I remember the first time I read John 4. I was sitting in my living room in November of 2009. I had just been saved in January of 2009. I had heard the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. I had listened to sermons on it and had probably read a verse of it here and there. But November 2009 was the first time I sat down with my Bible and a copy of Kay Arthur's "God, Are You There?," I had heard Mrs. Arthur speak a few weeks before and I was enthralled with her love for the Word. So I drove out to Precepts, bought the book and was just really getting started studying the Bible on my own for the first time. The book goes through the Book of John and I fell in love with the Bible almost immediately after starting.
I was reading through the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. John 3 had just told me that God loved the world in such a way that He sent His son to die for us all so that we could live. Now, seeking to show an example of the way God loves everyone, Jesus is approached by a woman who was otherwise despised by the people of God. She was a Samaritan - a people who were called 'dogs' by the Jews. She was also a whore. She was living with a man to whom she was not married and was on her fifth guy at that. To the Jews, this type of woman should have been stoned. They would not have spoken to her. No one would have acknowledged her. She was not worth their time. Think porn star. Think hooker. Think homeless. Who would you hesitate to even turn your head toward on the street? Who would you neglect to speak with if forced into the same proximity? This is who she was.
Jesus - being the guy He is, is not intimidated by her in the slightest. What you or I would consider as filthiness doesn't phase Him in the least. He tells her to give Him a drink. Pretty directly. No mistaking, He is talking to her. She tries to be kind and let Him know who she is. She tells him, You are a Jew, I'm a Samaritan woman, why are you talking to me? Likewise, Jesus is kind enough to tell the Samaritan woman who He is - If you knew the gift of God that sits before you, you would be asking me for a drink of the Living Water.
The woman's response? "The well is deep and I don't see that you have anything to get it out with. Where then will you get the living water?" How are you going to get me that water? Do you have what it takes? This woman, deep in her mess of a life, is challenging Jesus - wondering if He can really help her.
Jesus answer her, I imagine Him looking her right in the eye - something that no one else ever did - and tells her that if she drinks of the water that only He can give, she will never thirst again. The Greek word Jesus uses for "thirst" is "dipsao" and it means someone who feels their want, to long for something, those things by which the soul is refreshed and strengthened. Jesus is offering her the ability to never long for anything ever again. With a history like this woman has, what is it that you think she has been longing for her entire life? Love. Committment. Someone who thinks her worthy enough to stick around. I understand that longing. And I understand the hope one feels when they realize that this is exactly what Jesus can give.
The woman asks Jesus to give her the water so that she might not thirst, or come back to the well to draw water. Jesus then asks her to bring her husband to the well with her. In a moment of blinding truth, the woman admits she has no husband. Jesus then does something terribly merciful. He reveals Himself completely to her as the Messiah. I often thought that Jesus was being cruel in stating this woman's sin to her so bluntly. But as I was reading the account closely, it occurred to me that what the woman said after Jesus told her He knew who she really was - all of her sin - that He was, in fact, being merciful. The Samaritan woman says, "I know the Messiah is coming, and He will tell us all things." Jesus responds: "I am."
The woman leaves her waterpot - she won't need it any more - and immediately travels into the city where she proclaims what Christ has done for her and urges others to go speak to Him as well. Verse 39 is the verse that I am after, though: "And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testifed, "He told me all that I ever did."
Revelation 12:11 tells us that in defeating satan, "they (the saints) overcame him (satan) by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and they (the saints) did not love their lives to the death." These words for testimony are from the same root, "Martus" - the word from which we get our word "martyr." It means to be a specator, a witness, to testify by divine revelation, those who, after His example, prove the strength and genuineness of their faith in Christ by undergoing a violent death.
That Samaritan woman wasn't supposed to even speak to Jesus - she could have been stoned by Jews for speaking to Him. But she left her water pot - she traded it in for the Living Water. And she testified - she spoke of what could have only been revealed through divine revelation. With the freedom that Jesus had just given her, she could have done anything. She could have gone anywhere. But where did she go? She saught to testify to those who hated her. She saught to save those who had despised her. And because of her testimony many were saved.
That is how we defeat satan. That is how we overcome. By the blood of the Lamb - by accepting Christ's sacrifice - and by testifying about it. By not caring about our own lives any more. By not caring what people think of us, what they thought of us, by not letting those things affect us any more. By seeing only what Christ sees when He looks at us and then talking about it to everyone we see. By the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony - like those who, after Christ's example, prove the strength and genuineness of our faith in Christ by undergoing a violent death.
Die violently today. Just let it go. Walk away from what you thought you wanted to be. Accept Christ's sacrifice. Know the blood of the Lamb as it washes you clean and die to who you were before you knew Him. And go testify. Seek to save those that hate you. Seek to save those that think you less or unworthy. By the Blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony, let many be saved.
No comments:
Post a Comment