John 4: 1-42.
John the Baptist is in prison now. Jesus wants to go back to Galilee. All Jews would cross the Jordan River, travel north, on the east side of Samaria, then cross the Jordan again to enter Galilee. They would avoid the people of Samaria at all costs, for they were considered half-breed, degenerate members of society, or dogs to the layperson. Jesus deepens His example of evangelism by reaching out to people that are unpopular and deemed less valuable in society. In fact, as we often see, it is the poor and down-and-out that more readily receive the gospel good news story of salvation, for they have less worldly hindrences to slough off, whether it be pride, money, status, reputation, whatever.
There is great contrast between John 3 with Nicodemus and John 4 with the Samaritan woman. Nico was named, rich, happened at night, a prominent leader of good reputation, famous, righteous, was a man, and old. The Samaritan woman was unnamed, poor, happened in the day, of bad reputation, infamous, adulterous, was a woman, and younger. Some interesting contrasts, but they tell of God's all-inclusive reach of salvation. He has come into the world to save anyone of any walk in life. He loves them both. He loves them all. He loves us with the same love. Don't lose sight of this.
Jesus never did a miracle for Himself-always for others. He could've, but He came to serve and save us. Great example. How do I pray? I'm guilty of praying selfish prayers too many times. How about I trust the Lord with the requests I present Him, realizing He knows what I need and that He will take care of me, then make sure I intercede for other people I know are in desperate need?
Jesus gets tired at the well. Interesting. He's fully human, but taking on the sin burden of the world. We can only imagine how He might feel. We know how exhausted we get from receiving bad news, hearing negativity, surrounded by pessimists, perversions, evil, persecution, etc. Think of how much worse He must feel, taking on the sin problem of mankind for eternity past, present, and future! This should inspire us to honor, praise, worship, and thank Him. This is part of His awesome nature we should honestly admire.
Going back to our old, worldly wells will never permanently satisfy us. We tend to go to all kinds of temporary wells, whether it be hobbies, habits, jobs, or relationships to get validation, identity, and self-esteem. None last. None satisfy. Jesus is our Well we are invited and instructed to constantly, continually, repeatedly, and consistently go back to as our source of everything we need and long for in this life. He designed it this way on purpose. The devil tries to mix us up on this, but we've got to maintain the discipline and practice of simply going to Jesus for our everything. Don't give up and go back. Peter returned to fishing after denying Jesus and caught nothing. Jesus had told him they were going fishing for men instead. Dealing with lust? The source of those intimate desires and admiration of beauty are from Jesus. He can fulfill those desires by reminding you of His closeness and intimacy with you. He can remind you of His great love and relationship with you. He is the Well that satisfies. Don't go to some other woman, man, or technology for satisfying those desires. They can't do it. They are counterfeit.
The Samaritan woman diverted Jesus in the conversation with a theological argument instead of confronting her sin at first. Isn't that what we experience in the world, as well? There seems to be a highly resistant allergy to admitting and dealing with our sin- so much so that even believers will divert attention by bringing up religious arguments that we can't resolve. Let's not let what we don't know detract us from acting on what we do know. Jesus is consistent with both Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman: they must both come face to face with their sin and personally face the Savior. No amount of reputation, genes, family name, church membership, or bank account can let you avoid it on the true path to salvation. Nico was told he must be born again. The woman was told she must drink from living water. Both times, He again used the natural, phyical surrounding elements to point them to the supernatural, spiritual meaning of salvation. They both came face to face with the Savior of the world. Have you? Have your children? Our kids may live under the umbrella of our belief, but they must eventually face the Savior themselves, lest they leave the nest and fall away.
She came around to faith and belief and went to tell others. Many were saved simply by her testimony, then many others came straight to Jesus and were saved by believing His words directly. It was the Samaritan men in their white turbans approaching their location that Jesus was describing as the ripe fields ready for harvest. Pretty cool.
"Rabbi, eat..." Sometimes Jesus doesn't answer our prayers like we think He should. Remember that. But really, serving and helping others energizes us beyond comprehension. It is the will of God, that's why. It's Him bringing life and light. Doing something for someone else is a great cure for depression or even a spiritual funk.
We must worship in spirit and truth. Seems some churches worship only in spirit with a lot of emotion, emphasizing only charismatic elements. Some churches only preach the truth and don't allow emotion to complement. Jesus says we need both together, in harmony, and in balance. We need to complement spirit and emotion with the full counsel of the word of God.
