One thing we must remember about the words of Jesus is that they are “spirit and they are life.” John 6: 63. Paul alludes to this form of reasoning when he warns that The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot undersand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14. So trying to grasp the message of Jesus without the Spirit’s revelation will be an uphill battle everyone will lose.
Jesus offers the woman the water of life, which she doesn’t know what to think about, I’m sure, but desires anyway. Then she tries to throw Him off by challenging Him to put up or shut up. Jesus doesn’t give her the answer she expects, for her expectations would range from incomprehensible rabbi rhetoric, a magic formula or some spiritual sacrifice on her part to obtain it. What she gets is far from the direction her mind must have been going in.
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied. John 4: 16, 17.
First off, it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this woman is an outcast from her own community for she’s coming to the well alone at noon. Second, the ways a woman could hurt her reputation usually centered around gossip, adultery or prostitution for her era. Now while I believe Jesus was gifted with insight from on high, I don’t think He needed it to figure out what to ask her at this point. Furthmore, He was a man of keen insight into the human psyche so His request held a two fold reason: 1) She probably suspected His motives for talking to her so wanting to put her at ease, He showed an interest in speaking with her male counterpart, which was only proper for His day and age. 2) He knew she had a sin or problem (we aren’t told why she had been married five times and was currently living unmarried to the man she was with) that needed to be dealt with so He gave her the opening to admit her fault.
Jesus’ request set the stage for her confession and her confession opened the way for Him to speak into her life mercy, grace, and forgiveness. So He tells her about her five husbands and her current situation with almost matter of fact gratitude.
Again, she tries to throw Him off subject by drawing Him into an argument.
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” John 4: 19, 20.
At this point I think she is also fishing to see who He is because immediately she knows He’s something special once He pointed out her situation to her. He couldn’t have known this unless He was gifted with prophecy in her mind, and it probably occured to her that He could settle the argument between Jews and Samaritans once and for all. If that was her thought, she was right on the money.
But the mention of her sinful present also made her shy away from talking anymore about it, I’m sure. Her instinctive reaction was to draw Him into debate so she wouldn’t have to deal with the painful subject He’d brought up. The debate of where to worship seemed safer than the stark sunlight He was shedding on her life. Her wish to escape, however, got shut down most firmly for Jesus shattered her preconceptions.
Tags: Jesus, belonging, woman at the well, outcasts, marginalized, salvation
