How all that is in Christ just came out so beautifully and perfectly suited to such a one as that poor thing at the well of Samaria! How came He to be there when she came? How came He to be on earth? Why did He come out of heaven at all? There is no other answer save the father’s in regard to the prodigal: “It was meet.”
I cannot ask why God should show mercy, for He declares, “I will have mercy on whom I will.” Blessed be His name, He has a character of His own, and He will show it forth in having mercy on poor sinners. How? Ah, by their being justified by the Son of His love! If a builder, there must be a foundation stone. His own Son must come off the throne, out of glory, if poor sinners are to go up into it. And oh! the willingness of that Son!
“I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” In His soul there was a deep need that went far beyond the need of the body, and He had been meeting that need of His soul, while the disciples were looking after bits of bread for the body. He hungered and thirsted till the work His Father had sent Him to do was done thoroughly. And ah! blessed Lord! Because Thy Father is seeking worshippers, Thou canst turn any poor sinner into a worshipper as Thou didst that poor woman of Samaria.
When one thinks of that woman—where is she now? Absent from the body and present with the Lord. And when He comes forth, there she will be with Him, the possessor of eternal life, a monument to redeeming love for all eternity.
G. V. Wigram