Jesus And The Woman At The Well

John chapter four records one of the most remarkable stories in the Bible. It’s the story of the Samaritan woman and her encounter with the Messiah. And there is quite a lot we can glean from this experience. Here are just a couple of the lessons we can take home from the story of Jesus and the woman at the well.

Accidentally on purpose

The woman at the well had no idea that this day would be a different day. When she went towards the well to fetch water, she had no idea that she would meet a man that would change her life completely. Maybe she thought she would meet some shepherds who were watering their animals. She was completely flabbergasted to find a Jew who was actually interested in her.  And not only that, this Jew was actually the Messiah. It sounds like the time Saul went to look for the lost donkeys only to encounter the prophet who had been waiting for him to anoint him as king.

And that is how God often blesses his people.  The story about Jesus and the woman at the well is a good example about how you are going about your mundane duties and then almost accidentally, you meet with your miracle. But it is not actually accidentally because God in his foreknowledge had already planned on blessing you all along. So we can call it accidentally on purpose. As Paul put it, all things work together for good.

Don’t judge

During and before the time of Jesus, Samaritans and Jews didn’t hang out. Jews believed they were the chosen ones by God and it was considered a sin to mingle with Samaritans or any other non-Jew for that matter. But on this fateful day, things were about to change for a simple Samaritan woman. Jesus sent away his disciples to look for food because he knew how judgmental they would be.  It looks pretty strange that all the 12 of them had to go to fetch a simple meal. This was a job for only 1 or two of them but he needed all of them gone before he began witnessing to the Samaritan. When the disciples returned from their food hunting expedition, scripture says they were surprised to find him talking to the woman (John 4:27).

The story of Jesus and the woman at the well should be a reminder to all of us never to be judgmental about anyone. However sinful we think someone is; God still loves them just as much as he loves you. In fact, he loves sinners so much that he would rather leave the proverbial 99 that are not lost and go find the one that is lost. God may hate sin but he sure loves sinners.

He knows your name

When the Samaritan woman started talking with Jesus, she thought it would be one of the many casual conversations you can have with a stranger. Halfway through the conversation, she figured she was talking to a prophet and by the time they were done talking, she realized he was actually the Messiah. The Samaritan woman had led quite a sinful life – moving from one man to the next and she was now on her sixth. Chances are when she saw Jesus she thought she had found husband number 7. But she knew her life was an open book to him. She knew all about it. That was more than just an eye opener for her. It was her turning point.

God knows us by name. Scripture says he has inscribed us on the palm of his hands (Isaiah 49:16). He knows our hidden thoughts, he sees our unspoken words and he understands our deepest sighs. Nothing we do really takes him by surprise for he knows us better than we know our self. If you think about it, you would probably have very few friends if all your friends really knew everything about you. But even though God knows everything about you, he still loves you and wants to have a relationship with you. There is no greater expression of love than this.

God has no favorites

The Samaritan woman became the first evangelist in Samaria. She went around Samaria telling everyone that would listen to her about her encounter with the Messiah. Humanly speaking, she was the least qualified person for the job. All her neighbors knew the kind of life she lived. But in the eyes of God, she was equal to the task.  When he saw her at the well that day, he didn’t see a sinful Samaritan that was beyond redemption. On the contrary, he saw a woman that had a heart for ministry and was just looking for some love and acceptance. She was looking for this love and affection in all the wrong places but finally found it at the well. The scripture remains silent on what happened afterward but we can safely infer that she managed to help most of the Samaritans to believe in the Messiah.

The best part about this story is the way God doesn’t play favorites. In two different scriptures, we are told that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11). Repetition creates emphasis.  God repeats this in scripture to show us that he means business with this. He does not play favorites. He can use anyone for the work of ministry. And he doesn’t go picking the ones that look good in the eyes of man – he doesn’t call the qualified but he qualifies the called.

Tomorrow Is A Better Day With Jesus

The reason the Samaritan woman was moving from one husband to the next is that she was looking for something that she wasn’t really finding in her husbands. Although she couldn’t place her finger on it, deep down in her heart, she felt an emptiness that she was desperately trying to fill. And one day, she got an answer to her desire. Her answer was not in men as she had originally thought but in God. As Blaise Pascal put it, “there is a God-shaped vacuum in everyone and no one but God can fill it.”

The story of Jesus and the woman at the well teaches us that even though the Samaritan woman had a bad history, she ended up with a good future. It almost like God was saying, “Your yesterday might have been messed up, but your tomorrow is better.” In the same way, we can continue believing that our tomorrow will be better than our today and our past. And the best part is, God doesn’t reference our past when he wants to bless our future. This is why he encourages us to forget our past and concentrate on our future for he is doing a new thing (Isaiah 43:19)!

What Does Scripture Say?

