Picture: Jesus and the Woman With Five Husbands 3TC 111.1
This chapter is based on John 4:1-42.
On the way to Galilee, Jesus traveled through Samaria. It was noon when He reached Jacob’s well. Tired from His journey, He sat down to rest while His disciples went to buy food. 3TC 111.2
Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies. The rabbis said it was lawful to trade with Samaritans in case of necessity, but a Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan nor accept a kindness, not even a morsel of bread or a cup of water. In buying food, the disciples were acting in harmony with the customs of their nation. But it did not enter the thought even of Christ’s disciples to ask a favor of the Samaritans. 3TC 111.3
As Jesus sat by the well, He was faint from hunger and thirst. The journey had been long, and the noonday sun beat down on Him. His thirst increased at the thought of the cool, refreshing water so near, but He had no rope nor water jar, and the well was deep. 3TC 112.1
A woman of Samaria approached, and seeming not to notice His presence, she filled her pitcher with water. As she turned to go, Jesus asked for a drink. No Oriental would withhold such a favor. Offering a drink to the thirsty traveler was a duty so sacred that Arabs would go out of their way to perform it. 3TC 112.2
The Savior was looking to find the key to the woman’s heart, and with the tact that springs from divine love, He asked a favor. Trust awakens trust. The King of heaven came to this outcast woman, asking a service from her. He who made the ocean, who controls the waters of the deep, who opened the springs and channels of the earth, was dependent on a stranger’s kindness for even a drink of water. 3TC 112.3
The woman saw that Jesus was a Jew. In her surprise, she forgot to grant His request, but tried to learn the reason for it. “How is it,” she asked, “that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” 3TC 112.4
Jesus answered, “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.” 3TC 112.5
“Had you asked of Me, I would have given you a drink of the water of everlasting life.” 3TC 112.6
The woman’s light, bantering manner began to change. “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself?” She saw before her only a thirsty traveler. In her mind, she compared Him with Jacob. She was looking backward to the fathers, and forward to the Messiah’s coming, while the Messiah Himself was beside her, and she did not know Him. How many thirsty souls today are close by the Living Fountain, yet looking far away for the Water of Life! 3TC 112.7
Solemnly, earnestly, Jesus said, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” 3TC 113.1
People everywhere are longing for something to fill the unsatisfied need of the soul. Only One can meet that lack—Christ, “the Desire of all nations.” The divine grace that He gives is like living water, purifying and invigorating the whole being. 3TC 113.2
Jesus did not convey the idea that merely one drink of the water of life would be enough. All who taste the love of Christ will continually long for more, but they seek for nothing else. The riches, honors, and pleasures of the world do not attract them. The constant cry of their hearts is, “More of You.” Our Redeemer is an inexhaustible fountain. We may drink, and drink again, and we will always find a fresh supply. 3TC 113.3
Jesus had stirred the woman’s interest and awakened a desire for the gift He had mentioned. “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” 3TC 113.4
Jesus now abruptly turned the conversation. Before this woman could receive the gift He longed to give her, she must come to recognize her sin and her Savior. Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” She answered, “I have no husband.” But the Savior continued, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” 3TC 113.5
The woman trembled. A mysterious hand was turning the pages of her life history. Who was He, that He could read the secrets of her life? Thoughts of eternity came to her, and of the future judgment, when all that is now hidden will be revealed. 3TC 113.6
She tried to change the subject away from this unwelcome direction. “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.” Then, hoping to silence conviction, she turned to points of religious controversy. 3TC 113.7
Patiently Jesus watched for the opportunity to bring the truth home to her heart again. “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,” she said, “and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Just in sight was Mount Gerizim, a subject of dispute between Jews and Samaritans. For many generations, the Samaritans had intermingled with idol worshipers, whose religion gradually contaminated their own. 3TC 114.1
When the temple at Jerusalem was rebuilt in the days of Ezra, the Samaritans wanted to join the Jews in its construction. The Jews refused, and bitter feelings sprang up between the two peoples. The Samaritans built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim. But enemies destroyed their temple, and they seemed to be under a curse. Yet they would not acknowledge the temple at Jerusalem as the house of God nor admit that the religion of the Jews was superior. 3TC 114.2
In answer to the woman, Jesus said, “Believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.” Now Jesus sought to break down the prejudice of this Samaritan against the Jews. God had entrusted great truths of redemption to the Jews, and the Messiah was to appear from among them. 3TC 114.3
Jesus wanted to lift the thoughts of His hearer above controversy. “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 3TC 114.4
Not by seeking a holy mountain or a sacred temple are we brought into communion with heaven. In order to serve God rightly, we must be born of the divine Spirit. This will purify the heart and renew the mind, making us willingly obedient to all His requirements. This is true worship. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s working. Wherever someone reaches out after God, there we may see the Spirit’s working, and God will reveal Himself to that person. 3TC 114.5
As the woman talked with Jesus, she was impressed with His words. As Jesus had spread out her past life before her, she realized her soul’s thirst, which the waters of the well of Sychar could never satisfy. Nothing before had so greatly awakened her to a higher need. Jesus read the secrets of her life, yet she felt that He was her Friend, pitying and loving her. While the purity of His presence condemned her sin, He had spoken no word to denounce her, but had told her of His grace that could renew her life. The question arose in her mind, Could this be the long-looked-for Messiah? She said to Him, “‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’” Jesus answered, “I who speak to you am He.” 3TC 114.6
