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Encountering Jesus

John 4:1-26

I first encountered Jesus when I was a cynical, eighteen-year-old atheist. That encounter changed my life. In the account we read in John 4, another unlikely candidate encounters Jesus. The result is one of the most amazing conversations that has ever taken place. It sends the woman rushing back to her hometown saying to people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did’ (v.29).

• Who is Jesus?

Some say Jesus is just a good religious teacher. But Jesus claims to be far more than that. When the conversation turns to the subject of the Messiah, Jesus categorically declares: ‘I, the one speaking to you – I am he’ (v.26).

Others see Jesus as some distant God – but this passage emphasises his humanity. He could be hot, tired, thirsty and hungry. He is certainly not remote. He understands how hard life can be. Whilst living on earth he knew what it was like to have no money, to be hungry, to live without a roof over his head, to be rejected, betrayed, in physical pain, tortured and deserted by his friends. This is the person who was able to help the Samaritan woman and who is able to understand, sympathise with and help you today.

• What is Jesus like?

Jesus is the most loving person who has ever lived. In this passage we see the warmth of his love. He broke all the conventions of his time:

1. He broke the rabbinic rules by speaking to a woman in public.

2. He broke the barriers of race (v.9). The Samaritans were regarded as inferior and hated. People would walk seventy miles out of their way to avoid contact with them. Although she was a Samaritan, Jesus spoke to her.

3. He broke the barriers of lifestyle. Jesus was, amongst other things, a Jewish religious teacher. She was seen as a sexually promiscuous woman. The religious did not mix with sinners. But the love of Jesus Christ breaks down every barrier. Whatever your gender, race or lifestyle, Jesus loves you.

• What does Jesus offer?

When Jesus starts to speak metaphorically of living water, he is claiming to be the one who can satisfy her deepest needs (vv.10, 13–14). John later explains that this water is the Holy Spirit ‘ whom those who believed in him were later to receive’ (John 7:39).

He contrasts well water and spring water. Well water percolates and then gathers in a stagnant pool. In contrast, Jesus offers ‘a spring of water’ (v.14), meaning bubbling running water. He also contrasts the physical with the spiritual. This (spiritual) water wells up to eternal life (v.14). So he also contrasts the short- and long-term. We drink physical water knowing that we will be thirsty again, but this is living, loving, lasting water. Nothing else can satisfy us into eternity. We can appear to be satisfied by materialism, pleasure or status, but none of them truly satisfies.

There is more to life than money, possessions, work, sport, fame and even human relationships. The woman had tried to gain fulfilment through human relationships, and they did not satisfy. Only a relationship with God through Jesus Christ with the Spirit of God living within you can provide you with the water that satisfies.

• How did the woman react to Jesus?

Like many of us, her life is in a mess underneath the surface (see vv.16–18). When Jesus asks her a personal question, she reacts in an extraordinary way. She attempts to divert his attention away from her and starts talking about mountains (vv.19–20).

Perhaps she did not want to face up to the reality of her life: the broken relationships, emptiness and shame. Perhaps she felt she had fallen too far. But Jesus came to die for all of us, whatever we have done, and his death on a cross makes forgiveness for everyone possible. You and I can receive total forgiveness and a completely new start in life.

• What does Jesus do?

Through Jesus her life is transformed. She receives forgiveness for the past. She receives new life in the present and eternal life for the future. Through an ordinary encounter Jesus changed many people’s lives forever. He still loves to do this today by giving people the ‘gift of God’ (v.10): a new and satisfying life which lasts.

Prayer

Lord, thank you that before I knew you, you loved me. Thank you for your example of not being afraid to break the conventions of the time in order to reveal your love to people. I receive your life-transforming love and ask you to fill me to overflowing with your living water.

References

© Nicky Gumbel, 2024

This reading plan is adapted from the book 30 Days by Nicky Gumbel. It is published by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK, and by HarperCollins Christian Publishing in the USA.