The modern day spiritual philosophy is trying to reduce Jesus to one of the great teachers or prophets. There is no doubt that Jesus was a great teacher – even non-believes agree. But, He was more than just a great teacher? Jesus was and is actually God.

Above all, Jesus is the son of God according to scripture. John 3:16 even calls him God’s unique son. Certainly, this is one of the best proofs that Jesus is God. In addition, every father knows that their sons will be just like them. For instance, the race of a father determines the race of their son. And Jesus was not shy to call God his father.
Incidently, that is not the only reason why Christians believe that Jesus is God. Here are a couple of good reasons why we believe that Jesus is not only Lord but God.

1. The virgin birth of Jesus

There are many “saviors”, teachers and prophets across the different religions in the world but of all those notable individuals, none was born of a virgin. Only Jesus was. When prophet Isiah prophesied the virgin birth of the Messiah, he said;

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

The prophet said the baby that was to be born of a virgin would be called Immanuel. The name Immanuel literally means, “God with us.” In other words, the baby would not be an ordinary baby but God incarnated in the flesh.  The birth had to be of a virgin – because God cannot be the product of a human seed.

2. The Incarnation

The doctrine of incarnation can be a bit confusing but the simplest explanation is this – God came in the flesh in order to save mankind in the flesh. Ever since God gave man dominion on earth in Genesis 1, anything that happens on earth needs the involvement of man. This is why the devil is actively looking to recruit man for the work he is trying to do on earth. If God had come in spirit form, he wouldn’t have the authority to save man because any spirit on earth must have a body or they would be here illegally.

3. Prophetic Confirmation

In addition, long before Jesus’s birth, the prophets not only talked about his birth but also about his deity. Prophet Isaiah prophesied that even though Jesus would be born of a woman, he would still be God.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

 The prophet Isiah ascribed the name “mighty God” to Jesus.  Obviously, the prophet was talking about Jesus being God. Most people are okay with refereeing to him as a prince of peace but the thought of Jesus as God makes some people uncomfortable.  Therefore, the question to such people should be – are you willing to accept the entire truth of the Bible, or only some convenient portions of it.

Scripture Context vs. Jewish Society

If you think about the context of Isaiah 9:6, prophet Isiah came from the monotheistic Jewish society. Above all, it would be too radical for anyone that believed there was only one God to claim that a baby would one day be born who would be called, “mighty God.” But the prophet made the statement anyway because he was convinced that God would one day be incarnate.

4. Jesus’s Ministry

Certainly, the earthly ministry of Jesus is one of the best proofs that he was God. Right from his birth all through his death and resurrection, his life showed evidence that he is God. For instance, in Mathew 2, the wise men from the east travel all the way to come to worship him (Mathew 2:11). It is clear from the scriptures that no one else apart from God was to be worshiped. Even the angels worship Jesus.  In fact, God made it very clear in the Torah that Israel was not to bow down her knee to any other God except Yahweh. The fact that the magi came to worship baby Jesus is evidence that they recognized him as God.

5. Jesus Accepted Worship

When Jesus was fully grown he accepted worship from people. In contrast, every other prophet in the scriptures would not permit anyone to worship him. For instance, when he calmed the storm that was threatening to capsize their boat, scripture says that the disciples worshipped him.

 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’” Mathew 14:33

Therefore, if Jesus wasn’t God, he would have stopped them and warned them from worshipping him. But he allowed his disciples to worship him. And there are lots of other scriptural illustrations of other people that worshipped him.

5. Jesus said so

Jesus openly laid claim to his divinity. For instance, in John 8:58, he ruffled some feathers when he proclaimed that he was older than father Abraham.  The people were so indignant at this confession that they tried to stone him. See, by saying that he was alive during Abraham’s time, Jesus was saying that his life didn’t really begin when Mary gave birth to him. This is impossible humanly speaking. But the words he used to make this claim make it even more interesting;

“‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ 

In other words, by using the term I Am, he was making himself equal to God. God introduced himself to Moses as “I Am.” This is probably why they wanted to stone him because to the best of their knowledge, it was blasphemous to claim equality with God.

 

Blasphemy???

Another illustration is found in John 10:30 where Jesus openly said that he was one with God. Again, this almost got him stoned. When Jesus asked them why they wanted to stone him and yet he had proven his deity through many miracles, they gave him an interesting answer;

 ‘We are not stoning you for any of these,’ replied the Jews, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’” John 10:33

In other words, they recognized that when he said he was one with God, he was actually saying that he was God.

Conclusion

In conclusion, these are some of the main reasons why Jesus is the son of God. As you go through the bible, you will most likely come across even more reasons. Only Jesus raised himself from the dead.  There were lots of people that were raised from the dead.  That is to say, for the other people, someone else had to raise them from the dead.  Jesus raised himself from the dead. (Phil. 3:10). Therefore, Jesus is not just another teacher or prophet – he is indeed God.

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