Kids love transformers. A car folds this way and that way until it becomes a robot. Long before bumble bee and Optimus Prime, God has specialized in transforming. Transformation is one of God’s favorites words. It is his specialty.
Grace Llewelen Smith’s tombstone speaks of one who needed God’s transformation. We do not know who put it there. It contains no birthdate or year, only the epithet, “Sleeps but rests not, loved but was not loved. Tried to please but pleased not. Died as she lived…alone.” She needed transformation.
Today’s hero of the faith was an unlikely hero. She was headed for an end like Grace unless someone stepped in. She would have died alone, until Jesus intervened. Her story is familiar, but today we focus on this woman who has no name. Her story is found in John 4.
The setting is found in verses 4-6.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. [1]
Jesus had to meet this woman. The language in verse four is difficult to translate in English. It is a double positive. One translation says, “Must needs.” He really, really had to go there. He had an appointment by a well at noon and with an entire village. More on that in a little bit.
The location of Jacob’s well in Sychar does not appear too shocking. That is until we realize that it was in the midst of Samaria. The hatred between the Jewish and Samaritan people was pronounced and well known by all the people in Jewish day.
The hatred was deep-seated. It had its origin in 539bc. The mixed-race people who had lived in the land when many Jews were taken into exile in Babylon. When the Jews were set free to rebuild the temple these folks went and offered to help. Their efforts were rejected and they went home isolated and filled with pain.
They eventually began their own religious system, centering their worship on Mt. Gerizim. The spite between the peoples continued through the time of Jesus. Jewish people would prefer to cross the Jordan River twice rather than pass through Samaria.
To our great surprise, we find Jesus sitting by the well outside the village of Sychar. Jacob, one of the grandsons of Abraham, had dug the well. (This story is found in Genesis 33:18. It is noon and Jesus is there. He is exhausted, too tired to even draw his own well.
We will hear about Jesus’ response. This pastor has focused often on this passage, each section holding great truths. As we have examined the stories of women of faith, this writing will focus on the woman herself.’
Notice, first what the woman felt. (Verses 7-10)
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
As she walked to the well the first thing she felt was alone. She is unwelcome to travel to the well with the other women. She has known the heartache of rejection. She had been married five times. Five men, five weddings, five rejections. Since that time, she has had so many rejections. The man she was currently living with had not even shown her the respect of marriage. She is a true outcast.
She also felt tired. Sun blazed o her as she carried the heavy water pot. That forty pound clay jug was so much heavier when it was full and she carried it back to town alone. Every woman despised this daily task. They would go just after dawn or just before dark to minimize the blazing heat. She was not welcome in their groups, so she carried her jug at noon.
She is also surprised. She cannot imagine why he spoke to her. He broke down every social barrier. Barriers of gender and identity are blasted away with his first words. Would he speak to her? Jewish people would not even consider touching the same clay pot as a Samaritan. He broke all those rules, speaking to her and being willing to take a drink. Unfathomable.
The woman is also noticeable for what she heard.
We can learn with her that Jesus cares about her spiritual thirst. (Verses 11-15)
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Jesus engages her in a discussion about water. He quickly elevates a mundane discussion into the spiritual realm. He speaks of the spiritual water that can quench our deepest thirsts. She, focused on physical water, requests a drink.
Once Jesus has her interest he offers her a spiritual drink that would leave her eternally satiated. She is offered what all believers are offered, an eternal drink for the goodness of God. Isaiah had predicted this offer by pointing out God’s words, “Come to me all who are thirst.”
Jesus still offers an everlasting drink. People always get thirst again. God still offerings refreshing drinks. We can have delightful, refreshing drinks from God anytime we are thirst. The physical water will leave us thirsty, again, but God never does.
The second thing she hears is that God knows all about our painful past. (Verses 16-18)
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
Jesus now turns her attention from water to her spiritual needs. She must have squirmed as he mentioned the most painful realities of her life.
She lived outside all the religious and cultural boundaries of her day. She has lost all her youth and beauty. He is not trying to hurt her but reveals that she has deeper need than water.
Jesus knew all about her painful past. He also knows yours. The pain you have felt has touched his heart. He can only meet the greatest needs in your life when those needs are understood. Come to Him with your pain. He knows and he cares.
The third thing she hears from Jesus is that God desired her worship. (Verses 19-24)
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The next part of their discussion arises from the woman. She raises the subject of worship. She hopes that this diversion will take the heat off her spiritual failures.
She raises a central subject for both the Jews and the Samaritans. They differed greatly in the place of worship. The Jews insisted that worship should be conducted at Jerusalem. Having been rejected there, the Samaritans worshipped on Gerizim.
This may have been a diversion, but it allowed Jesus to teach her some amazing truths about worship.
Jesus teachers her that God desires her worship. God wants her worship in that hour. The time is now. We learn that God desires our worship in the same way He desired hers.
Jesus also taught her some truths about the nature of worship. True worship involves our spirit and our minds. We worship him with our minds; our worship must be true. We also worship with our emotions, demanding our Spirit. Worship must touch both realms.
Finally, she heard Jesus gave her a powerful message, that the Messiah was in front of her. (Verses 25-26)
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
The woman is now thinking in the spiritual realm. She speaks of a deep-seated spiritual question in her soul. She heard that a Messiah was coming. How her heart must have yearned for the coming one. Would the Messiah give her life meaning? Would He bring hope? She knows her spiritual needs and holds out hope.
To her surprise, Jesus reveals to her that He is the Messiah. The words must have been shocking. The Spiritual reality that Jesus is the Messiah must have swept over her in joy and peace. Her reaction showed the depth of the change that this one message brought.
He is the Messiah and she believes. Everything changes when we accept this reality. If you believe in Jesus your life will change.
We also can learn a powerful lesson by watching what she did next. (Verses 28-29)
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
Four words describe the woman’s next actions. These words make her a hero. First, she believed. The words of Jesus sank into her heart. He is the Messiah, and that changed everything.
Second, she left. She left her pot there by the well. Suddenly, her water pot was not so important. She found something more in Jesus.
Third, she told. She went back to the very people who had rejected her. Before that moment, every movement was rejected. But something was different when she came back from the well. Her burden was lifted and she wanted to share. They could see the difference and were open.
This is a great lesson for us. When our faith is genuine, we share it.
The astounding result (Verses 39-42)
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 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.”
A revival broke out in Samaria. In Samaria!
The people came streaming out of the city to hear Jesus. The aorist tense word speaks of the reality that they just kept coming out to Jesus. She told them and they came.
He taught them at the well and then went into Samaria and stayed with them. This is utterly amazing. Jesus revealed Himself as Messiah first to a Samaritan woman. A revival breaks out in a Samaritan village.
They revealed a spiritual reality in their words to her. They did not believe it because of what she said. They believed because they heard and knew that He is the Messiah. He is the Savior of the world. An entire Samaritan village experiences salvation because of this one woman.
What lessons do we learn?
- The Power of the Presence of Jesus. Jesus’ presence changes everything. He encounters you right where you are. He went to her. He comes to you.
- The Power of a Convicted Heart. Once you understand who He is you are obligated to do something. What will you leave behind for Him? Who will you share it with?
- The Power of the Messiah at Work. The Messiah uses unusual people. She was the hero in the story. She believed, she shared, and revival came.
[1]All references are from The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011).
