The Samaritan Woman and Getting to Know Jesus

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.

Plus she had to walk from the town 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 she had had 5 husbands and was living now with a man who she was not even married to.

The stunned woman rightfully concluded that (at least minimally) the Jew 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… who was right on the correct place to worship… Samaritans or Jews?

She had to be surprised at the Jew’s answer. She expected him to say “Jerusalem” perhaps in a condescending manner but instead he said neither and introduced the concept of worshipping in spirit and truth.

The woman dismissed Jesus by saying… I guess we’ll know one day when the Messiah comes (end of discussion) and then 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 colored prejudices.

But as she came to know Jesus her foregone conclusions and prejudices were shattered.

Many people today are just like that Samaritan woman because they don’t know Jesus. They may be satisfied with the spiritual pablum they are being spoon fed and neglect to do the study necessary to get to know Jesus.

Don’t be married to foregone conclusions like the Samaritan woman was. Investigate Jesus in the scriptures to understand just who he is and then maybe you'll be ready to drink "living water"