Let’s review from Part 1:
A Note About Jesus and Women
Jesus did not try to change the culture by preaching about gender issues. Jesus simply modeled the way men and women should interact as He went about treating women like equal human beings. He shocked His disciples on many occasions, but He expected the Twelve to learn from Him. He expected them to see that in His kingdom women as well as men were to serve. He did not hand out specific job descriptions; He meant for women to follow Him in whatever way they were called. For most women this would still mean being a good wife and mother. Other women were single or widowed and Jesus affirmed them in their callings as well.
Not only did Jesus treat women with respect and kindness, He made no differentiation as to social class.
– Some women were really poor – Mary His own mother, and Mary the mother of James.
– Other women were very wealthy – Joanna, the wife of Chuza who was a steward in King Herod’s household, Susanna, and Jairus’ daughter.
– Some women had relative freedom and responsibility – such as Martha and Mary of Bethany, who were landowners.
– Some were foreigners – The Syro-Phoenician woman
– Others were castoffs due to illness or demon possession – such as the hemorrhaging woman, the woman bent double, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna.
– Some women were prominent – Joanna, and Jairus’ wife.
– Other women were considered lowly because they were prostitutes – The Samaritan woman, the “sinful” woman, and an unnamed anointing woman.
– Many women were widowed – Mary, the mother of Jesus, Anna, the widow of Nain, and the widow with the two mites.
One thing all of these women had in common was that they had sadness or troubles in their lives. Even one as wealthy as Joanna had been demon possessed and needed Jesus’ help. Jesus saved all of these women not only spiritually, but also physically and socially. Women who were sick were considered unclean and were social outcasts. The Jews did not give single women the same respect as married women. Impoverished widows were neglected and were in danger of starvation and illness. Prostitutes were socially unacceptable anywhere.
When Jesus met the needs of all of these women He gave them new life – physically, socially, and spiritually. One of those amazing encounters for Jesus was with a woman that He met while traveling to Samaria.
In our last post we saw that Jesus was helping a Samaritan woman to understand spiritual truth. The woman had only thought of worship in terms of the physical realm. Jesus used the example of physical water to get her to think on a higher plane. Water was a metaphor for life. Jesus wants to tell her about her spiritual life.
At this point, Jesus paused and asked her to go and call her husband. Was this just a distraction or did Jesus have a further spiritual point to make? Let’s continue our story by turning to John 4:16.
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
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 ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
The Samaritan woman had still been thinking literally, and asked Jesus to give her that living water so that she would never get thirsty again or have to come to draw the water. Again, Our Lord responds in an unexpected manner with, “Go call your husband, and come back.” She responds, “I have no husband.” Jesus commends her honesty, but proceeds to startle her by telling her something only a prophet, or the Son of God, could know. She has had five husbands, and the one she was living with was not her husband. We do not know exactly what her status was, but Jesus’ answer makes the woman realize that Jesus must be a prophet, and so she shifts the conversation to religion. She points up a major difference between the Jewish worship and Samaritan worship. Perhaps she points to Mount Gerizim, seen in the background from where they are sitting. “Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain.”
Jesus responds that the Samaritans worship what they do not know. He is the living and true Temple; He is the focus of worship, not a certain mountain. The Messiah does come from the Jews, but an hour is coming when worship will be, “in spirit and truth;” The woman recalls that Messiah will come and declare all things to them. Jesus very plainly tells her, “I who speak to you am He.”
She was certain then that the man to whom she was speaking was indeed the Messiah! She left her water pot and ran to the town to tell everyone about Him. “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
The people in the town must have been amazed that the woman would approach them
so openly with her story! They knew who she was. Women were not seen as credible witnesses. A prostitute must have had even less credibility. It is incredible that they believed her because of her testimony. Truly this was a work of God. Later, many would come to belief in Jesus.
While the townspeople were making their way toward the well, Jesus’ disciples had some questions of their own.
Let’s continue with verse 31:
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 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.
They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
And so, on an ordinary day, an unremarkable, lowly, nameless woman came to meet her Savior. Not only that, but her courage, and the enthusiasm of her testimony led many others to belief in Jesus as Messiah. The woman left her water pot and ran to tell others of her new freedom in Christ. Many of the villagers went to see Jesus for themselves. Unlike the unbelieving Jewish leaders who wanted to get rid of Jesus, these grateful Samaritans begged Jesus to stay and teach them. Jesus did stay with them for two days.
Application
The woman at the well was forgiven, cleansed, and moved to tell others of the goodness of her Savior. Jesus cared more about her than the false rules of the Pharisees. God never intended for women to be abused in Israel the way they were by the time of the first century. Jesus restored women to their original place as children of God. Jesus invited women to be His disciples. Jesus confirmed the worth and value of women when this woman from Samaria became one of the first evangelists! We can follow her example as we serve our Savior.
