Today during our table study and discussion time we are focusing on the interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well from John 4. What can we learn from how Jesus approached and talked to this woman? What can we learn from her reactions?
Well here is the situation they were in . . .
The shortest route between Jerusalem in the south and Galilee in the north required walking through Samaria. For Jews in Jesus' day, this region was definitely on the "wrong side of the tracks." Samaritans were despised by Jews and did their best to return the compliment. Jesus seemed to go out of his way to challenge these traditional animosities. He showed up at the well of Sychar just as a woman arrived.
Here is what happened . . .
Remarkable. Jesus didn't reveal the secret to King Herod. He didn't request an audience of the Sanhedrin and tell them the news. It wasn't within the colonades of a Roman court that he announced his identity.
No, it was in the shade of a well in a rejected land to an ostracized woman. His eyes must have danced as he whispered the secret.
"I am the Messiah."
The most important phrase in the chapter is one easily overlooked. "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 Christ?""
Don't miss the drama of the moment. Look at her eyes, wide with amazement. Listen to her as she struggles for words. "Y-y-y-you a-a-a-are the M-m-m-messiah!" And watch as she scrambles to her feet, takes one last look at this grinning Nazarene, turns and runs right into the burly chest of Peter. She almost falls, regains her balance, and hotfoots it toward her hometown.
Did you notice what she forgot? She forgot her water jar. She left behind the jug that had caused the sag in her shoulders. She left behind the burden she brought.
Suddenly the shame of the tattered romances disappeared. Suddenly the insignificance of her life was swallowed by the significance of the moment. "God is here! God has come! God cares . . . for me!"
That is why she forgot her water jar. That is why she ran to the city. That is why she grabbed the first person she saw and announced her discovery. "I just talked to a man who knows everything I ever did . . . and he loves me anyway!"
The disciples offered Jesus some food. He refused it - he was too excited! He had just done what he does best. He had taken a life that was drifting and given it direction.
He was exuberant!
"Look!" he announced to the disciples, pointing at the woman who was running to the village. "Vast fields of human souls are ripening all around us, and are ready now for the reaping." (From Six Hours One Friday by Max Lucado)
- How did Jesus demonstrate his love for this woman?
- How did the woman react to her encounter with Jesus?
- In what ways can you identify with the woman in this story?
- What does this story reveal about God's attitude toward sinful people?
- When have you felt God's concern and love for you?
- What keeps you from showing God's love to others?
- How does the woman's response to Jesus inspire you?
When we least expect him in our lives, Jesus shows up. Sometimes when we are actively trying to avoid anything that would remind us that our lives are not as they should be, we find Jesus waiting in the very place we have run to hide. Jesus never forces himself on us, but he does have an uncanny way of interrupting our thoughts and actions with truthful questions and challenging ideas. Think about the times Jesus has showed up in your life, as a way of starting a life-changing episode with you.
For more Bible passages on God's mercy and love for sinners, see Exodus 34:6; Deut 4:31; Luke 1:50; 19:1-10; John 3:16; 8:3-11; Eph 2:1-6
(All of this is from The Gospel of John by Max Lucado)
