John 4:1-26
Dear RTB’ers,
“The Woman from Samaria”… For me, better known as “The Woman at the Well”, very likely one of the two best-known of Jesus’ one-on-one interactions, the other being Nicodemus’ nighttime visit from our pervious chapter. We only get half of this story today; the preaching point for many sermons comes tomorrow – the woman’s evangelistic fervor. But today, the prelude.
To me, a number of items make this story memorable in that they are the opposite of what we might expect. First, Jesus is traveling through Samaria on his way from Judea to Galilee. Many (most?) faithful Jews would cross over the Jordan instead of going through Samaria; such was their disgust for the Samaritans. Second, Jesus was alone at the well; the disciples had all gone into town to buy food. All of them had gone? No one stayed behind to be with Jesus? Strange! Third, the woman is coming at noon to draw water – in the heat of the day. When this incident is the sermon topic, we hear that it would be cooler in the evening, but that the woman knew that she was an outcast and chose to come alone. Fourth, Jesus initiated the conversation with a Samaritan woman – neither “Samaritan” nor “woman” would have been a conversation companion for a faithful Jew. Finally, Jesus knew her past, her five husbands plus “the one you now have”. To me, this is the most remarkable item in this incident, that Jesus already knew this. How? How else but Holy Spirit revelation…??
So, what do we take from this first half of this story? Are we to follow Jesus and “go against the grain”? Not necessarily, but when we do find ourselves in an awkward or unusual situation, God is there with us. And every meeting may well be an evangelistic opportunity. In fact, the more unusual the circumstances, the better for us to initiate an unusual conversation. When we get together a week from tomorrow, I’ll tell you my story of meeting a man at the junkyard.
Blessings.
See also: