though, and then I am ashamed. On a live television appearance one December morning, the co-host turned to me with thirty seconds left in the show and said, "Since you"re an encourager, Liz, who encourages you?"
The door was wide open to share my faith. Did I smile and say, "Jesus encourages me" or "My trust in G.o.d gives me strength"? Oh, nooo. I was too worried about how that secular media personality might react, too concerned that I might look like some religious nut to the viewers.
Good grief, Liz, you are a religious nut! Why fight it?
Anytime I get my eyes off Christ and focus on myself, I"m in trouble. I drove home that gray winter morning, grieved and despondent, vowing I wouldn"t ignore my next opportunity to gently, firmly honor G.o.d publicly.
The woman at the well didn"t wait for a door to swing open; she kicked it down herself. "Come, see..." Why did the men of her city listen to her, a woman with a shady lifestyle? Simple: She had seen the Christ. Now the people of Sychar saw the Christ in her.
A changed life gets people"s attention every time.
They came out of the town and made their way toward him. John 4:30 Here they came, a little knot of people, expectant, even apprehensive. All their lives they had heard the centuries-old prophecies about the Messiah. Was it really him? What did he look like, sound like, act like? And what was he doing in their neighborhood?
Good old John wove his story well, leaving those questions unanswered to spin the camera back to Jacob"s well, where Jesus and his disciples were discussing lunch.
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." John 4:31 They"d gone to town for food, remember? I wonder if they bothered to mention to folks that the Messiah they"d all been waiting generations to meet was sitting by their well, in their very midst. Nah. Too busy with the menu.
It doesn"t say so in the text, but I think I heard Jesus let out a big sigh of resignation here.
But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." John 4:32 The Lord was at it again, baiting them with a tantalizing mystery, using their physical appet.i.tes to teach them about spiritual hunger. With the woman it was water; with his followers, it was food.
Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" John 4:33 Oh, puh-leese! Guys, you"re the disciples. You"re supposed to pick up on this stuff. We"ll cut the woman some slack-she didn"t know his ident.i.ty yet-but you of all people should"ve known that Jesus meant something other than tacos and refried beans.
"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." John 4:34 At this teachable moment, the Lord segued into a lesson on reaping and sowing and the fields being ripe for harvest. I can see the disciples as they struggled for a theological toehold, wondering if they should head back into town to buy hayseed, hoes, and fertilizer-bless their befuddled hearts.
Five verses later the camera suddenly shifts back to the seeking Samaritans, so abruptly that one almost wonders if something hit the cutting-room floor. Except you"d be hard-pressed to find a better example of reaping what you sow. Jesus sowed the seeds of faith in this woman and watered them thoroughly (sorry, couldn"t resist). The harvest that followed was bountiful.
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman"s testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." John 4:39 Another writer said it best: "The woman herself, then, becomes a teacher."4 The Samaritan woman taught not with books but with her life. Her faith couldn"t be contained. It flowed through every crack and crevice of her being.
Her neighbors, who knew her best, were utterly convinced she"d encountered the Messiah. Now they wanted to hear from the man himself.
So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. John 4:40-41 How our sister must have loved being part of that two-day revival meeting in Sychar! She was no longer treated as an outcast; she was part of the community. She was no longer seen as a foolish female; she was a wise woman. Hadn"t she been the first to meet the Messiah? Hadn"t she cared enough to include others in the excitement?
They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." John 4:42 Her neighbors weren"t being critical. Rather, they were confirming her original testimony: "You were right! He"s everything you said he was and more."
The camera crew departed with Jesus for Galilee, so we"re left wondering what happened next. My guess is, our woman evangelist won the heart of her man for the Lord and married him. No doubt everyone went home to share stories and search the Law and the Prophets to look for clues that pointed to the man they"d just met.
Whatever the story line, of this we can be sure: The woman with no name left behind not only her discarded water pot, but her shame as well, never to embrace it again.
What Lessons Can We Learn
from the Woman at the Well?
Never be afraid to ask questions.
The Samaritan woman wasn"t shy about pressing for answers and didn"t hesitate to ask for clarification. Sometimes we"re afraid to wade into theological waters with someone more knowledgeable than we are for fear we"ll ask the wrong questions or appear foolish. Take the risk. Find out what you need to know. If the Lord has provided a teacher, be a willing student. If she hadn"t asked all her questions about living water, the woman at the well would have gone home with nothing but a pot full of lifeless liquid and a dozen unanswered questions burning in her heart.
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask G.o.d, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5 Not lying isn"t the same as telling the truth.
The Lord knows us intimately, just as Jesus knew everything about this woman. She didn"t confess her s.e.xual sins; instead, he had to gently point it out to her. G.o.d used her subterfuge to reveal his true ident.i.ty as prophet and Messiah. For those of us who already know the Lord-and are known by him-such word games are no longer appropriate. Wise is the woman who, when her sins are revealed, confesses, repents, and rejoices in the knowledge that even though Jesus sees through our smoke screen, he loves us completely. It"s our sins that bring us humbly to our knees, exactly where the Lord wants us to be, so he can shower us with grace.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Psalm 32:5 Thirst is a gift from G.o.d.
The woman was eager to find a way around her daily trips to the well, perhaps to avoid the labor and nuisance of it and most certainly to escape the raised eyebrows of her neighbors. Yet it was her thirst that put her in the path of the Messiah. It was her bodily thirst that led to a spiritual quenching. Just as in the physical realm, thirst is a G.o.d-given safety measure that sends us reaching for the nearest gla.s.s of water, in the spiritual realm, thirst is a sign we need a time of refreshment with our only source of living water. Let"s not ignore that thirst...let"s quench it!
My soul thirsts for G.o.d, for the living G.o.d.
When can I go and meet with G.o.d? Psalm 42:2 Water is meant to be shared, not h.o.a.rded.
The Samaritan woman could have tried to keep the good news about the Messiah to herself, conjuring up convincing arguments about how unkind and judgmental the townspeople all were. But the reality was, she couldn"t keep it a secret even if she"d wanted to. Her joy was too full. Her face was too radiant. Her heart was too changed. Sharing her faith with others wasn"t a Monday night missions requirement; it was the unavoidable outpouring of a woman whose spiritual cup suddenly ranneth over.
"I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of G.o.d"s grace." Acts 20:24
Good Girl Thoughts Worth Considering
1. Why is this woman never named in Scripture? Does the omission of her name make her story more or less believable? More or less powerful?
2. Have you ever felt judged by people who aligned themselves with the church? Ever felt "less than"? How did you handle it? Avoidance? Confrontation? Begrudging acceptance? A gentle attempt at reconciliation? Who should reach out first, and why?
3. The woman at the well was thirstier than she realized. What are you "thirsty" for, spiritually? Have you been reaching for something other than the living water Christ offers? Has it quenched your thirst? Why or why not?
4. Jesus spoke first. What prompted the Samaritan woman to respond to this stranger-a man, and a Jew at that? Was it courage? Curiosity? Contempt? Courtesy? Chutzpa? Have you ever been in a similar situation? What does it take to reach beyond our comfort zones?
5. Look back at their conversation. At what point did the woman realize they were talking about more than mere well water? Did she ever seem uncomfortable with the way their discussion was going? What does that say to you?
6. When the disciples arrived, why didn"t they intervene? Look at Jesus" brief teaching on sowing seeds, recorded in John 4:35-38. How does that connect to the Samaritan woman"s story that surrounds it?
7. List all the reasons-whether righteous or selfish-the Samaritan woman hurried back to the town to tell everyone she"d met the Messiah. Have you ever shared your faith with people who know you well? What were your reasons? And what were their responses?
8. What"s the most important lesson you"ve learned from the life-changing story of the unnamed woman at the well?
5.
THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST.
There is a lot to say in her favor,
but the other is more interesting.