John 4:1-26
Tuesday, 31 January 2023
The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” John 4:25-26
We see the encounter of Jesus with the unnamed Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well. It is a unique experience how a Samaritan woman comes to the knowledge of the living water and its source and getting to know about the Messiah, the Savior. This woman seems to have no interest in spiritual things in the beginning, but through a gradual process she came to the point of believing in Him as the promised Messiah. From this episode we learn how to help others come to salvation- through this encounter of Jesus and the Samaritan woman.
The identity of Jesus as Messiah was concealed from his own people, the Jews, but disclosed here openly to this Samaritan woman. Jesus said, “I who speak to you am He”, bluntly without having a second thought—the climax of the discourse! But it would be better to have a detailed study how the reality of life about the lady came to the lime light which led to the point of salvation. That didn’t stop the lady to hide within herself, but she became the messenger of the Gospel and campaigner of the Messiah!
As we study this episode, we observe that Jesus was travelling from Judea to Galilee and He had to pass through Samaria. Normally Jews don’t have any connections with Samaritans; hence they avoid travelling through Samaria as this could defile them, according to their custom and belief. Jesus, himself broke that tradition by:
· choosing to travel through Samaria. He came to a place called Sychar in Samaria and sat near the well in the ground that Jacob gave to Joseph, where this woman from the locality to draw water from the well. He chose to do what others would hardly have dared to do.
· having dialogue with a Samaritan lady which was not permissible according to Jewish custom. Jesus asked her ‘give Me a drink’, the beginning of a conversation that became a startup mode of a total salvation process that entered not only into the books of Gospel, but as historical event that opened the eyes of mankind in leading a wretched sinner to become partaker of eternity with God.
· exposing the lady’s life condition with her past. This has convicted her of her miserable life. Remember it was a one to one dialogue, although the conduct of the lady was not something admirable. Her past was made known to her that suddenly woke her up from the ‘lust of the flesh’ to the verge of repentance of her sinful life. Her inner man was made alive and worked with her spirit that conquered the desires of her flesh – a total reformation.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). This Scripture proved to be real in this woman’s life!
What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought Since Jesus came into my heart; I have light in my soul for which long I have sought, Since Jesus came into my heart.
Refrain: Since Jesus came into my heart, Since Jesus came into my heart; Floods of joy o’er my soul like the sea billows roll, Since Jesus came into my heart. (By Rufus H. McDaniel,1914)
If this song existed at that point of time, this woman would have hummed it in her spirit! What a meaningful and glorious changing experience!
Check/re-dedicate our lives as we read/ pray this Scripture:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24)
Listen: 'Since Jesus came into my heart'