A Conversation Starter
She came to the well at noon. A foreigner who had no cultural ties with their people was sitting at the well. He asked her: “Will you give me a drink?” This was a conversation starter. And it changed her life. It helped her to understand her thirst was not just about water but about finding a higher purpose in life.
What is Jesus asking you today? Are you listening? He is not asking something fantastic from you. May be it is a simple request like, “Will you give me a drink?” How will you respond?
Objections Met with a Promise
The woman had objections. A male teacher called Rabbi generally never talked to woman alone in public. But here he was bypassing traditional norms. She also pointed to the fact that his race and her people never did mix with each other. Yet Jesus persisted in asking her questions.
Then Jesus promised her something. Jesus told her if she knew the gift of God and who is it that was speaking to her she would have asked him and he would have given her living water.
She totally lost the intent of that statement. For she looked at the depth of the well and seeing nothing in Jesus’ hand to draw water with said: “Where then do You get this living water?”
Oh, yes, when Jesus speaks you think of earthly things but he has eternal things in mind. “Will you give me a drink?” is to ask you not for a favour but to help you to climb higher in life, look at the state of your heart, realize how much you are in spiritual poverty without a personal relationship with God.
Jesus also told her that: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Trying to Avoid that Difficult Question
Soon the conversation led to her personal life. It made her uncomfortable. For she did not have a clear answer to what Jesus said next: “Go, call your husband and come back.”
So she tried to divert the conversation using a high-sounding argument about where to worship and which is the right place to worship and so on?
Hey, when Jesus is asking you something, yes something that touches your point of pain, struggle, or shame; have you not tried to send the conversation in another direction?
Jesus did not condemn the woman for her stained past. But was simply pointing to her that there is only one thing that can truly satisfy the longings of her heart. A meeting, an encounter, and a personal faith in the Saviour of the world—Jesus the Christ. This is what Jesus referred to as living water which will result in an overflowing life, that is eternal life.
Jesus Knows What Is Happening in Your Life
She had come to the well at noon. Probably to avoid being seen by people to avoid social contact. Yet God has kept a time to meet with you to change your direction and the destiny of your life. This encounter with Jesus left her without doubt for Jesus revealed to her what was truly happening in her life.
The power of this encounter is the value that Jesus placed on one soul; on someone who had a past she was not proud of; a present which was not morally right; and a future which might not have held any hope of anything better.
Jesus is willing to reach out to you right now beyond your objections and gift you with eternal life no matter what religious, cultural, economical, moral, or political background you are from.
She left her water jar at the well. And went to her town. She told the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.” The people came to Jesus as a result of her words. “Will you give me a drink?” was just a conversation starter. Are you planning to hear what else and more Jesus is saying to you now!
This Sunday Sermonettes Newsletter article is based on Jesus’ enounter with the Samaritan woman recorded in John’s Gospel Chapter 4 verses 1 to 42
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels