A Divine Appointment

John 4:5-30,39-42 ESV

 

“And he (Jesus Christ) had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.”

 

Jesus having to go through Samaria was not just a matter of convenience or necessity, for not many Jews would go through Samaria, if I am remembering that correctly, for the Samaritans were a mixed race of Jews and Gentiles, I believe (correct me if I am wrong), and so the Jews did not associate with the Samaritans, for they regarded them as unclean. But Jesus had to go through Samaria, I believe, because he had a divine appointment with a woman at a well that day.

 

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

 

Jesus Christ, when he walked this earth, often spoke in parables and in figurative language. But even his disciples had a hard time, sometimes, discerning when he was speaking figuratively and not literally, and so sometimes he had to let them know they were not to take what he said literally but figuratively. It still had a spiritual message to it, but he used symbolism often to describe his spiritual messages. And so this woman was taking him literally, but eventually she did understand his meaning.

 

In the Scriptures, “water” is sometimes used figuratively to describe the Holy Spirit and eternal life and our salvation, and this is how Jesus was using it here. So this “living water” he spoke of was/is the life of the Spirit of God which comes to live within us when we believe in Jesus with genuine faith in him. And it comes through us receiving God’s gift of salvation and eternal life with God, so it is the life of God and our salvation and his word and life eternal, all now as part of our new lives in Christ.

 

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

 

Now, Jesus knew before he even talked with this woman what her situation was, but he didn’t avoid her or snub or shun her. Instead he loved her enough to show her how much he cared about her, and he took time with her to show her the way of salvation and of eternal life with God. And he opened this door with her to speak with her about her life to show her who he was/is and because he knew she would take that message to the men of her city and as a result of her testimony that the men would come and hear Jesus speak and they would believe in Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus didn’t reject women as his messengers, as some men seem to be doing. He didn’t tell women that just because they were women that they could not proclaim the truths of God’s word to all who will listen. And the Scriptures teach that in the last days that God’s sons and daughters will prophesy (proclaim, preach the word of God), and he sent the women at the tomb to go tell his disciples (men) that he had risen from the dead. So, God can use women even to speak his messages to men, not in a position of rule or authority over men, but just as women of God giving out his messages.

 

And when Jesus spoke of a time that was coming when his worshipers would worship him no longer at a specific location but in spirit and in truth, he was speaking of the time after his death and resurrection and ascension to heaven and after he sent his Spirit to indwell his followers. For now, those of us of genuine faith in Christ, have the Spirit of God living within us guiding, directing, and empowering us to be the Lord’s witnesses and to take his gospel to the ends of the earth and to speak his messages to the people.

 

Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him…

 

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

 

Awesome!! So, women, don’t be afraid to speak the Lord’s messages to whoever God leads you to speak. But let those messages be of God and not of the flesh, and honoring to God, and consistent with the word of God and not against God and his word. Speak the truth of God’s word even to men if that is what God leads you to do, but not in a position of authority over men, but just as women of God sharing what God puts on your heart to share. And perhaps, as a result, many men and women will put their trust in Christ.

 

Video Talk:

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Pray, Pray, Pray  

 

An Original Work / September 6, 2012

Based off Various Scriptures

 

Pray that eyes may enlightened be,

So they may know Christ.

Pray that they may Him better know,

Strengthened by His pow’r.

Pray that they may grasp

How wide and long

And high and deep

Is Christ’s love.

Pray that they may be filled

To the fullness of God’s love.

Pray with thanksgiving.

 

Pray for an open door for me,

So I may share Christ.

Pray when the gospel is proclaimed –

Shared with clarity.

Pray words are given me so

I declare the gospel fearlessly.

I pray for you to be active

Sharing your faith, too.

Pray continually.

 

We oft not know for what to pray,

So we ask for help.

The Spirit intercedes for us –

Words cannot express.

Just keep on praying for the saints

With all kinds of requests to God.

Pray they may have faith to

Please their God in ev’ry way.

Pray with joyfulness.

 

https://vimeo.com/119259373