A Journey Through the Gospel of St. John

“What A Well Of A Meeting” Part IV
St. John 4:20-30

Again, we are visiting the account of Jesus’ meeting with the woman of Samaria – an account that offers the marvelous condescension of our blessed Lord, even His magnificent grace, as He deals with a Samaritan outcast, a nobody of society!  As I continue to read this account, I am impressed with the patience and tenderness with which our Lord displays as He deals with a Samaritan outcast, whose ignorance of spiritual matters is greatly exposed.  Again, I was so stirred in the way in which our Savior employs tact as He carefully guides His meeting with this Samaritan dissolute, as He deals with what they had in common (the need for water), skillfully lifting the conversation from the sense of needing physical water to the grave matter of her soul needing spiritual nourishment – a nourishment that only the Lord is adequate and sufficient to provide.  At the point of our last article, Jesus had masterfully led this Samaritan outcast to a point of confession and conviction as she exclaims – “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.”  Indeed, Jesus is a prophet – God’s spokesman to a dying race of Adamic descendants.  As with this Samaritan outcast, every descendant of Adam’s accused and accursed race, needs an encounter with God’s spokesman from heaven, Jesus Christ, and like the Samaritan outcast, we needed the “gift of God,” even the offer of “living water.”  “Living water” refers to the impartation of new life, which is salvation, for salvation comes as a gift from Jesus Christ, the matchless Son of God.  Yes, God’s final spokesman, Jesus Christ, condescended to this world to offer salvation to mankind as He paid in full the consummate debt that Adam’s sin had caused, having to die on an old rugged cross for your sins and mine.  Thank God that Christ’s work on the cross is finished, and God’s free gift of salvation is extended to all mankind, regardless to his racial distinction, or social status, or economic prowess in life.  Salvation is there for the offering; all mankind needs to do is to accept God’s free offer by simply believing the Gospel’s report – believing that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3-4).  Simply put, the gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  When one truly accepts that historical verity in his or her heart by faith, the bible assures that person that salvation is a reality in that person’s life.  Glancing at our text again, having brought this Samaritan outcast to a point of conviction in verse 19, Jesus listens to her flimsy religious argument in her attempt to divert attention from her real spiritual need (verse 20-25).  What was her real spiritual need, then?  Her real need was that she needed to receive Jesus Christ and His free gift of “living water” (v. 10).  After acknowledging her belief in the coming Messiah in verse 25, Jesus Christ makes an emphatic claim in verse 26, in saying – “I that speak unto thee am He.”  Having made the definitive statement, Jesus conversation with this once immoral and vile Samaritan woman, comes to an abrupt conclusion (v. 27).  But, did His meeting with her produce any result?  Yes, His meeting with her changed her life for the better.  This once despised Samaritan became a vibrant missionary (v. 28-30), for she indeed had a life-changing meeting with the Master.  And like this Samaritan woman, we too have a story to tell!