“Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee, and we are informed in 4:4: “And He must needs go through Samaria.” In other words, Jesus had to go through Samaria. In His infinite mind, Jesus knew that He had an appointment with a sinful woman there, and that a whole town needed Him. Jesus met the woman at Jacob's Well, where she had come to draw water and talked with her. She was a sinful woman who had been married five times and was living with a man out of wedlock at that time. Jesus told this sinful woman that He was/is the Messiah. That’s when she went into the town and told the town’s people about Jesus, and they went out to meet Him and accepted His message as well. (You can read the whole story in John 4.) This is an incident in the New Testament where Jesus changed a desperate woman’s life, and the lives of the people in the town in which she lived. How was she changed? First, before Jesus came into her life the woman was friendless. Women usually went to the well to get water together, but she was there by herself. Since she was a sinful woman, the other women in town wouldn’t have anything to do with her. I like to think that after she told the people about Jesus, she found a new acceptance in that town. The Bible doesn’t follow up on her life, but I believe that she was a changed woman after that encounter with Jesus, and because of Jesus she found a new acceptance among her neighbors. At least they listened to her when she told them about Jesus, and they went out to meet Him and also accepted Him as Messiah. Most importantly, the woman was, no doubt, able to accept herself because of her changed life. Jesus knew this woman’s predicament, and He acted to change her life. After Jesus came to town, the woman had a new fellowship with her neighbors. This is a beautiful picture of Jesus’ acceptance of sinners. Jesus promised that He would accept all who came to Him in faith. This woman was not too sinful to be saved, nor is anyone else if they will just come to Jesus in faith. Second, before Jesus came into her life, the woman was hopeless. Not only was she an outcast in her own community, she was lost in sin, which was reflected in her lifestyle. I imagine to the people who knew her, this woman was hopeless. I think that she probably thought she was hopeless too, and she was until she encountered Jesus at the well. She was given a new lease on life that was filled with the hope of Jesus. We need to understand that no one is really hopeless where Jesus is concerned, and if they have an encounter with Jesus they will be filled with hope. Jesus came to bring hope into a seemingly hopeless world. All over the world, people are accepting Jesus as Savior. Many of them are accepting His hope in spite of the threats on their lives. There is nothing greater than the hope that we have in Jesus. This woman shows us that people can be saved and enter into the hope of Jesus, regardless of what they have done in the past. To get a clearer picture of what I have written, I would like for you to read the fourth chapter of John’s gospel. It might be that there is something in your life that an encounter with Jesus can help you with and give you a renewed hope. It can also help us see that the people we know who seem hopelessly lost can encounter Jesus as well. Like the woman in the text, it might be that we could lead someone to an encounter with Jesus. Read this chapter and think about your own life. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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