Another Disciple Called - To Truth
Throughout this series I'll be looking at people Jesus called.Some responded immediately and some hesitated.
So far we have considered the disciples who left their nets, Matthew, Nicodemus, Zacchaeus and the rich young ruler.
Today we look at a woman, trapped by years of being discarded and devalued by men.
She's caught in a trap of shame - coming to collect water at the well at the hottest time of the day, hoping no-one else will be there.
Jesus engages her and their conversation meanders from the practicalities of drawing water from the well to living water and her desire for it.
Jesus doesn't ask her to be born again.
He doesn't ask her to sell her stuff.
He doesn't ask her to serve Him lunch.
He doesn't ask her to leave her job and follow Him.
He does ask her to fetch her husband.
He's asking her to get real - and she does.
Then He expresses her pain: She's been discarded by 5 men and the new one won't even give her his name. Having encountered loving acceptance in spite of her broken truth, the woman asks the spiritual questions that lead her to confirming that He is the Messiah.
What's beautiful is to see what happens next:
- She leaves her water jar at the well - she's leaving her painful past with Jesus.
- She's telling others about Him.
But the results are beautiful.
Read the account below...
| He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "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. What you have just said is quite true." "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that You are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe Me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; We worship what We do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." 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." 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, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" They came out of the town and made their way toward Him. (John4:16-30) |
