The Woman at the Well

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” John 4:25-26 NIV Once upon a time there was a woman, a woman that would be nameless. She had suffered much in her life. She was the ridicule of the community but she had a predestined meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ and her and many other lives were changed forever. How many of us are wounded and need this type of encounter with the Lord for a life changing experience? This story is a powerful reminder of God's grace. The Lord saw through all of the pain and the shame and hard life that this woman had lived. He shocked the woman by knowing all the details of her life. She did not know what to say. He knew every secret and he did not condemn her. I can relate to this woman’s story having a similar back ground myself. During the course of this story we will look at this scripture and I will share the Revelation of the Lord and His wonderful power, mercy and forgiveness that He has shown me that you too can have in your life.

The Woman at the Well John 4:4 Now he (Jesus) 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. 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.” 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.” 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.” 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.” 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.” NIV What a wonderful experience for the woman. Jesus himself, offering her Living Water that she would never be thirsty again. These are the promises that we can have in our lives if we come to the well to drink and drink of the Living Water. Although Jesus had words of knowledge of the woman’s life, He did not condemn her, He only brought up the subject to give credence that He was the Messiah and knew all things. He had the power of the Father and the Holy Spirit and could offer forgiveness and unconditional acceptance in a way that this woman had never known before.

John 4:27-30( NIV) Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 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?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. John 4:39(NIV) Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”

The Lord Jesus doesn’t give us life changing experiences to keep them to ourselves. His miracles and his unconditional love are to be spread to other people’s lives so they can have their own encounter with Him and understand He is the Son of God.

John 4:40-42 (NIV)So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. 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.”