On the way to Galilee Jesus passed through Samaria. It was noon when He reached Jacob’s well. Wearied with His journey, He sat down to rest while His disciples went to buy food.
(HLv 116.1)
Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies. To trade with Samaritans in case of necessity was counted lawful by the rabbis; but a Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan, nor receive a kindness, not even a morsel of bread or a cup of water. The disciples, in buying food, were acting in harmony with the custom of their nation. But to ask a favor of the Samaritans did not enter the thought even of Christ’s disciples.
(HLv 116.2)
As Jesus sat by the well, He was faint from hunger and thirst. The journey had been long, and the sun of noontide beat upon Him. His thirst was increased by the thought of the cool, refreshing water so near; yet He had no rope nor water jar, and the well was deep.
(HLv 116.3)
A woman of Samaria approached, and seeming unconscious of His presence, filled her pitcher with water. As she turned to go, Jesus asked for a drink. Such a favor no Oriental would withhold. To offer a drink to the thirsty traveler was a duty so sacred that Arabs would go out of their way to perform it.
(HLv 116.4)
The Saviour was seeking to find the key to the woman’s heart, and with the tact born of divine love, He asked a favor. Trust awakens trust. The King of heaven came to this outcast soul, asking a service at her hands. He who made the ocean, who controls the waters of the deep, who opened the springs and channels of the earth, was dependent on a stranger’s kindness for even a drink of water.
(HLv 116.5)
The woman saw that Jesus was a Jew. In her surprise she forgot to grant His request, but tried to learn the reason for it. “How is it,” she asked, “that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?”
(HLv 117.1)
Jesus answered, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him and He would have given thee living water.” Had you asked of Me, I would have given you to drink of the water of everlasting life.
(HLv 117.2)
The woman’s light, bantering manner began to change. “Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast Thou that living water? Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself?” She saw before her only a thirsty traveler. In her mind she compared Him with Jacob. She was looking backward to the fathers, and forward to the Messiah’s coming, while the Messiah Himself was beside her, and she knew Him not. How many thirsty souls are today close by the living fountain, yet looking far away for the wellsprings of life!
(HLv 117.3)
With solemn earnestness Jesus said, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
(HLv 117.4)
Everywhere men long for something to supply the unsatisfied need of the soul. Only One can meet that want—Christ, “the Desire of all nations.” The divine grace which He imparts is as living water, purifying and invigorating the soul.
(HLv 117.5)
Jesus did not convey the idea that merely one draft of the water of life would suffice. He who tastes of the love of Christ will continually long for more; but he seeks for nothing else. The riches, honors, and pleasures of the world do not attract him. The constant cry of his heart is, More of Thee. Our Redeemer is an inexhaustible fountain. We may drink, and drink again; and ever find a fresh supply.
(HLv 117.6)
Jesus had aroused the woman’s interest and awakened a desire for the gift of which He spoke. “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.”
(HLv 118.1)
Jesus now abruptly turned the conversation. Before this soul could receive the gift He longed to bestow, she must be brought to recognize her sin and her Saviour. Jesus said to her, “Go, call thy husband, and come hither.” She answered, “I have no husband.” But the Saviour continued, “Thou hast well said, I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.”
(HLv 118.2)
The listener trembled. A mysterious hand was turning the pages of her life history. Who was He that could read the secrets of her life? There came to her thoughts of eternity, of the future judgment, when all that is now hidden shall be revealed.
(HLv 118.3)
She tried to evade all mention of a subject so unwelcome. “Sir, I perceive that Thou art a prophet.” Then, hoping to silence conviction, she turned to points of religious controversy.
(HLv 118.4)
Patiently Jesus watched for the opportunity of again bringing the truth home to her heart. “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,” she said, “and Ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Just in sight was Mount Gerizim, a subject of contention between Jews and Samaritans. For many generations the latter people were intermingled with idolaters, whose religion gradually contaminated their own.
(HLv 118.5)
When the temple at Jerusalem was rebuilt in the days of Ezra, the Samaritans wished to join the Jews in its erection. This was refused, and bitter animosity sprang up between the two peoples. The Samaritans built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim. But their temple was destroyed by enemies, and they seemed to be under a curse; yet they would not acknowledge the temple at Jerusalem as the house of God, nor admit that the religion of the Jews was superior.
(HLv 118.6)
In answer to the woman, Jesus said, “Believe Me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.” Now Jesus sought to break down the prejudice of this Samaritan against the Jews. Great truths of redemption had been committed to the Jews, and from among them the Messiah was to appear.
(HLv 119.1)
Jesus desired to lift the thoughts of His hearer above controversy. “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
(HLv 119.2)
Not by seeking a holy mountain or a sacred temple are men brought into communion with heaven. In order to serve God aright, we must be born of the divine Spirit. This will purify the heart and renew the mind, giving us a willing obedience to all His requirements. This is true worship. It is the fruit of the working of the Holy Spirit. Wherever a soul reaches out after God, there the Spirit’s working is manifest, and God will reveal Himself to that soul.
(HLv 119.3)
As the woman talked with Jesus, she was impressed with His words. As the past of her life had been spread out before her, she realized her soul thirst, which the waters of the well of Sychar could never satisfy. Nothing had hitherto so awakened her to a higher need. Jesus read the secrets of her life; yet she felt that He was her friend, pitying and loving her. While the purity of His presence condemned her sin, He had spoken no word of denunciation, but had told her of His grace that could renew the soul. The question arose in her mind, Might not this be the long-looked-for Messiah? She said to Him, “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things.” Jesus answered, “I that speak unto thee am He.”
