The Samaritan Woman, Jesus and Living Water

The Samaritan woman had not had an easy life. By this point in her life she had already had five husbands. Maybe she was widowed from all five but probably her husbands had given her a bill of divorcement. Either way she had hard times… losing or being rejected by loved ones.

The good news was that at least for a while she had been shiny enough to attract a mate but by this point in her life that shine had faded and she was living with a man and seemingly neither one of them were interested in being married to each other.

Plus she had to walk from the city every day and perhaps several times a day to draw water out of a well and carry it back to her home and cook and care for that man she was living with.

And then as she walked to the well (about noon-time) to get more water her day just got a little worse… a Jew was sitting at the well. Of course she knew the arrogance and condescension of a Jewish man. She prepared herself not to even be acknowledged… not a howdy, not a smile, not even a look of acknowledgment.

And then the Jew spoke… “Give me a drink”. My mother would have said… “what’s the magic word?” Of course not what she expected at all and she asked basically… I thought Jews didn’t talk to Samaritans especially Samaritan women?

Then the Jew said… if you knew who I was you could ask and I would give you “living” water. The Samaritan woman was a little like Nicodemus who took Jesus literally when he was informed that he would need to be born again. She thought he was talking about literal living water. But that’s Jesus always talking with a little mystery.

Ultimately the woman says… okay (Jew) I’ll take some living water.

Then the Jew told her to go get her husband and revealed to her that he knew that she had had 5 husbands and was living now with a man who she was not even married to.

The woman rightfully concluded that (at least minimally) he was a prophet and wanting quickly to be removed from the subject of her marriages changed the subject to the key religious difference between Samaritans and Jews and asked… who is right on the correct place to worship… Samaritans or Jews?

Of course Jesus correctly said the Jews are right and she said I guess we’ll know one day when the Messiah comes (end of discussion) and Jesus said… “I am the Messiah”

Here’s what the woman’s problem was… she didn’t know who Jesus was. She saw a Jew and looked at him through Samaritan colored glasses and Samaritan prejudices. But as she slowly and steadily came to know who she was talking to she could finally see the Jew as Jesus the Messiah.

We have the same problem today. Many think they know who Jesus is because they may have heard a few things about him and yet… never truly experienced him.

I was talking to someone the other day who was brought up in a religious household and has pretty strong opinions about Jesus and Christianity but admitted to me that they had never read the Bible.

Let me suggest this if you haven’t read and understood the Bible than you can’t know Jesus… you’re just like that Samaritan woman who could barely see past the end of her nose (spiritually).

The first step to receiving living water is understanding our unworthiness. The second step is having faith in Jesus.