Tag: the Samaritan woman

Categories
Uncategorized

Harvest Time

This is the fourth blog post on the Samaritan woman. If you haven’t had the chance yet to read the other posts, I would highly encourage you to check them out. It will better set the stage for what I’m about to share.

“The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, He will explain everything.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you – I am He.” (John 4:25-26). I’m sure that the Samaritan woman was floored at Jesus’s response. The long awaited Messiah was standing right in front of her! Though, she isn’t fully convinced He is the Messiah yet.

Now the disciples return from getting food. They are surprised that Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman. They don’t question Him though they are curious.

The woman rushes back to town and leaves her water jug. She says to others, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” The people are interested and make their way to the well.

The disciples are worried about Jesus not eating. Jesus responds, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” They don’t understand and think someone must have brought Jesus food. Jesus said, My food is to the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.” I love Jesus’s response! What nourishes and gives Jesus life is doing God’s will. Think about your own life for a moment. Could you say the same thing about yourself? Do you find joy and life in following after God’s will?

Then Jesus speaks of the harvest. He tells his disciples to open their eyes and take a look at the fields. “They are ripe for harvest! Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.”(vs.36). The harvest of souls was right before the disciples eyes. Many of the Samaritans came to believe and trust in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony.

What testimony do you have to share with others? Jesus has done some pretty incredible things in your life as he has mine. Take some time to write it down today and share it with someone else. You never know the eternal impact it could have on another life. Let’s be faithful to share our story with others and see what the Lord might do!

“Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for the harvest!”(vs.35)

Categories
Uncategorized

Spirit and In Truth

This is the third installment about the woman at the well. So if you haven’t had the chance to read the previous posts, I’d encourage you to check them out.

The Samaritan woman said to Jesus, “Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place we must worship is in Jerusalem.” The Samaritans built a temple on top of Mount Gezirim. This was considered to be a holy site of theirs. They did this because they believed this was the place where Abraham sacrificed Issac. This wasn’t based on fact though. Jesus responds and lets her know that it won’t matter in the future where people worship. He then makes a decisive statement. “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation in from the Jews.”(John 4:22)

Then we get to the passage above. “Yet a time is coming and has now come when true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”(vs.23) We don’t have to be sitting in a church or be in a holy place to worship God. We can worship Him anywhere. Why? Because the Holy Spirit lives inside us as believers. The temple of God is found in our heart. Since Covid began and churches stopped meeting on a weekly basis, this has caused me to miss corporate worship. Though, my worship for the Lord has grown tremendously. I find myself singing to God as I take my dog Daisy for a walk. Or I sing to God as I do chores around the house. I’ve also begun including worship in my daily times with God which has only increased the richness of my time in His presence.

Jesus goes on to say, “God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.”(vs.24) What does it mean that God is spirit? “God is a spirit, an infinite and eternal mind, an intelligent being, immaterial, invisible, and incorruptible.”(Matthew Henry) We must worship God in truth. We need to sing out truth about who God is, our infinite and eternal one. We need to declare who He is to ourselves and others.

Today I’d like you to think about how and when you worship God. Jot it down and then ask God how you can know Him more intimately through worship. “Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped.” (Jack Hayford) Let’s worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

Categories
Uncategorized

At The Well

Jesus offered the Samaritan woman living water. “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.” (John 4:10) The woman is confused because she is thinking Jesus is speaking of the well water. All she can think about is that He has nothing from which to draw the water. Then she says something intriguing. “Are you greater than our Father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself.”(vs.12) She acknowledged where the well came from and asks, ‘Are you greater than Jacob who built the well?’

Jesus has a wonderful response to her question. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of living water.” (vs. 13) Jesus is the true source of living water. True everlasting life flows from Him! His water quenches our thirsty and dry spirits.

Now Jesus has the Samaritan women’s attention. She desired this water but was still confused and thought it was literal well water. Jesus then tells her to go get her husband. She responds and says she has no husband. Then Jesus begins to tell her about personal life. “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you have is not your husband. What you said is quite true.” (vs. 18) Jesus knows us so intimately. We don’t need to tell him about the details of our lives because he already knows them.

What are you thirsting for in your life? Is it greater intimacy with the Father? Or are you thirsting after worldly fulfillment like the Samaritan woman? She was searching for love in all the wrong places as the song goes. I think she thought if I could just find a man to love me, my longings would be satisfied.

The only one who can curb our insatiable thirst is Jesus. Take time to talk to Him today about your longings and desires. Let His living water wash over and fill you today to overflowing. He loves you dear one and desires that you thirst no more!

Categories
Uncategorized

Living Water

Jesus and his disciples were on a journey from Judea to Galilee. He needed to pass through Samaria to get there. He ended up in a city called Sychar, near a portion of ground that Jacob gave to Joseph. Jacob’s well was there too. Jesus was tired from his journey and decided to sit at the well. At about 12PM a Samaritan women came with her water jug to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” The disciples were not with him at the time. They had gone into town to buy food.

The woman was surprised that Jesus asked her, a Samaritan, for a drink. You see, Jews and Samaritans did not associate with one another. Samaritans were outcasts because they were half breeds. Jesus responds in a powerful way. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.”

Jesus took his disciples into Samaritan territory because he had someone special to meet. This Samaritan woman. We will find out tomorrow that he knew all about her. How wonderful is that?!

This woman is completely taken aback when Jesus asks for water. The Samaritans intermarried with foreigners and therefore were despised by the Orthodox Jews. She thought he would never ask her for a drink of water. Something I learned today was, “the giving and receiving of water was a covenant of hospitality.” This was a way to show the value and worth of another individual.

Jesus surprises the woman again and offers something called living water to her. She doesn’t yet know this but it is, “living water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14) The living water he is offering her is eternal life. This will quench her spiritual thirst forever!

Have you ever been really physically thirsty at the verge of dehydration? What quenched your thirst at that time? I have and nothing but a cold glass of water would do. Now think of a time you have been spiritually thirsty. You were are out there looking for meaning, purpose, and love. Jesus is the one that will satisfy our thirsty longings. Take some time today thank Jesus for the living water he provides. He is all that we need and the only one who will truly satisfy!