15 Jul LOVE = REACH Day 30
John 4:1-30
4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 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.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
27 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?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
With all the recent turmoil taking place in our nation, this story serves as an excellent reminder of how we are to overcome prejudice. How we tackle problems that have existed for many years.
The Jewish people had major prejudice against the Samaritans. In fact, the prejudice was so strong that when they needed to travel North for business they would go completely around Samaria even though it would save them considerable time simply walking or riding through that town.
Jesus decides that his trip to Galilee would not go around Samaria, but straight through the city. The first thing we can learn is that avoiding prejudice or even perceptions of prejudice will get us nowhere. If Jesus had gone around Samaria like his disciples wanted him to the woman at the well would have had a very different life.
After meeting the woman at the well, she was quick to point out the fast that He was not supposed to be associating with “her kind.” Jesus was also quick to dismiss it and began to converse with her, to show her respect, and eventually the love that she was desperately seeking through a series of bad relationships.
I believe we should follow the example of Christ and make it a point to talk with people of every race. If there is even the slightest bit of something in our hearts then we must confess and ask God to remove it. My experience is that prejudice always crumbles when we meet another human being and we get to know them. We soon understand that God has made every person with unique gifts and talents. We learn that people are all the same, they have big hearts, they love, they care and the only difference is the tone of their skin or perhaps a language barrier.
I love the fact that the Woman at the well is nameless. Isn’t that just like Jesus? To love someone in a way that doesn’t embarrass them or draw attention to the problems of their past?
My challenge for you today is to do a survey of your own heart and determine if it needs some repair. Second, pray that we as a nation will begin to go out of our way (like Jesus did) and tackle this problem head-on with fierce love. Each of us must to do our part.