I. At first, we aren't looking for Him. (vv.4-9)
Would you deliberately go through an area of town where you knew you could run into trouble? Probably not. You might go through it by accident, but you wouldn't want to deliberately put yourself in a potentially bad situation, where people didn't like you.
Quite a few years ago I took the girls into downtown Chicago on the way back from a trip to Wisconsin . We did some of the usual sight-seeing trips there – went by the Sears Tower, the lake front, the Aquarium and the Planetarium, saw old Soldiers Field, and had planned to stop by the Museum of Science and Industry. But it had been a long time since I was in Chicago . I never knew my way around there very well anyway. I ended up lost, wandering around some pretty seedy neighborhoods on the south-side. It was an area that I would not deliberately go through because of the potential for problems. And there I was - smack dab in a questionable situation with two small girls. Not good planning on my part.
In Jesus' day there were places somewhat like that in Palestine – places where no Jew would ever deliberately go. One of them was Samaria , the region that was smack dab in the middle of the country, between Galilee in the north and Judea in the south. No self-respecting Jew wanted to go there. In fact, most Jews in Jesus' day did everything they could to stay out of Samaria . So, whenever they traveled from Galilee in the north to Judea and Jerusalem in the south and back again, they went around this middle section called Samaria . They did that not so much because they could get into trouble there as much as they despised the people. “Avoid Samaria at all costs” was the mindset.
So, what is this in our text when the most respectable Jew of all, the Lord Jesus, heads right into the middle of that region? John tells us, “He had to go through Samaria .” Why? It surely wasn't because there were no other routes. Jesus had options. But in spite of them Jesus had to go through there. In fact, the Greek word says it was necessary for Him to do this.
It was necessary because the Lord had someone to see, someone who wasn't looking for Him - this woman who was drawing water at the well. It was necessary that the Lord meet with her that day. She didn't know it; she wasn't looking for Him at all. In fact, when she saw Jesus there, she might have tried to avoid Him. Goodness sakes! She was a Samaritan; He was a Jew! Samaritans don't mix with Jews, and Jews don't mix with Samaritans. Furthermore, she was a woman. This wasn't good. Then He approached her and asked, “Will you give me a drink?” Oh, this wasn't good at all - a Jewish man asking her, a Samaritan woman for a drink of water? What could he want from her?
The Lord Jesus didn't want anything from her; He wanted her even though she wasn't looking for Him. That's why He had to go to Sychar in Samaria . The Savior's love for sinners drove Him to look for her.
You know, it's still the same today. When the Lord Jesus comes into our lives, it's not because we are looking for Him first. It's the other way around. I wasn't looking for Him when I was baptized, but He graciously came to me. I really wasn't looking for Him when I was confirmed in the faith either. But He graciously came to me through the study of His Word and later the Sacrament. He came to me to make me His own.
You need another example, look at Abram in our other lessons today. Abram wasn't looking for the Lord when he moved from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran and then to Canaan from there. But the Lord was graciously looking for him, came to him, and called him to be the one from whose descendents the Savior would be born.
You see, dear friends, The Lord Jesus Wanted Abram; the Lord Jesus Wanted this Samaritan woman; and The Lord Jesus Wants You. If today we are safe in the Lord's keeping, it is only because God from eternity saw us out in the darkness of sin and decreed that we should be brought into the shelter of His fold. He looked for us, even though at first we weren't looking for Him. Like the Bible says, “Herein is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us.” “He came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
What a wondrous, soul-reviving truth about grace: Jesus Wants Us, even though at first we aren't looking for Him.
II. He exposes our need. (v.10-18)
Why in the world was this strange Jew talking to her. All this woman wanted to do was fetch her water and go home. She didn't know who He was; she didn't know what He wanted to give her; she was preoccupied with other matters. But then the Lord Jesus spoke and drew her attention away from what she was doing.
He had a gift to give her - something about “living water.” She thought He was talking about what we might call “running water,” water that constantly flowed from a spring. It's in a lot of places here in the Ozarks – springs and running creeks - common here; not so common in arid places. That's “living” or “lively water.” Oh, that would be handy because then she wouldn't have to come here to this well daily, haul the water up from underground, and carry it back home in a heavy jar. It sounded like a good deal to her.
We might shake our heads at this Samaritan woman's lack of understanding about what the Lord Jesus was describing. But if you had been in her place, and you weren't looking for the Savior, would you have understood Jesus' words any better? None of us by nature is any more in-tune with our spiritual needs than she was. Jesus was talking spiritual things, not the physical things of this earth. He wasn't talking about the thirst of her parched lips and throat; He was talking about the thirst of her soul because of her sin. She was in need. But she didn't get it until He exposed her need.
“Go, call your husband and come back.” He said. Whoops! “I have no husband,” she replied, as her eyes darted away from Him. “You're right,” Jesus said. “You have no husband. The fact is, you have had five, and the man you now have is not your husband.”
Whoa! That was direct! It made her uncomfortable! The Lord Jesus confronted her head-on for a life of wanton adultery, frivolous divorce, and loose fornication. He exposed her sin, and with it her need. The thirst within was rising; a thirst for eternal help; and it made her uncomfortable – thirsty in her soul.
What sin parches your soul? The Lord in His Word seeks to expose it. Is it a sexual sin as it was for this woman? Is it a tepid heart that neglects reaching out beyond yourself to others except those you like? Is it self-righteous pride, like the Samaritan and the Jews of Jesus' day had - an eye that sees only the flaws in others while refusing to see the log of sin that is in one's own life? Sin parches every soul. There isn't one of us that isn't affected. Like the Bible says, “If we say that we have no sin we only deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
I wonder what the Lord Jesus would tell me to do or to get in order to expose my sinful ways if He were sitting by me here right now. Would it make me squirm? What would He tell you? Would
it make you uncomfortable? - thirsty? - just like it did for this Samaritan woman. He makes our souls thirsty not to harm us; He does it for our good. The Lord Jesus exposes our need, for the truth is our souls thirst; they thirst for His forgiveness. Until we do He cannot help us and we cannot appreciate the salvation He offers. In the end His goal is not to harm us, but to have us as His own. He Wants Us.
III. He satisfies our souls. (vv.19-25)
It was beginning to make sense; this person who stood before her was different; that wasn't hard to see. He knew her past; He knew what kind of a person she was; He saw her sin; and yet, He was interested in her. Slowly the Lord Jesus had drawn her closer to Himself. Could this be the Savior whom God had promised way back in time to Abram? It all fit. Then He left no doubt: “I am He,” Jesus said.
It was the defining moment of her life; the time when heaven itself opened to her. The Savior had come; the Savior who would die on the cross to cover her sin; the Savior who would bring new life to her thirsty soul; the Savior who was the answer to all her needs eternally. Here He was and He satisfied her soul.
Can you imagine the joy she felt? If you read further on into this story and you put a little imagination into it, you can almost see her running as fast as she could back to town to tell others what God had done for her that day. He had brought her into the true worship of His Son.
You see, worship really isn't about where it is done, in Samaria or in Jerusalem , as much as how it is done – in truth, with a deep recognition of our sin and great need for a Savior who loves us – loves us enough to die for us. Although we were sinners, He was interested, vitally interested in us. Although we had no claim on Him because we weren't really looking for Him, He is always seeking us. And in our attempts to ignore what we were, He exposed our need for one purpose, that He might satisfy our souls eternally. What joy that brings to all who believe. The Lord Wants Us now and forever and stops at nothing to make it happen.
God grant us eyes that are open to see how much He means to us that we might take His water of life to others; for Jesus' sake. Amen.