As the woman heard these words, faith sprang up in her heart. She accepted the wonderful announcement from the lips of the divine Teacher. 3TC 115.1
This woman was in a receptive state of mind. She was interested in the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit had been preparing her to receive more light. Greater understanding on Old Testament prophecies was already flashing into her mind. The water of life that Christ gives to every thirsty soul had begun to spring up in her heart. 3TC 115.2
The plain statement that Christ made to this woman could not have been made to the self-righteous Jews. But what He had withheld from them, and what He later told the disciples to keep secret, He revealed to her. Jesus saw that she would make use of her knowledge in bringing others to share His grace. 3TC 115.3
When the disciples returned from their errand, they were surprised to find their Master speaking with the woman. He had not taken the refreshing drink He had asked for, and He did not stop to eat the food His disciples had brought. When the woman had gone, the disciples urged Him to eat. They saw Him silent, His face beaming with light, and they were afraid to interrupt, but they thought it was their duty to remind Him of His physical needs. Jesus recognized their loving interest and said, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 3TC 115.4
The disciples wondered who could have brought Him food. He explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” To minister to someone hungering and thirsting for truth was more comforting and refreshing to Him than eating or drinking. 3TC 115.5
Our Redeemer hungers for the sympathy and love of those He has purchased with His blood. As the mother watches for a smile of recognition from her little child, which signals the dawning of intelligence, so does Christ watch for the expression of grateful love, which shows that spiritual life is begun in the heart. 3TC 116.1
The woman had been filled with joy as she listened to Christ’s words. Leaving her waterpot, she returned to the city to carry the message to others. She forgot her errand to the well, she forgot the Savior’s thirst, which she had intended to supply. With her heart overflowing with gladness, she hurried to share with others the light she had received. 3TC 116.2
“Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did,” she said to the men of the city. “Could this be the Christ?” There was a new expression on her face, a change in her whole appearance. “They went out of the city and came to Him.” 3TC 116.3
As Jesus still sat by the well, He looked over the fields of grain spread out before Him, their tender green touched by the golden sunlight. Pointing His disciples to the scene, He used it as a symbol: “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” As He spoke, He looked on the groups coming to the well. Here was a harvest ready for the Reaper. 3TC 116.4
“He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true ‘One sows and another reaps.’” Those who receive the gospel are to be His living instruments. One scatters the seed, another gathers the harvest, and both rejoice together in the results of their labor. 3TC 116.5
Jesus said to the disciples, “I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.” The disciples were entering into other people’s labors. An unseen agency had worked silently but effectively to produce the harvest. Christ was about to water the seed with His own blood. His disciples were coworkers with Christ and with holy men of old. By the Spirit’s outpouring at Pentecost, thousands were to be converted in a day. This was the result of Christ’s sowing, the harvest of His work. 3TC 116.6
The Samaritans came and heard Jesus, and they believed. Crowding around Him at the well, they asked Him question after question, and eagerly they received His explanations of many things that had been obscure to them. Their perplexity began to clear away. Anxious to hear more, they invited Him to their city and begged Him to remain with them. For two days He stayed in Samaria, and many more believed. 3TC 117.1
Jesus performed no miracles among them, except to reveal the secrets of her life to the woman at the well. Yet many received Him. In their new joy, they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” 3TC 117.2
Jesus had begun to break down the partition wall between Jew and Gentile and to preach salvation to the world. He mingled freely with the Samaritans and accepted this despised people’s hospitality. He slept under their roofs, ate with them at their tables, taught in their streets, and treated them with the greatest kindness and courtesy. 3TC 117.3
In the temple at Jerusalem, a low wall separated the outer court from other portions of the sacred building. Inscriptions on this wall stated that only Jews were allowed to pass this boundary. If a Gentile had dared to enter the inner enclosure, he would have paid the penalty with his life. But Jesus, the Originator of the temple, brought to the Gentiles the salvation that the Jews rejected. 3TC 117.4
The disciples were amazed at Jesus’ conduct. During the two days in Samaria, loyalty to Him kept their prejudices under control, but their hearts had not changed. They were slow to learn to give up their contempt and hatred to make room for pity and sympathy. But after the Lord ascended, His lessons came back to them with new meaning. They recalled the Savior’s look, His words, the respect and tenderness of His attitude toward these despised strangers. When Peter went to preach in Samaria, he brought the same spirit into his work. When John was called to Ephesus and Smyrna, he remembered the experience at Shechem and the divine Teacher’s own example. 3TC 117.5
Those who call themselves the Savior’s followers may despise and shun the outcast, but no circumstance of birth or nationality, no condition of life, can turn away His love from anyone, no matter how sinful. We are to give the gospel invitation to everyone. At Jacob’s well Jesus did not neglect the opportunity to speak to one woman, a stranger living in open sin. 3TC 118.1
Often He began His lessons with only a few people gathered around Him, but one by one the passersby paused to listen, until a crowd of people, in wonder and awe, heard the words of God through the heaven-sent Teacher. Sometimes only one person may hear the message from a worker for Christ today, but who can tell how far-reaching its influence will be? 3TC 118.2
The Samaritan woman proved to be a more effective missionary than Jesus’ own disciples. Through her, a whole cityful of people came to hear the Savior. Every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary. Whoever drinks of the living water becomes a fountain of life. The receiver becomes a giver. The grace of Christ in the heart is like a spring in the desert, refreshing all and making those who are ready to die eager to drink the water of life. 3TC 118.3
