Key Verse: “When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’ John 4:7

Have you ever been looked down on by others? Maybe you have made decisions that you are ashamed of and as a result, try to avoid people rather than experience their disapproving looks and maybe even words. It is one thing to deal with the shame inside, but it is quite another to deal with the harsh judgement of others.

In John 4 we meet a woman who was in the exact situation. Why else would you go out in the midday sun to collect water? Sensible people went out while it was still cool and rested in the shade during the hottest hours. Knowing this, she made the most of the opportunity to get what she needed to do done without having to bump into anyone.

We can imagine her disappointment then when she arrives at the well, and there is a man there. Worst than this he was a Jew. The Jewish people looked down even on the best of her people. She likely kept her head down and tried to avoid any eye contact, but then this man asked her for a drink. She didn’t want to see anyone, and now this Jewish man was trying to start a conversation with her. This man was Jesus.

Jesus starts discussing physical thirst but quick move on to spiritual thirst. Like many others, this lady thirsted to be loved. We can imagine her excitement on her wedding day. She had found her true love. The joy quickly shattered and the relationship she longed for brought her pain, so now she longed for freedom from the marriage/ Consequently, she gets divorced. Then she gets lonely, but soon after falls in love with another man. This time she had found true love, but yet again it fails. Her life continues to spiral in a circuit of loneliness, marriage, and divorce.

I wonder how often we find ourselves in repeating circle of pain over and over again? It may not be a relationship but something else. Take dieting, for example. You lose all the weight just to gain it all back with more inches. For others, it is their savings, they struggle for prosperity but keep falling back into debt. How about your relationship with Christ? Maybe you keep backsliding. One moment, you’re going to every service the church offers, reading your Bible and praying each day, but you continue to let yourself drift back into the world. We all have this pattern in our lives to some extent.

Jesus speaks to the women and explains that her really thirst is not for a physical relationship but a spiritual relationship. All that she had been doing over this time is drinking salt water. Each sip increased her thirst.

The woman wanted to make sure she understood what Jesus was saying. In John 4:25, “The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” ’She is ready now for the final revelation of Christ to her soul. Verse 26 says, “Then Jesus declared, ‘I, the one speaking to you – I am he.”

There was no more doubt. She had met her saviour. Have you met Jesus? What effect did meeting Jesus have on this women? John 4:28-30 tells us, “ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could this be the Messiah?’ They came out of the town and made their way towards him.” Furthermore, John 4:39-41 continues, “ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I’ve ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.”

Jesus transformed this woman from someone who was ashamed to meet some in the street into a powerful evangelist telling everyone what Jesus had done in her life. Jesus transforms someone who had gone from broken relationship to broken relationship into someone who taught how to restore a relationship with God. Oh, what wonder is the transforming power of God’s grace.





