SOON after the Lord Jesus commenced His public ministry in this world, He went to Nazareth where He had been brought up; in the synagogue on the Sabbath day He read out of the book of the prophet Isaiah these words: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor: He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book” (Luke 4:18, 1918The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18‑19)).
At another time He was going from Judea into Galilee, and His road led through Samaria. He knew that a little off the way, in a certain city called Sychar, there was a poor woman, one of Satan’s many captives, whom he by his wiles had caught, and bound, and she was groaning beneath his heavy chains.
The Lord also knew that she would come to Jacob’s well at a certain hour to draw water, not at the time when women usually did this. They mostly did so in the cool of the morning or the evening: but she came in the middle of the day in the heat of the sun, when others were keeping themselves in the shade. This was no doubt because she was feeling her unhappy position, and did not wish that her neighbors even should hear her groans or see her tears; therefore she would perform this laborious task at this unfavorable hour, rather than be in their presence.
The Lord Jesus knew all this. He had heard her sighs; He had seen her grief; and He was conscious also that the great object for which He came into the world was “to bind up the broken-hearted,” and to set such miserable captives free. Therefore, being wearied with His journey, He sat thus on the well; and it was ordered that His disciples were gone into the city to buy meat so that He might speak to her alone.
It was not long before she made her appearance, with her water-pot on her shoulder. I almost think I can see her as she comes, with a listless, heavy step, her eyes looking on the ground, and feeling afraid, to come near, because someone was there.
But the Lord Jesus soon made her feel at home in His presence, by requesting of her a drink of water. He knew that the surest way to gain her confidence, and remove her fears, was to ask of her a favor.
How beautiful and lovely was this! It was just like Himself. And was there a more lovely sight than this ever witnessed, either in heaven or on earth; the Lord of glory making Himself a debtor to a sinful woman for a drink of water, so that He might speak to her words of eternal life; seeking in the tenderest way possible to bring this poor wanderer back to God?
But she does not enter into His thoughts, and therefore is surprised at His asking drink of her; for as yet she can only see Him to be a Jew though such a One as she had never seen before, so kind and gentle; and she wonders at His lowliness, and asks Him how it is He can so act, she being a woman of Samaria, one of a people whom the Jews despised.
Jesus knew that beneath that careworn brow there was a longing for deliverance and blessing, and that if she only knew where it was to be obtained, she would apply for it at once. Therefore He said to 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.”
But as yet she does not ask, and therefore cannot see beyond the water of the well, and thinks it is impossible for Him to get at it. She says, “Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; from whence then hast Thou that living water? “And she asked Him if He was greater than their father Jacob, who gave them the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children and his cattle.
Jesus replied, “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.”
These wonderful words are true today; and how blessed is the portion of those who drink of this life-giving stream. The waters of earth fail to satisfy. Those who drink of them are continually thirsting again. But those who drink of the water which Christ giveth, will never thirst. It satisfies the soul now, and it will do so for evermore (John 6:3535And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)).
This is what that poor woman of Samaria was longing for, though as yet she does not know what He means. But little by little the light breaks in upon her soul, and she does not doubt His word, but believes what He tells her, though she does not understand, and in her simplicity she asked Him to give her this water, that she might never thirst, neither come there to draw.
Thus the Lord led her on, quietly and patiently, step by step, to the knowledge of Himself. But He knew there was a very great barrier standing in the way of blessing, and it must be removed. It was a very tender point, but it must be touched in order that it might be put away. She was in a wrong position; and God cannot have fellowship with iniquity, and though she was aware of this, yet the chains by which she was bound were too strong for her, so that she could not deliver herself. Therefore the Lord Jesus said, “Go, call thy husband, and come hither.”
Then the whole truth came out, and she finds herself in the presence of One who knows her thoroughly, and is able to lay open her whole life before her. She then gets a little uneasy, for she sees that He cannot be any ordinary person that she is speaking with, and thinks He must be a prophet; and she begins to ask Him about worship.
This is no uncommon thing today. Souls burdened with sin, and not seeing the way of escape, often think they will get deliverance and blessing through worship: hence they become very zealous, and try this, and try that; they go here and go there. But it is all no good; they do not get what they want; still they go on laboring and toiling, till they come to the end of themselves, by seeing that they can do nothing, but are lost and undone. And then they find their present and eternal salvation in Christ, by believing in His name (John 20:3131But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (John 20:31)).
No doubt she had been trying again and again, as far as she could, but it was all to no purpose, as the Lord showed her by telling her that “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
But while they are away from Christ, and their sins unforgiven, they cannot worship God. And the woman (seems to have understood a little of this, for she owned that there was something she wanted, which was quite out of her reach. She could not tell what it was, but her hope was in One that was coming, and she said, “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ; when He is come, He will tell us all things.”
She did not say, We know, in a vague, careless way. To her it was a real, personal thing, and therefore she said, “I KNOW THAT MESSIAS COMETH.” There was One coming in whom her hopes were centered, and when He was come, all would be well, for He would make everything clear and plain, and thereby meet every desire she had.
