THE WOMAN AT THE WELL
John
4:23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when
the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are
the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
The passage opens with Jesus
seeking a favor on the human level and closes with a supreme claim of Messiah-ship on the spiritual level.
Jesus begins with a natural
need. Water is integral for life. But the human barriers of prejudice directed the
woman in her initial response. Jesus was a Jew and Jews don’t associate with
certain people. Jesus ignores the customs of not associating with Samaritans. Jesus
raises her interest by offering to give her living water that will bubble up
within her. She knew that he had no bucket to draw water, but she wanted this
living water.
Jesus said that first you
must get your husband, implying the water would come next. Jesus brings the
issue to the spiritual level. Was she thirsty? She had five husbands and now
has a sixth man. How disillusioned she was, how disappointed she was, how
restless she was. Could this water satisfy me? Her spirit thirsted for love. The
offer by Christ had gotten her attention. He knew her past. But in order to
receive living water she needed to confess her past.
She tried to throw him off
course with a discussion of worship and its proper place. Jesus brushed away
Jerusalem and the mountain. Worship would be in the temple of the individual.
In spirit and in truth would the true worshipers worship God. She listened and
returned to town. “Could this be the Messiah?” she exclaimed to the people.
Jesus crossed the boundary
of prejudice. He left the region of people who boasted in their privilege. In
the regions beyond he found a human soul, a sinning woman, who had burned
through her life and relationships until only ashes remained. Jesus opened to her
the way to God and to personal fulfillment. He opened the door to true worship
by first dealing with her moral nature (sin) and by satisfying her spiritual
thirst. To Jesus the fields were ripe for harvest. This is the Messiah, the
Savior of the World.