The Transformative Encounter: The Woman at the Well. John 4:1-26.

Now He had to go through Samaria. John 4:4 NIV.

Why did Jesus have to go through Samaria?

Anyone looking at the map of Israel would understand that the “shortcut” from the Judean countryside to Galilee is through Samaria. But, because Jews did not warmly receive the Samaritans, they would take the longer route around Samaria.

Tired, weary, and thirsty, Jesus comes to the well of Jacob.

Writing through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, John brings us to that well, and we see why Jesus had to go through Samaria. He would meet the woman at the well. This unnamed woman’s encounter with Jesus reminds us of John 3:16—for God so loved the world that He gave.

Jesus was there, and she was meant to go there at noon to get water. The other disciples were meant to be away. This was a divine appointment.

The longest recorded conversation Jesus had with anyone is with this unnamed woman of Samaria. Given the social norms at the time and her status as a woman, this conversation is significant.

We do well to listen in.

Jesus Greets the Woman at the Well

If Jesus had not approached her first, then we would never have been privy to this treasured conversation. His kind eyes and soft voice cut down any fears she might have had of encountering a Jew.

She was used to contempt from the Jews and indignation from the people she knew in the village of Sychar. Had she not been married five times, and the man she was living with was not even her husband?

Jesus knew this. He knew her story—he read her heart. What he is about to share with her is profound theological truths that are pondered even today by scholars:

• Living Water (eternal life)
• Nature of true worship
• Identity as the Messiah.

God so loved this unnamed woman at the well that He sent His Son to give her hope and a future.

Living Water (eternal Life)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water… Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will be a spring of water welling up to eternal life. John 4:10 & 13-14 NIV.

Sustaining Force of Water

Have you ever thought about this? Water covers approximately 71 percent of the Earth’s surface. Besides the oceans and seas, the rest is water vapor, lakes, rivers, glaciers, and ice caps, in the soil, aquifers, and even living things. Water is never idle; it moves from one place to another and changes from one form to another.

Water is a sustaining force on Earth. We cannot live without it. It takes a person 3 minutes to die without oxygen, 3 weeks to die without food, and 3 days without water.

Dying of thirst is the most agonizing of deaths possible.

Living Water is more than a fresh spring that never runs dry. Jesus offers her water that would not only quench her inner thirst but also sustain her for life eternal.

The inner life matters.

In both the Old and New Testaments, water symbolizes salvation through its cleansing and sustaining power. The redeemed of the Lord have living water flowing like a spring from the soul.

The Holy Spirit is living water.

With the Holy Spirit dwelling in our souls, we’re destined to live eternally. There’s a temporal satisfaction in Earth’s water. Permanent and eternal in the Living Water.

After Jesus offered her living water, he allowed her to see herself for who she was: a sinner in need of a Savior. Self-worship always hinders our honest worship of the living, loving, faithful, and All-Mighty God.

Before we can honestly worship the living God, we must recognize our unworthiness. We cannot deny such great love.

Nature of True Worship

Worship is a reverent devotion and allegiance pledged to God, the sole purpose of which is to express reverence and honor to God. Joy, thankfulness, and contentment characterize our worship in the redeeming love of our Father God in Christ Jesus.

We know and understand this today, but the woman at the well did not.

“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:21-24 NIV.

True Worshippers

You can identify true worshippers not by where they worship but by Whom and how they worship: in the Spirit and in truth. True worship is “empowered” by the Spirit of truth and is under the Truth. God is spirit, so spirit is not like the flesh. Location does not limit it, nor do things (like idols).

The spirit is the immaterial or sentient part of a person. The Spirit of God is the supernatural essence of God (third Person of the Trinity). He is perfect in goodness and righteousness. The truth is sincerity in action, character, and utterance.

God is invisible. He is divine rather than human. Unless He reveals Himself to us, we would never know Him. We can worship Him anywhere and at any time.

We need either a revival or an awakening to worship rightly.

Revival vs an Awakening

Look carefully at the woman at the well. Something is happening under the surface in her heart. It is not so much a revival, but an awakening.

Revival is an inexpressible melting and moving of God’s Spirit on the heart, especially a heart that has turned cold. Revival is a genuine and wholehearted return to the Savior.

An awakening is a profound sense of the need for God in the spirit, soul, and body.

This is the true awakening of the heart to God.

Once awakened, we will stop at nothing to make ourselves right with God, to worship Him in Spirit and truth, and so live in this awakened state into eternity. Now we’re ready to worship Father God in spirit and truth.

God is the truth – the Son is the truth – and the Spirit is the truth. True worship comes from the inspiration of God’s Spirit, as noted in Phil 3:3: “For we… worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”

Now, she needs to know that the Messiah has come.

The Messiah

We have the privilege, on this side of history and personal experience, to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God—the Messiah.

She did not.

Jesus’ words mystified her: Jesus spoke of living water for eternal life, showed her that He knew her intimately, and even revealed to her the heart of worship. He set in motion her longing to understand the deep mysteries of God—to know God intimately.

Now she confessed her ignorance and longing for the Messiah.

Drumroll, please!

Jesus reveals to her that He is the One – the One she’s been waiting for. He did not hide this fact but declared it to her personally.

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the One speaking to you – I am He. John 4:25-26 NIV

In conclusion – Come to the water

This unnamed woman at the well and her encounter with Jesus remind me of a song I sang in church nearly fifty years ago – For These Tears I Died.

And Jesus said, “Come to the water, stand by My side, I know you are thirsty, you won’t be denied. I felt every tear drop when in darkness you cried. I strove to remind you that for those tears I died.”

This encounter was John 3:16 personified.

Are we this unnamed woman at the well? Can you identify with her? Jesus voluntarily comes to see us and teach us His great love. We need only yield to His mercy and worship Him in Spirit and truth.

Where are you? Do you need a revival or an awakening? Can you yield wholeheartedly to the Savior in spirit and truth?

Pray that the Lord will mercifully come to your side and remind you that His love, like living water, is eternal and true.

Come to Him just as you are, and He will receive you like He did for the unnamed woman at the well.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2 NIV.

Note: All photos are stock photos from Lightstock.com