The Woman of Samaria: Part I (John 4:1-42)

He was doing what very few people would do in His day when He went to Samaria because Samaria had become a melting pot, especially in the centuries gone by when it had been dominated by other. It had fallen around 722 B.C. and after that pagans and pagan religions had infiltrated until it was just a melting pot of all kinds of religions and peoples. It was the ghetto of Palestine in the time of Jesus. But He went right to the heart of it.

At mid-day as He traveled, having walked a long distance, He was tired and wearied. He sat at Jacob’s well waiting for somebody who would come to draw water so He could get a drink because the well shaft was deep and He couldn’t get water out of it. He had nothing to draw with. His disciples went into town to buy some food for lunch.

A woman came at the noon hour. That is a very unusual time because most of the women came out early in the morning before the heat of the day. They gathered around the well and spent most of their time around the well – you know, exchanging greetings and praying! No, really, they – well, you knew what they did. They drew water and talked. They caught up with everything that had been said. The only thing is, this woman didn’t feel free to come with them. She was some sort of an outcast and was earmarked as a woman of very ill repute, being married several times, and now living in open sin. So she just was not welcome at the normal time to come and draw water.

She was the last person that we would expect Jesus to approach. She was the last one that we would expect Him to go into a town and start a church with for instance. But you know the Lord has a way of doing things at the most unexpected time and the most unexpected place with the most unexpected people and turning it into something rich and beautiful and wonderful.
He has a way of taking things that are weak and turning them into strengths and He has a way of taking things that just simply don’t count and turning them into pluses. He even takes zeros and put them on the plus side. He can take the things that are naught,
the nothings, and bring to naught the things that are. He knows how to do that.
So He started to talk with this woman when she came to draw water. I guess before He talked to her, in His heart and mind He understood her and the awful hang-ups. If He got through to her heart and mind He’d have to cross all kinds of barriers. She had built up a lifetime of sinfulness, and that very barrier of sinfulness, that unruly sinfulness that governs a lot of people’s lives, keeps a lot of people from getting to Jesus Christ and learning the truth. They get programmed to think in terms of iniquity and evil. She had racial barriers and religious barriers. Any one of them is enough, but all these were packaged in this one woman who came and drew at the noon hour.

I want to tell you, friend, there’s almost nothing about this old time salvation – even about being born again or being forgiven, about being a child of God or being filled with the Spirit – that you can comprehend and understand with the human reasoning. You have look at Jesus Christ, and reach out by faith to look at it by faith, as you and accept it. Then when you have experienced it – then, even though it’s joy unspeakable and you can’t explain it – yet you know, you know, what it is all about.
That’s what holds a lot of people back from a lot of spiritual things that they could have. They want understanding first. They want to figure it out in their own minds first instead of just simply stepping out by faith and saying, “Lord, I don’t have to understand. I just want you to touch me!”

But both of these people asked, “How can this be?” But Jesus answered them both in the same way. With Nicodemus He said the wind blows – that’s the way the Spirit works. With this woman He said the water flows – that’s the way the Spirit works. Oh, hallelujah!
I wish somehow we could fasten on to just some pla in, simple, down to earth demonstrations like that. Just as the wind blows–we don’t know where it comes or where it goes – that’s how the Spirit works. Just as water flows in a clear bubbling spring – thank God – the Holy Spirit of God works and moves and touches and refreshes lives.
You don’t have to understand why. I sometimes marvel, thinking of Simon Peter when he walked into the house of Cornelius and there was a group of God fearers. They knew about God – a little bit about His Word. They knew nothing about Pentecost, and yet he began to preach to them Jesus and the Spirit fell on them because they had faith in the Son of God. Hallelujah! You don’t need to understand everything. Have faith in Jesus and let God touch you with His holy presence and power. That’s how it comes.

In each case He also said, “I am the source of the power, the Spirit, the life, the living water.” Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus is always identifying Himself with what He gives. Jesus is what He gives. He gives bread, but He is the Bread of life. He gives light, but He is the Light of the world so that if you get anything from God, you have to take Him first.
A lot of people want religious blessings. A lot of people want what the Word offers, but they don’t want to take Jesus Christ as Savior, Lord and Master. But if you get His healing, you have to take Him, the Healer. If you get His love, you have to take Him who is the source of love.

Even though somewhat confused, the woman responded perhaps in a more positive way than even Nicodemus did. Her response to what Jesus said shows her going through different levels of understanding and enlightenment until she rises at the very top of spiritual understanding and revelation and faith in Jesus Christ.
In the first thing she said to Him she’s talking to Him just on the level of His being a Jew. She practically spits it in His face. A little later on, she’s calling Him a prophet because He seems to have the word of knowledge. A little later on He’s the Christ. Finally, toward the end of the episode He is being called the Savior of the world.

All through the book of John there are these glorious and wonderful illustrations where people rise step by step to various levels of faith and understanding. I want to tell you today, the Lord is ready to lead you step by step. You may be struggling. You may be in conflict. There may be trouble in your heart. But I want to tell you, Jesus Christ the Son of God will come to you.
Just as Jesus needed to go through Samaria, He needs to go to where you are today. He will take you by the hand and He will touch you by divine life and power. He will lift you up and step-by-step He will help you climb the stairway of divine revelation and understanding that brings faith and power. Hallelujah!