John 4:4-29
Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Iesous therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Iesous saith unto her, "Give me to drink." For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy food. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, "How is it that thou being a Jew askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?" For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Iesous answered and said unto her, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, "Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."
The Iesous "must needs" (edei: denotes a compulsory necessity) go through Samaria in order to meet with a woman of another socio-cultrual background. She was a Samaritan. She was persona non grata with the nation of Israel. She was descendant of the Northern Tribes of Israel who had become so enslaved to entrenched cultic worship involving unspeakable practices along with a professed worship of Yahweh that in 722 B.C. Yahweh over-threw them by the Assyrians.
The Iesous knew not only her historical past he also knew her own distinctive autobiographical narrative. He must needs go through Samaria in order to meet her. Therefore he sent away the disciples who were not yet ready to embrace the transcultural and transethnic nature of the Kerygma (Grace of God as revealed in the Iesous). This woman was also persona non grata in her own community. She went to this well when there was a well closer on the east side of town.
The Iesous arrived at the well first and he waited for this woman. When she arrives he asks her to give him a drink of water because he was wearied with his journey (v. 6). His request of a drink of water from her earns an interrogative response. She is a Samaritan and he is a Jew and therefore there is a racial and religious barrier. This is an impossible situation and the Iesous is at the center of it.
He answered and said to her, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, "Give me to drink; thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." He gently and gradually reveals himself to her. He understands her resistance. He is there at Jacob's well to give her the living water of a radically new (qualitatively new) life.
She asks for this living water and the Iesous tells her to "go, and call her husband, and come hither." She said to him, "I have no husband." The Iesous said unto her, "Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband; in that saidst thou truly."
The Iesous collapses her resistance by gentle accurate and undeniable truth. The consuming lie or half-truths of her life must be confessed before she can move into the new life of the Iesous. She lets go of the controlling lie of her life and receives from him the living water of new life. Her life was so radically and permanently changed that she left her water pot and went into the city and said "Come see a man, which told me all things that ever I did. Is this not the Christ?" v.29.
Today, the Iesous is waiting to meet with you. There is no socio-cultrual or racial barrier that hinders you. Do you want living water today? Confess to him today what you have done, and your need of him. Confess to him that the "life" that you are living now is not satisfying and that you thirst for a new life. Just as he met this woman where she was, he will meet you where you are too.
For more information about Dr. Josiah Rich and his teachings, please visit his web site.
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