The Samaritan Woman

Three quarters of chapter 4 of the Gospel according to John is about a nameless woman, known only as the Samaritan woman and her encounter with Jesus Christ. Samaritans were hated by the Jews, thought of as second class, considered to be beneath a Jew to associate with. From this class of people was this woman with even more pitiful place in society. She was married five times and divorced; she was presently living in sin with a man to whom she was not married. She was at the public well to get water at noontime, a time of day when no other women were around. She comes across as a lonely figure as she had no companions with her when she had the encounter with Christ. (In Genesis 24:11-13, we see typically women went to the well to draw water in the evening and usually in groups.)

The amazing thing is that the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the awesome creator described in the book of Revelations chapter one (and other sections of the Bible, in the book of Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel) during his discourse with this nameless woman, he did not blame her for the predicament she was in her life, for her past mistakes, but offered her the gift of life.  Jesus told her, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me and I would give you living water." John 4:16.  This water he offered, he tells her, "... takes away thirst altogether.  It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life."

Next, upon being confronted with the truth about her life, she realizes that she was not standing in front of an ordinary man, rather he must be a prophet of sorts. Her next question I think gives insight in to her personal state - she had been on a personal quest ! Having been a failure in life with five failed marriages to show for trailing her past, her present condition no better than the past, she wanted to know if Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim was the right place to worship God. "Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet.  So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?" John 4:19-20.  It may be that she had prayed, prayed hard, for her "lot in life" to improve, but didn't know why God had not answered her prayers.

During the time of Christ, Jerusalem was the holy city for the Jews and Mount Gerizim for the Samaritans.  Based on her present state in life she may have thought that her prayers had gone unanswered because her place of worshiping God was not right! To her question, Jesus answered, "Believe me, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father here or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know so little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.  For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:21-24. Christ seemed to be telling her that she needn't run helter skelter seeking God, rather for the true seeker of God he was right beside them. God was right beside her where she stood!

Regardless of her lot in life, we also see that she knew of the Messiah, the one called Christ.  She knew he was coming.  She had an expectation that he will have answers for her questions when he came.  For this faith, Jesus revealed himself to her, "I am the Messiah!" John 4:26.  As we continue to read this story, we see that many accepted Jesus as the Messiah through the testimony of this nameless woman. The nameless woman, with no position in society, led many from her village to Christ!

This is who Jesus Christ my Lord is. He accepts those who lack acceptance in society. He engages the society's useless to bring him glory! Apostle Paul wrote, "Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.  And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful.  God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God. God alone made it possible for you to be in Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Christ to be wisdom itself. He is the one who made us acceptable to God. He made us pure and holy and he gave himself to purchase our freedom." 1 Corinthians 1:27-30.

Don't ever give up hope. May God bless you!

Broken Vessels