S116P1 – Difficult truths: the Samaritan woman
Jn. 4:11-18
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 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.”
It was the moment of truth. I had raised my hand when everyone’s eyes were closed, but now I was being asked to walk to the front of the room to accept prayer. They all would be able to see me, and they would know that I had things to fix. It was not until the pastor led me through that prayer that I was challenged to acknowledge my sins through confession. In that moment, I was face-to-face with God. I knew that He could see everything about me, and I would not be able to hide anything from him. Still, even knowing that He already was aware of my sin, saying the words was difficult. God had been pointing out my faults for some time, shortcomings I did not want to acknowledge as such.
Jesus knew that the Samaritan woman’s life was a mess. We see that from this discussion of her relationships. She was living in a manner that was ungodly, but Jesus should not have known this. He was not a Samaritan, not from her community, and had not met her until that day. It appears that she was drawing water from that well alone, which seems to indicate that she was in some ways separated from her community. Jesus pointed out nothing else to her but her relationship track record, and He struck a nerve in doing that. He knew what was keeping her from spiritual freedom, so He tackled that lifestyle head-on. In doing so, He showed her where she had gone wrong through conviction, not condemnation.
Difficult as it might have been for this woman to have a stranger point out the errors of her life, her response was magical. She dropped her water pot and raced back to town to tell others of her experience. Once she encountered spiritual living water, she completely forgot her need for physical water. Like her, God will confront us with difficult truths to try and get us to wake up. We can choose to awaken or hit the snooze and keep living in a dream world. Hopefully, these truths shake us the way they shook the Samaritan woman. Hopefully, we acknowledge these truths and pursue genuine change. Father, continue to show us where we have erred, and prepare us to change even more.