March 8 -- John 4:1-26
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” –Jeremiah 2:13 (NIV)

Jesus was traveling through Samaria on the way to Galilee. This was the direct route, but most rabbis and devout Jews avoided Samaria by going around it. The Samaritans were long-time enemies of the Jews and were considered unclean. Stopping next to Jacob’s well, Jesus engaged a woman in conversation—another social taboo, especially for a rabbi. So, the woman was understandably confused when He asked her for a drink.
The woman had come to the well alone, showing that she was an outcast among the women of her town. Wells were the first-century place for socializing when water was drawn in the morning and evening. In a woman’s social life, it was the first-century equivalent of Starbucks. Men did not usually draw water (except for shepherds). If a man was hanging around a well, it could be assumed that he was there to meet a woman, and wells were a common place for betrothals in the Old Testament (see Genesis 24:10-27; Genesis 29:1-11; and Exodus 2:15-22).
After the woman expressed her surprise at Jesus asking her for water, He offered her water that would satisfy her deepest thirst, but the woman still thought He was speaking of physical thirst. “Living water” was a common phrase of the time that meant water not drawn by human hands—water coming up from a spring instead of water from a well or cistern. But Jesus was speaking figuratively of water that would satisfy the woman’s thirst for a right relationship with God.
Even after Jesus tried to explain that the water He gives will lead to “eternal life,” the woman still thought He was speaking of water that would quench her physical thirst, and she asked for it:
“Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water” (v. 15).
At this point in the conversation, Jesus showed her that He knew her sins. His command for her to call her husband was the first culturally expected thing Jesus did because a married woman was not supposed to talk to a stranger without her husband present. But this command shifted the woman’s focus to her sin and need. (Jesus knew it would.) Her reply (“I have no husband”) was a deflection, not a confession. Jesus then revealed that He knew her sin—not by scolding her for it but simply by summarizing the facts of her past: “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband” (vv. 17-18). So, in the space of a short conversation, Jesus revealed both the woman’s need and her true thirst.
Undoubtedly embarrassed, the woman acknowledged that Jesus’ knowledge of her must mean He was a prophet, and in order to turn the conversation away from her sin, she changed the subject to an ongoing theological controversy between Jews and Samaritans. Jesus answered her question but refused to have the conversation derailed. In fact, when the woman expressed faith in the promised Messiah, Jesus revealed His true identity to her!
So, this Samaritan woman, who was an outcast in her own hometown for the way she was living outside of marriage, was one of the first people Jesus told that He was the Messiah and one of the first to be offered salvation through Him. No one is outside the reach of God’s love. In fact, God seeks worshipers (v. 23), not new ways to judge us. He wants to be in relationship with us and to satisfy our deepest thirst, which is for Him!
Notice that Jesus offered the woman living water before He pointed out her sin. God’s salvation is a free gift, so we should be unafraid to have Him point out our sin to us. We can repent, knowing that love and forgiveness has been waiting for us all along.
Consider: What do I think I thirst for in life? Where do I look for satisfaction and happiness? Is there a deeper thirst beneath the things I think I thirst for? Talk to God about this. Ask Him to give you an awareness of your thirst for Him and to lessen your thirst for earthly things. Spend some time with Jesus at the well today.
コメント