Jesus Christ: 8th Journey

Jacob's Well

Here we are on the final journey of this period of time in Jesus' Life. Jesus is preparing to start His rich Galilean ministry; nonetheless, here we are with the remainder of the beginnings of Jesus' Ministry, as we talk about Jacob's well.

The reading here is quite lengthy, which is John 4:3-42. Jesus journeyed from Judea to Sychar in Samaria. Usually the Jews do not go through Samaria. This time Jesus did not pass Samaria without going through and stopping at the Well.

 As Jesus was coming to a village in Samaria, He saw a woman at a well. This was a Samaritan woman, and had a similar issue that Nicodemus had, which was that she took Jesus so literally. She had no clue what He meant by “Living Water”—for she thought Jesus was speaking of living water from the well. However, Jesus meant eternal life. Jesus promised her that if she accepted the “Living Water,” her deepest needs would be meant forever!

This woman had sin in her life that needed to be exposed apparently, to which, Jesus found out—even though she hid in embarrassment. As soon as she realized this One was of Divine origin, she loosened up, but quickly changed the subject to the issue between the Jews and Samaritans not deciding upon the location of the Temple.

Jesus told her that the important matters did not involve race or other specific demographic, but rather, those that would concern a right attitude of spirit and right relation with God.

The woman did not understand what He was saying, and told Him that she would wait for the Messiah to come and talk to her. However, Jesus said that He was the Messiah speaking to her, to which, she hurried back to tell the villagers about Him and urge them to come see Him. They rushed over so quickly to see the Messiah.

Meanwhile, the Disciples tended to interpret Jesus’ words literally as well, instead of symbolically, to which, they spoke on the subject of food. Jesus told them that real strength came from obedience to God, not from food. He planned to continue to feed the flock in His Work on Earth by God’s Word, not by meat and drink.

This all has meaning that if a farmer sows a seed; he has to wait many months for it to reap a harvest. In the Samaritan woman’s case, the seed that Jesus sowed into her heart was already bearing fruit, for the Samaritan villagers were already hurrying to find out about Jesus. The Disciples would even reap soon.

The harvest being reaped was from a seed sown long ago from the messengers (Prophets) from God, the ones that went before them. From the Old Testament Prophets to John the Baptist, these predecessors paved the way of the process of redemption that the Lord Jesus would bring upon the earth.

Even though the woman had introduced the villagers to Jesus, they did have to have personal faith in Jesus Christ as we all do! People would soon realize, and thank the Lord nonetheless, that Jesus’ Salvation He brought was not limited to a certain race or group of people.

What can we learn from this?

Jesus went into a territory that may be of hazard, as the Samaritans hated the Jews (and vice-versa likely), to which, we too should not go into places of trouble unless we must go (especially according to the Will of God—for Jesus “must needs to go through Samaria”).

If we do go to the place of trouble, do not linger there, but quickly proceed. Christ did not show anger to her as the Jews did, but was there to bless her. This is what we should do also is not to do something impure in heart, but be Christlike nonetheless.

In addition, just as the Samaritan woman went to tell about Jesus, we too should do the same, and that is to tell as many people as possible about Jesus, our Savior! The woman also had sin, and Jesus was willing to forgive her, just as He does for us. No past sins can bar our acceptance from Jesus!

Lastly, we know that when seeds are sown, a harvest can be reaped, to which, we too can think this way. When we go to speak about Jesus, for example, people may not accept it at first, or they may be confused. However, know that the seed is sown. We may not get anywhere, or people may decline Him at first; however, with the seed sown, the harvest could be reaped eventually.