Jesus changed a woman, and her whole city
Daily Scripture
John 4:13-26, 39-42
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty and will never need to come here to draw water!”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, get your husband, and come back here.”
17 The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.”
“You are right to say, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus answered. 18 “You’ve had five husbands, and the man you are with now isn’t your husband. You’ve spoken the truth.”
19 The woman said, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you and your people say that it is necessary to worship in Jerusalem.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you and your people will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You and your people worship what you don’t know; we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the time is coming—and is here!—when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. The Father looks for those who worship him this way. 24 God is spirit, and it is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one who is called the Christ. When he comes, he will teach everything to us.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I Am—the one who speaks with you” [Or It is I, the one who speaks with you.]
39 Many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s word when she testified, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of his word, 42 and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is truly the savior of the world.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
(Click here to see this story as presented in the masterful 2003 film “The Gospel of John,” in which every word spoken was from the Good News Bible’s translation of John’s gospel.)
John wrote about Jesus keeping a “divine appointment” to meet a woman even the Samaritans no doubt shunned. He offered her “living water” (in common usage, the term meant fresh, clean water, not stagnant water that had stood in a cistern). Her response made her the first witness to Jesus (and a very unexpected, unlikely one) in John’s story. What can this story teach us about Jesus’ way of transforming human lives?
-
Jesus met the Samaritan woman at a well at midday. She must have been an outcast, not welcome by the socially acceptable women who collected water in the morning to avoid the desert heat. The woman had many regrets and poor decisions. Yet her past mistakes didn’t keep her from experiencing the transforming power of God’s grace. What do you regret in your past, big or small? No matter your past, thank God for the grace that can overcome and transform your future.
-
Seeing someone else’s life transformed gives people hope for their own. The Samaritans saw the woman’s transformation, and then they went running for it themselves. Verse 42 says, “And they told the woman, ‘We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.’” How has Jesus transformed your life? How might you bring hope to people in your life by sharing what Jesus has done in yours?
Prayer
Loving Lord, thank you for loving me regardless of how often I fall short. Thank you for transforming my life and give me the courage to share your transforming power with others. Amen.
GPS Insights
Jennifer Creagar
Jennifer Creagar serves as the Community Assistance Coordination Director in Resurrection's Congregational Care Ministry. She is married and loves spending time with her family, and she enjoys writing and photography.
It’s a lot of fun when you get to write about your favorite story about Jesus encountering someone and changing lives. The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman drawing water at the well in the heat of the desert day touches my heart in so many ways. First, here is Jesus, ignoring convention, prejudice, and the rules of behavior in the time and place where he lived. Jesus doesn’t care about those rules that were meant to keep people apart, foster distrust and even hatred, passing judgement on others you didn’t even know. The Samaritans were “those people” to the Jews, and a woman alone, especially one carrying the burden of a past that no one approved of, was not someone he would ever be expected or encouraged to talk to. But Jesus didn’t care, and he didn’t just make small talk with this lonely, outcast Samaritan woman. He asked her questions, listened to her answers, and then told her things he had no way of knowing, except for the fact that he could see into her heart and soul. He let her know that he saw her, knew about her, and wanted to welcome her into his kingdom, despite her different background and questionable personal life. It may have been the first time in her life that anyone really saw her and cared about her–the real woman, not the woman who had five husbands and wasn’t married to the man she lived with now. Not the outcast woman that the other women wouldn’t even speak to. He saw her and offered her the opportunity to know and worship God in spirit and truth.
I love to picture her running to the village. How different she must have looked from the woman they knew–a woman who probably avoided eye contact, stood in the shadows, and went to the well at the hottest part of the day to avoid the scorn of those who judged her. But now, this woman was alive and glowing, telling everyone she met about her encounter with the Messiah, Jesus, who knew all about her and offered her living water. She was so transformed that others came to seek him, invite him into their homes, and hearts, and lives.
Jesus sees you and me, too. He knows what we’ve done, even the things that haunt us and make us want to hide. He knows about our mistakes, our loneliness, our fears. He stands before us every minute of every day offering us living water to satisfy all our thirsts for love, and peace, and forgiveness. He can make us shine and be excited to tell others what he’s done for us. He can transform other people because of the way we celebrate and talk about what he’s done for us.
Of course, showing ourselves as redeemed sinners means we have to open up and admit to ourselves and others that we aren’t perfect. We have to admit how much we need Jesus, if we are to show others how much Jesus wants to heal them, too. We’ll have to show them our real selves, worshipping God in spirit and truth. When we do, then we’ll see the promises of peace and love and redemption spread.
That unnamed Samaritan woman carried the news about Jesus with the excitement and wonder we should all feel when we encounter him, every day, and reading about her really makes me want to open up and try.
Lord God who sees us and knows us and loves us anyway, thank you for reminding us that you offer us transformation through your love and forgiveness. Help us to run and tell everyone we know, and worship you in spirit and truth. Amen.
