When Jesus went to Samaria, He had a divine appointment with a woman at the well. On the surface, it appears that this was a casual and unplanned meeting, but this story shows several reasons why He went to Samaria.
First, Jesus is willing to go out of the way for people in need.
He knows our location and how to find us. He can reach us in all of our situations regardless of our condition.
Second, Jesus offered living water.
The normal sources of soul satisfaction cannot satisfy the deep desires of our spirit. We need living water that only Jesus can give. Jesus promised to give the Holy Spirit to fill the void of our lives and spirit. Living water causes us to spring forth into everlasting life.
Third, Jesus told her the secrets of her life.
The Lord knows all of our thoughts, intentions and actions. We can come to Him knowing that He will not cast us out.
Fourth, Jesus said He was the Messiah.
The Messiah is God’s Anointed One to bring the remedy for sin and God’s salvation. He personally went out of His way to meet this woman. The Lord came to “seek and to save that which is lost.” Her search for soul satisfaction is over for Jesus has living water. Only Jesus can satisfy your soul.
Fifth, your testimony has power.
After this woman met Jesus, He changed her life so dramatically that she had a positive witness. Christ can change the testimony of our lives.
We need to know what kind of report we are giving. The words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart are important. Most people discount the things they say and how they influence people.
Have you ever watched a parent tell their child: “Listen to me?” What they are attempting to do is have some influence on their child. Our words can have a positive influence others.
Solomon considered the words that are spoken.
Proverbs 16:24 NKJV Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.
Proverbs 10:11 NKJV The mouth of the righteous is a well of life, But violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
We do not have to be as wise as Solomon to know the impact of pleasant and kind words. Each of us have experienced the difference that a good word makes on our lives.
Psalm 19:14 NKJV Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
We should be careful about the words we speak. Our words are part of our Christian testimony. The Bible is full of exhortations about our speech and thoughts. It takes a conscious effort to control our words.
Listen to what Jesus said about this.
Matthew 12:33–36 NKJV “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
Look at the miracle that happened to this woman from Samaria. It is obvious from the text that this woman had a wretched history that was full of many sorrows. The choices of her past had brought on many heartaches and troubles. When she met Jesus, she had no degree of self-worth or righteousness.
Nicodemus was somewhat different. He was a member of the Jewish council and a Pharisee. He had a testimony of being somewhat religious.
This woman from Samaria was spiritually bankrupt. The fact of the matter is that none of us can come before God and stand in our own righteousness.
Many people find it impossible to live above their history. They are encumbered and weighted down with their failures and troubles. What they have done has set the inclination or direction of their life and future.
Most of this woman’s troubles were a result of sin in her life. Even though she had a dishonorable past, she attempted to present herself as somewhat religious. Her family had a history of living in a town and area where God met with Abraham. Although she had somewhat of a religious family heritage, she had a bad testimony.
She did not know the peace and joy of righteousness. When Jesus came to her, He found a desperate soul. Everyone in town knew what kind of woman she was. She had to battle with the consequences of her life. Jesus offered her living water and eternal life. After His witness and ministry to her, she experienced a total change. That change made her a positive witness to her community. Although she had been a social outcast, God could use her. God knows how to give grace and mercy to people with a bad history.
Many times throughout history, God has used people who were outcasts and great sinners. The Apostle Paul was one of those individuals. He called himself the “chiefest of sinners.” The good news is, God can turn a person’s life around and use someone that has a bad history. He is able to take a ruined life and make it new.
This woman had much to try to cope with.
Have you ever tried to get over some bad decisions? Has your history become the predictor of your future behavior? This is the problem many people have. They want to do better, but their history hinders them. Sometimes only one bad choice or event in life can keep us down.
Have you ever had a bad thing happen to you that smothered your energy? You felt like it was an elephant on your chest. You wanted to do the right thing, but you could not get over your history. It is difficult and feels impossible to change.
This woman had a bad reputation. Her people were looked down on. She was a Samaritan, and she had a bad personal history.
When Jesus comes into our lives He can forgive our past and give us a new future.
John 3:17-18 NKJV For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Your past does not have to define your future. We can learn from our history, but it should not define our future successes. When Jesus comes into our lives, He is able to untangle all of the distressful and difficult parts of our history. Jesus is able to give us a new future.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJVTherefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Remember that when Jesus arrived in Samaria, His disciples went into Sychar to get food. When the disciples got back to the well, they were amazed that the Son of God would waste time on a Samaritan woman. They were filled with questions about why Jesus was talking with that woman.
When the disciples arrived, the woman left her water jar and went away to the town, and began telling everyone about Jesus. She had been given living water and had been changed and wanted everyone in her town to come and meet Jesus. After she left, the disciples got down to business.
John 4:31-34 NKJV In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”
Notice that the disciples were only thinking about getting something to eat. Their trip had been taxing and they were hungry. Jesus is not going to miss this opportunity to reveal His real purpose for being sent by the Father. Personal physical hunger and desire should never prohibit our fulfilling the purpose of our mission.
John 4:35–38 NKJV Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. “For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
What is Jesus talking about?
The disciples had just got back from town with food. It was not the time of year for harvesting wheat. He was not referring to the harvest of grain for food or their trip into town to get food. Jesus is talking about the reason He came into this world and why it was necessary for Him to go through Samaria. His trip to Samaria and his encounter with the woman at the well was about to reap a harvest of souls. Jesus is saying, “Those who win the lost reap a great reward.” Soul winning brings great benefits and rewards.
Do you have eyes to see the harvest?
This conversation with His disciples was preparing them for the harvest that was about to take place in Samaria.
Jesus just told them, “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest.”
While Jesus is instructing His disciples, the woman of Samaria went into town with a positive witness about Jesus. I want you to see the power of a positive report.
First, Jesus brought her to the true fountain of living water.
This was not water that came from Jacob’s well. Jesus gave her living water that springs into everlasting life. What He gave she could not find anywhere else. He not only knew about her past, Jesus was able to give her a new future. He gave forgiveness, new life, joy, peace, and true love. She was changed on the inside.
Second, she was given a powerful positive testimony.
Words spoken at the proper time and in the proper place are very powerful.
Proverbs 18:20-21 NLT Wise words satisfy like a good meal; the right words bring satisfaction. The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.
There is power in your words. The words of our mouth can bring cursing or blessing, life or death. The words of this woman of Samaria had a powerful impact on the eternal destiny of her home town. Through her positive witness the people went out of the city to see Jesus.
Do you understand what happened with her? She was an outcast with a bad history. She had been used, abused, and devalued. Something happened to her at the well with Jesus that had an impact on her city. All of a sudden her words had a positive impact on her neighbors.
What did she say?
- She did not tell the city that a group of Jews were out at the well and they didn’t have one good thing to say about Samaritans.
- She didn’t say, “This man Jesus said our well was inferior.”
- She didn’t say, “You will not believe the insults I just received at the well. This man had the audacity to talk about all of the bad things I have done.”
John 4:29 NKJV She said: “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
The words of her testimony drew a crowd. When the people came and heard Jesus, they knew He was indeed the Christ. There was a spiritual awakening in Samaria.
John 4:39 NKJV And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”
At the beginning of this chapter, Jesus left Judea and departed Galilee, but He needed to go through Samaria. When He arrived at Sychar, Jesus met one woman at a well. That one woman had a positive testimony to a lost city. As a result the Samaritans came to Jesus.
John 4:40-42 NKJV So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Two days and a positive witness can win a city to the Lord. When Jesus needed to go to Samaria, the divine appointment with a woman at a well brought about the salvation of the Samaritans.
