About This Product
The story of how the woman at the well met Jesus, and what it meant to both of them. John 4. Former titles: "If Thou Knewest the Gift of God," "If You Only Knew," "The Gift," and "Bread Cast Upon the Waters" No. 9.
Full Text for This Product
When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples), He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. And He must needs go through Samaria.
Then cometh He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.
The woman saith unto Him, Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast Thou that living water? Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
The woman saith unto Him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
The woman answered and said, I have no husband.
Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom
thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
The woman saith unto Him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things.
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He.
And upon this came His disciples, and marveled that He talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest Thou with her?
The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a Man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
The Story Behind the Story
A weary Man sits at Jacob's well. He has left the land of the Pharisees. It is Jesus. He came in love to His own, to save them from their sins; but they received Him not. Weary and grieved was His tender heart, as He sat about the sixth hour at Jacob's well.
There is a woman coming with her waterpot to the well. She is one to whom the proud Pharisee would scorn to speak. She is a despised Samaritan, and that is not all; she is a poor wretched being, living in open sin. She little knows that she is about to meet the eye of Him who knows all that ever she did. She arrives at the well, and is astonished that Jesus, being a Jew, should ask her to give Him to drink. Jesus answered, and said unto her, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and He would have given thee living water.”
He did not say, “If thou wert not so great a sinner.” He did not say, “If thou wilt reform and become a holy woman, then I will give thee living water.” No! No! No! He let her know that He knew all that ever she had done.
But there was such a depth of pity, grace, and compassion in His wondrous countenance; such tender love to the sinner in those words, that it won her heart, it converted her soul. Christ was revealed to her; and leaving her water pot she went to the city—so full of Christ that, forgetting her own shame, she said, “Come see a man which told me all that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
My reader, can you meet the eye of Him who knows every thought of your heart from childhood? All that you ever did—open and naked to His eye! And can you say that you are not a sinner? How do you think it was that there was nothing in Jesus to repel this wretched sinner? And what do you think those words can mean—“If thou knewest the gift of God …?” Is this the one great thing needed by a poor wretched sinner? Yes, it is; there can be no mistake about it, for Jesus says it. Of whatever nation my reader may be, whatever the sins you may have committed, the first thing you need is not the waters of the Ganges, or the intercession of saints, or works of amendment; no, the thing you need is to know the gift of God.
Do you ask who and what is that gift of God? It is He, the very One who met that poor Samaritan sinner—Jesus the Son of God: As also it is written,
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. “The gift of God is eternal life.” Romans 6:23. “He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life.” 1 John 5:12.
My reader, it is a gift, a gift, a gift; oh, if you knew this! You cannot buy it; you cannot merit it. He that knows all that you ever did, all that that you are, sets before you Jesus the crucified Jesus the Risen One; Jesus the Glorified. Do you know Him, the Gift of all gifts?
Do thou say, “but my sins are heavy, they press me down, what must I do?” If you knew (simply recognized and claimed) the Gift of God! Yes, even though you have committed every sin that has been done in this dark world; yet God's gift, “redemption through his blood” abounds above it all. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7. His very business was saving just such burdened, weary, heavy-hearted sinners as you are.
Blessed be His holy name, the work is finished. May God reveal to your soul, my reader Christ Jesus. A changed life and holiness of life will follow. But the first thing is to recognize and to receive The Gift of God. C. Stanley
Charles Stanley (1821-1890) of Sheffield, England, was an effective itinerant evangelist whose messages have been translated into several languages and widely circulated for the past 150 years or more. This article was No. 9 in his “Bread Cast Upon the Waters” tracts series.