It was high noon in Samaria, and Jesus was talking to a woman. The moment was remarkable because Jews typically hated Samaritans. The offspring of intermarriage, which Jewish law prohibited, they were a nation of people who were half Jew, half Gentile and therefore wholly despised. In fact, even though Samaria was located in between, when traveling from Judea to Galilee, Jews added days to their journey by walking clear around it.

But not Jesus.

Also remarkable was the timing, because water was always drawn in the morning when the sun was still low. The well was on the outskirts of town, and the work was arduous. Drawing water at noon in the desert heat was a clear sign this woman was avoiding people--and Jesus knew why.

Jesus said to her, "Go call your husband, and come here." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true." (John 4:16-18)

Her reputation preceded her, probably everywhere she went. She'd been used and tossed away; or maybe she was in the habit of tossing men away. Whatever the reason, her life was wrought with scandal and void of friendship, and I can only imagine what the townspeople said behind her back. Or maybe to her face. Which made what came next the most remarkable of all.

"The woman said to him, 'I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.' Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am he' " (v.26)

Those seven words, spoken to the least likely of humans changed the course of history:

I who speak to you am He.

Until that moment, Jesus had only implied His true identity. The actual words--the announcement of God's arrival on earth, the fulfillment of hundreds of years of messianic prophecy, the Master's plan to restore the whole of creation--were whispered to the one no one wanted. He knew she'd be there. He knew her name and her pain and her need. She was, in fact, the reason He came, because from the well of Christ's immense and indiscriminating mercy flows His mission:

To rescue and redeem the lost.

"Whoever drinks of the water that 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" (v. 14 NIV)

PRAYER FOCUS

Ask God to completely rid you of any prejudice toward anyone so that you see them as Christ saw the Samaritan woman, then ask him to help you value living water over physical needs.



MOVING FORWARD

• What kind of statement was Jesus making by choosing to announce Himself to an outcast who was both a Samaritan and a woman?
• How was Jesus different than every other person she'd come across? How was she expecting to be treated by Him?
• After she realized Jesus was Messiah, she spread the word. How can you do the same?