Upon her saying this, the Lord Jesus said to her, “I that speak unto thee am He.”
This was enough! She had no other question to ask. She believed His word, and her soul was saved in a moment. The One was before her for whom she had been looking; and her chains were snapped in an instant. The bands of sin were broken, and the poor captive was set free, clean delivered out of the power of Satan forever. This was what she wanted. She drank of that living water, and her thirst was quenched, her soul was satisfied, and she passed from death into life by simply believing. According to the Lord’s own later word, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47)).
Having got deliverance herself, she now longed that others might have it also, and she ran into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
Then they went out of the city, and came to Him.
This is how it always is, more or less, with every new-born soul. Having received blessing themselves, their one desire is that others might have it also. This is how it was with her. She had now the gift of everlasting life, and so great was her joy that she lost sight of everything beside. She forgot her water-pot and her past circumstances too, bad as they had been. The past was over and gone, and everything was new to her, and the whole desire of her soul was that her neighbors might know the same precious Saviour, and enjoy the same deliverance with herself. And she had what she wanted, for in the warmth of her love she told it out, and her words were with power.
In the meantime His disciples prayed Him, saying, “Master, eat.”
But He said unto them, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” He had the delight of knowing that this woman was saved, not only from the wrath to come, but also from a life of sin down here. This gave Him a joy which nothing else could give. He had held out to her that living water, and she had drunk, and her soul was satisfied.
This was more to Him than all besides. His meat and His drink was thus to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to finish His work. This He had been doing by opening the prison to this once bound one, and binding up her broken heart.
This gave real refreshment and joy to His own soul, it was more than His necessary food.
The disciples saw this, and said one to another, “Hath any man brought Him ought to eat?” They could not enter into what He was doing. Though He was surrounded by them, yet in His labors for God, He was quite alone, for no one understood Him. But with joy and delight, He could point them to what was: going on, and add, “Say not ye there are yet four months, and thin cometh harvest? Behold I say unto you., Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest: and he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth may rejoice together.”
And this delivered woman was gone to try and gather some sheaves, and she went in the constraining power of love. And therefore she truly succeeded. And not only so, but the Lord Jesus saw in her a sample of that glorious harvest which is coming, when he that reapeth will receive his wages, and the sower and the reaper will indeed rejoice together for evermore. That is the day of ingathering, when the Lord Jesus will come in the clouds, to call His loved ones up to meet Him in the air, to spend an eternity with Himself in the unsullied light of His Father’s presence, washed from their sins in His own blood (John 14:1-31Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:1‑3); Rev. 1:55And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (Revelation 1:5)).
And this woman of Samaria will be there, one of the happiest of that happy throng. She will not only have the joy of her own blessed portion in Christ, but she will also have the unspeakable delight of knowing that she had been the means of bringing others to Him; and there they will be as her joy and crown of rejoicing, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming (1 Thess. 2:19, 2019For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? 20For ye are our glory and joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:19‑20)).
And how it must have added to her happiness at the time, too, in seeing others saved, and made partakers of the same joy and blessing with herself! For we read that the “Samaritans went unto Him, and besought Him to tarry with them. And He abode there two days; and many more believed because of His own word: and said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”
How very simple and beautiful was the faith given to these poor Samaritans, though the Lord Jesus did no miracle before them: neither was there anything outwardly that they could see: only the testimony of this delivered soul. They saw she was a new creature: and this gave power to her words; and like her they saw in Him the One that was to come, the One who was led as a Lamb to the slaughter, the Saviour of the world.
And when the Lord Jesus had passed through death and resurrection, then Philip went down to Samaria, and preached Christ glorified, and the blessing was very abundant (Acts 7.), thus carrying on the work which the Lord Jesus began when He was down here.
And what a glorious company from Samaria will awake and leave their graves to meet Him in the air when that happy morning comes, the morning of the glorious resurrection, when all who believe on Him now, during His absence, will be with Him, and like Him forever. These bodies of humiliation He will change, and fashion them like unto His glorious body (Phil. 3). Thus we shall spend an eternity with Him, “who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and bath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father: to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen” (Rev. 1:5, 65And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5‑6)).
H. T.
SWEET was the hour, O Lord, to Thee,
At Sychar’s lonely: well,
When a poor outcast heard Thee there
Thy great salvation tell.
Thither she came; but oh! her heart,
All filled with earthly care,
Dreamed not of Thee, nor thought to find
The Hope of Israel there.
Lord! ‘twas Thy power unseen that drew
The stray one to that place,
In solitude to learn from Thee
The secrets of Thy grace.
There Jacob’s erring daughter found
Those streams unknown before,
The waterbrooks of life, that make
The weary thirst no more.
And, Lord, to us, as vile as she,
Thy gracious lips have told
That mystery of love revealed
At Jacob’s well of old.