The Desperate Woman
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Introduction
Introduction
Israel was divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdom. Samaria was part of the northern kingdom and they were being handed over to the Assyrians because of their disobedience to God.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.
During the reconstruction of the city the Samaritans were against the rebuilding of the city and this caused more hatred between the Northern/Southern Israel. There was generational hatred between them because of this. The Jews in our story today don’t even consider the Samaritans Jews because they intermarried with Assyrians and worshipped other gods.
So the Jews and Samaritans hated each other and had no dealings with each other. The greek word meant that they did not share the same utensils.
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
συγχράομαι (synchraomai) - Nothing in common. Utensils in common. They didn’t share anything at the table together.
It was against tradition for a man to talk to a woman. Much less a Samaritan woman. Because of the history.
27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”
It was not culturally appropriate for a man to talk to a woman in public.
Jesus Walks with Purpose
Jesus Walks with Purpose
Jesus didn’t take the regular route to Galilee around Samaria. Refer to map.
5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
The well still allegedly exists today at a Anglican Church. The well is about 100 ft deep and it is a historical place. Jesus wanted us to know it’s a real story of a real woman, not just an analogy or fake story.
Jesus walked with Purpose and so must we. Everywhere we go we need to be missional. Don’t let opportunities pass by.
Why did he take this route? It was shorter distance, but harder more mountain terrain and he had walked about 20 miles up to this point. He was exhausted.
Jesus had a divine appointment with this woman and I believe we have divine appointments with people every day.
Jesus gives Affection to a desperate woman.
Jesus gives Affection to a desperate woman.
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
Jesus asked her for water, and here she confirms the barrier between Jews and Samaritans.
Jesus offers her living water.
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
Jesus says many times he is the one who can satisfy all of our needs. This woman was in need.
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
Jesus is the only one who can satisfy all of our needs. He was offering a free gift to the woman.
δωρεάν (dōrean), adv. as a gift; freely. Hebrew equivalent: חִנָּם (2).
Adverb Usage
1. for free — without payment, free of charge; gratis.
Rick Brannan, ed., Lexham Research Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, Lexham Research Lexicons (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020).
Jesus’ gift is free. This woman was not looking for Jesus she was lost and far from Him. This is a great picture of how we were before we knew Christ. But look at His love for her. He went out of His way to meet her and save her.
13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Jesus Confronts her Sin
Jesus Confronts her Sin
This woman was a woman of low reputation and she was a woman that avoided people to the point that she would go to Jacob’s well which was about half a mile or a mile away from where she lived.
She went during a time of the day when other women would not come to draw water, since this was a custom for women to get water for their household.
It was also a custom to talk at the well. It was the way women gossiped . And this woman probably avoided other women in her community because they spoke bad about her. Why did they talk bad about her?
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
Jesus uses his supernatural omniscient power to tell her about her life. He knew she had been divorced 5 times.
God knows all our secrets and the worst things we have done, but even then God extends His mercy to us. He wants us to extend love to those we hate. Think of who you hate.
Jesus wants us to be pure and he confronts her sin. She was living with a man and not married. Her need was to be loved by a man and when she didn’t get what she wanted she would move on to the next person.
Jesus Regenerates her and Reveals Himself to her
Jesus Regenerates her and Reveals Himself to her
25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
She now believes and isn’t skeptical. Her eyes are open! Before she asked how will you get water from this well when you have nothing to get it with?
But now she sees the spiritual implications of Jesus’ analogy of the well and the water. When Jesus regenerates us he opens our eyes to see who he really is. The messiah and God Himself.
28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
When we are transformed by Jesus’ love and grace, we leave behind earthly things. We now have a new desire to seek God and love Him.
WHERE IS THIS DESIRE TO SEEK HIM?
WHERE IS THE DESIRE TO PLEASE HIM AND STAY PURE?
The Ripple Effect
The Ripple Effect
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”
Because of this woman, many came to know Jesus and she was a witness of Jesus. She was no longer ashamed of her life. She was forgiven. This is what God does to us. We should be unashamed of Jesus and share his name.
Sharing the gospel should be a natural response to being saved by Christ. If we are not doing this one of two things have happened. 1. you are not a genuine believer. 2. You have lost your compassion for the lost world.
Both require Christ to fix.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The woman’s first question when she was saved was about worship. This is what Jesus responded to her. If we focus on worshiping God and pleasing Him we will remain pure. Seeking him and his word will keep us on track to please God.