John 4:15-19 -- 15 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.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
This journey to follow Jesus, to see Him, and hear Him, has been very eye opening. We are to walk as He walked and in four chapters there has already been quite a bit to pray about and process. Today takes us even deeper.
I've read about Jesus and the woman at the well many times. There's so much packed into this event, but something really jumped out today. Most translations move to a new paragraph after verse fifteen where the woman asks Jesus to give her the living water. However, one of the first steps to genuinely receiving the Living Water from Jesus is for her to realize she has a deeper, more eternal need for it. Jesus had gotten her mind and emotions stirred up but now He goes deeper to her conscience and that means confronting her sin. Not to condemn her but to convict and bring about repentance.
It must've worked because we find in verse seventeen the Samaritan woman's shortest reply since this conversation started. "I have no husband.". Jesus presses on revealing the things they both already knew. Again, not to condemn or because she needed go clean herself up…NO…to open her eyes to why she genuinely needed Jesus, and in that conviction, repent of those ways, to turn from it to Jesus, so that her belief and faith would come to rest in Him.
If there is no conviction of sin, then why would someone think they need Jesus? What benefit is He to someone who doesn't know they need Him or why they need Him? He just becomes a religious add-on we're asking someone to mix into their life. Jesus knew that apart from the woman opening her eyes and understanding deep down why she needed Him, there'd be no real faith or belief. It'd be just another person seeking a temporary drink or sign and miracle.
If there is no repentance from sin, then how can someone run to Him and cling to Him, when they are still facing the world and clinging to their sin? If your hands are full holding onto to something, then you cannot take hold of what someone else is trying to hand you.
So, Christian, if we preach only the love of Jesus, the benefits of Jesus, the miracles of Jesus, the why Jesus is good for you, the sprinkle Jesus in to make YOUR life here the best it can be, and we ignore conviction of sin and repentance, then we have failed to walk like Jesus walked.
Jesus didn't hold back from bringing up sin. Jesus didn't shy away, hide, or try to sugar coat it. Again, He never used it to punch someone in the face with, but in love, to open their eyes. To till the soil of their hearts to genuinely receive the gift He had for them.
Well, we've talked about a lot but there is one thing I want to close with.
John 4:28 -- 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people,
When the Samaritan woman leaves the well to run back and tell everyone about Jesus, she's not holding on to that water jar anymore. Her hands are open and freed up. The whole conversation she's been holding on to the temporary, holding onto and hiding her hurts, her past, and her pain… BUT Jesus shows up, He speaks to her, He offers her what no one else can, He confronts her sin, Her past, Her pain. He cuts through culture, religion, and emotions; to get her mind stirred up and thinking, then He moves to her heart.
Then this isolated, outcast, who came to the well at noon, after all the other women had already been there, runs, hands empty, but heart and mind full to the brim, back to the town to tell everyone about Jesus!
That really hit me deep down, "So the woman left her water jar…".
Here is something from Wiersbe's commentary that sums this up beautifully.
"Why did she leave her waterpot when she hurried into the city? For one thing, she had the living water within and was now satisfied. Also, she intended to come back, and perhaps in the interim, the disciples and Jesus could use the vessel to satisfy their thirst. Gone were the racial barriers and battles that had existed before! They were all one in faith and love!
This woman did not come to faith in Christ immediately. Jesus was patient with her, and in this, He sets a good example for us in our own personal work. Certainly she was the least likely prospect for salvation, yet God used her to win almost an entire village!"
I hope you don't ever take my word on anything and that you would be the Berean to jump in and search the scriptures yourself. Don't miss out on the beauty and power He has waiting for you.
Don't forget, you are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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