"Ho, every one that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no
money; come you, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price"Isaiah:55:1These verses from the Prophet Isaiah, looked ahead to the work of Jesus Christ , Who offers to any who will but freely accept that thirst quenching Water which is ours without money of price, it can not be bought.
As Jesus traveled through out the Land preaching the Kingdom of God , He was issuing that invitation which has come down through the centuries, that is the Great God loves and wants humanity to know Him, that everything and all things that humanity has ever wanted need can be found in Him. It is an offer of Grace for any and all who will but freely receive it.
Passing Through Samaria
Jesus, after a successful preaching camping in Judea, and after baptizing many who respond to His message is led to return to Galilee and the road that is laid before him leads through Samaria.
"The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John,
although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.
When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
Now he had to go through Samaria.
So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour." John:4:1-6.
This road that Jesus now traveled was the main rout to Galilee, yet some Jews avoided this way they had the feeling that the Samaritan were "unclean" and they would take great pains to avoid them as not to be ceremonially unclean. The people who lived in this area had been brought here by the King of Assyria around 722 BC, and through inter marriage were now half Jew and half Gentile.
The Samaritans had developed their own traditions of worship and interpretation of the Books of Moses. The primary place of Worship for them was Mount Gerizim. The Jews and they often had strained relations.
At Jacob's Well
Jesus now enters a village named Sychar, near the Mount Ebal, here was Jacob's well and at this well Jesus stops to rest from His journey. As he rest a Samaritan woman comes to draw water, now the spring water that filled this well comes from deep flow stream within the Earth, the local people of Jesus' day called this spring the Fountain of Life. This well was a cultural icon to the people who lived in Sychar, it brought them a sense of identification to ,and with the Patriarchates and the God whom they served.
This woman is engaged, in a unprecedented breach of culture protocol by Jesus as He asked her for a drink. His question amazes her.
" When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
The
Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman.
How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with
Samaritans.)" John:4:7-9
In answer to her amazement Jesus replies to her in a way that catches her attention, Jesus wants her to understand just what He is offering. This is not water to quench the physical thirst, but to that thirst all humanity has for Him even if they do understand it.
"Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water." 10
At first she can only see the physical she interprets Jesus offer in a one dimensional way, she can not yet see the depths of Jesus' words, that there is more here than she is able to grasp.
"The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where then have you that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?" 12-13
Living Water
In the Jewish culture of the day "Living Water" was flowing and moving. The Jewish religious leaders practiced baptism, and they preferred to preformed their baptism ceremonies in flowing bodies of water, that is "Living Water" , they held the idea "Living Waters" , were transformational. That a person who was baptized would become a whole new person, that at their very center of their being they would be altered into a new person, that they would different then they were , life would change.
Now Jesus begins to open to her the meaning of the "Living Water" that He is willing to freely share with her.
Jesus is making a new life available, one that transformed , one that will never end ,yet again she is not fully aware of the depth of His offer.
"The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw."15
Who She Is
Jesus now moves the conversation to her life , He is helping her to see the need for a new life which is freely offered her, this new life will be different than the way she has lived.She needs to see who she is.
I See
"The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship" .19-20
Jesus now leads her a step further in her thinking, and opens to her understanding that God is calling her and any and all, who will but receive it, into a new relationship, that is , God is offering "Living Water", a whole new life , here and now and in Eternity.
"Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth". 21-24
The Messiah Comes
Now , that she has faced her sins, through the leading of Jesus; her mind is now ready to receive what has been there all along during the whole conversation with Jesus. That place in the her heart, and in all humanities harts, that longing, that searching for something greater is awoken. She is now ready to see Who Jesus is, that very one this "Jew", this One who has spoken to her. He that reached out to her and engaged her in conversation. This Man who now offers her to drink from the "Living Waters" that will change her for forever, she can never be the same after seeing Jesus for Who He is.
"The woman said to him, I know that the Messiah comes, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." 25
"Am He
With simple words Jesus discloses the truth to her, all along he was there even before His self revelation, He brought her to that place that she is now able to accept Him and the "Living Waters" that He freely offers.
"Jesus said to her, I that speak to you am he." 26
Tells Others
At this moment of revelation, that, before her was the One which all peoples have sought and needed. She now returns to those who knew her, and she share her experience with Jesus and invites them to come to see Jesus as well. She is transformed from a person of questionable life style into a powerful messenger of Jesus. Her personal transformation was so stark in contract to her past and genuine that the people who knew her, they too are moved to come to Him and see for themselves.
Our Story Too
This account of Jesus and the Samaritan woman not just an isolated moment that occurred two thousand years ago, it is more than that it is ongoing, it is the story of all who meet Jesus. We all are this Samaritan Woman, we all lived, to one degree or another outside, of the realization as to Who Jesus is.Jesus did not avoid us, as the Jews of that day did the Sanitarians, instead Jesus reaches out to us, Jesus starts the conversation even when we truly do not recognize Him for Who He is. Gently Jesus leads us to see our need for Him, and offers freely that "Living Water" which changes us for ever as well. This woman leaves here water pot behind, this tells us that her thirst is finally quenched when she comes to see Jesus.
When we see Jesus as that One Who Saves us we can nothing else but to be transformed in to powerful messengers of that One Who, offers that "Living Water" freely to any and all will but drink, they will never thirst again. He invite all of us to come to Waters that we may freely dink and never thirst again.
"Ho, every one that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no
money; come you, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price" Isaiah:55:1 Amen
The Fountain of Life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion
Washington, Pennsylvania.
The Fountain of Life Broadcast heard on the RKP
Radio Network 1710 & 1670 AM in Washington and North Franklin, Pennsylvania. and on 1710 AM in Bentleyville , Pennsylvania. And online around the world at www.rkpradio.com
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