(HLv 119.4)
As the woman heard these words, faith sprang up in her heart. She accepted the wonderful announcement from the lips of the divine Teacher.
(HLv 120.1)
This woman was in an appreciative state of mind. She was interested in the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit had been preparing her to receive more light. Light on Old Testament prophecies was already flashing into her mind. The water of life which Christ gives to every thirsty soul had begun to spring up in her heart.
(HLv 120.2)
The plain statement made by Christ to this woman could not have been made to the self-righteous Jews. That which had been withheld from them, and which the disciples were afterward enjoined to keep secret, was revealed to her. Jesus saw that she would make use of her knowledge in bringing others to share His grace.
(HLv 120.3)
When the disciples returned from their errand, they were surprised to find their Master speaking with the woman. He had not taken the refreshing draught He desired, and He did not stop to eat the food His disciples had brought. When the woman had gone, the disciples entreated Him to eat. They saw Him silent, His face beaming with light, and they feared to interrupt, but they thought it their duty to remind Him of His physical necessities. Jesus recognized their loving interest and said, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.”
(HLv 120.4)
The disciples wondered who could have brought Him food. He explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.” RSV. To minister to a soul hungering and thirsting for truth was more comforting and refreshing to Him than eating or drinking.
(HLv 120.5)
Our Redeemer hungers for the sympathy and love of those whom He has purchased with His blood. As the mother watches for the smile of recognition from her little child, which tells of the dawning of intelligence, so does Christ watch for the expression of grateful love, which shows that spiritual life is begun in the soul.
(HLv 120.6)
The woman had been filled with joy as she listened to Christ’s words. Leaving her waterpot, she returned to the city to carry the message to others. She forgot her errand to the well, she forgot the Saviour’s thirst, which she had purposed to supply. With heart overflowing with gladness, she hastened to impart to others the light she had received.
(HLv 121.1)
“Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did,” she said to the men of the city. “Is not this the Christ?” There was a new expression on her face, a change in her whole appearance. “They went out of the city, and came unto Him.”
(HLv 121.2)
As Jesus still sat at the well side, He looked over the fields of grain spread out before Him, their tender green touched by the golden sunlight. Pointing His disciples to the scene, He employed it as a symbol: “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” As He spoke, He looked on the groups coming to the well. Here was a harvest ready for the reaper.
(HLv 121.3)
“He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth and another reapeth.” Those who receive the gospel are to be His living agencies. One scatters the seed; another gathers the harvest; and both rejoice together in the reward of their labor.
(HLv 121.4)
Jesus said to the disciples, “I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors.” The disciples were entering into other men’s labors. An unseen agency had worked silently but effectually to produce the harvest. Christ was about to water the seed with His own blood. His disciples were co-workers with Christ and with holy men of old. By the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, thousands were to be converted in a day. This was the result of Christ’s sowing, the harvest of His work.
(HLv 121.5)
The Samaritans came and heard Jesus, and believed. Crowding about Him at the well, they plied Him with questions, and eagerly received His explanations of many things that had been obscure to them. Their perplexity began to clear away. Anxious to hear more, they invited Him to their city, and begged Him to remain with them. For two days He tarried in Samaria, and many more believed.
(HLv 122.1)
Jesus performed no miracles among them, save in revealing the secrets of her life to the woman at the well. Yet many received Him. In their new joy they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”
(HLv 122.2)
Jesus had begun to break down the partition wall between Jew and Gentile, and to preach salvation to the world. He mingled freely with the Samaritans and accepted the hospitality of this despised people. He slept under their roofs, ate with them at their tables, taught in their streets, and treated them with the utmost kindness and courtesy.
(HLv 122.3)
In the temple at Jerusalem a low wall separated the outer court from other portions of the sacred building. On this wall were inscriptions stating that none but Jews were allowed to pass this boundary. Had a Gentile presumed to enter the inner enclosure, he would have paid the penalty with his life. But Jesus, the originator of the temple, brought to the Gentiles the salvation which the Jews rejected.
(HLv 122.4)
The disciples wondered at the conduct of Jesus. During the two days in Samaria, fidelity to Him kept their prejudices under control; yet in heart they were unreconciled. They were slow to learn that contempt and hatred must give place to pity and sympathy. But after the Lord’s ascension, His lessons came back to them with new meaning. They recalled the Saviour’s look, His words, the respect and tenderness of His bearing toward these despised strangers. When Peter went to preach in Samaria, he brought the same spirit into his work. When John was called to Ephesus and Smyrna, he remembered the experience at Shechem, and the divine Teacher’s own example.
(HLv 123.1)
Those who call themselves the Saviour’s followers may despise and shun the outcast; but no circumstance of birth or nationality, no condition of life, can turn away His love from any soul, however sinful. The gospel invitation is to be given to all. At Jacob’s well Jesus did not neglect the opportunity of speaking to one woman, a stranger living in open sin.
(HLv 123.2)
Often He began His lessons with only a few gathered about Him, but one by one the passers-by paused to listen, until a multitude heard with wonder and awe the words of God through the heaven-sent Teacher. There may be only one to hear the message from a worker for Christ today, but who can tell how far-reaching will be its influence?
(HLv 123.3)
The Samaritan woman proved herself a more effective missionary than His own disciples. Through her a whole cityful were brought to hear the Saviour. Every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary. He who drinks of the living water becomes a fountain of life. The receiver becomes a giver. The grace of Christ in the soul is like a spring in the desert, refreshing all and making those who are ready to perish eager to drink of the water of life.
(HLv 123.4)