The woman to whom the Lord Jesus talked at Jacob’s well was so eager for her friends to see and know Him that she left her water jars to carry another time, so she could go more quickly to tell them.
While she was gone, Jesus talked to the disciples, who wanted Him to eat the food they had bought. He was so glad to have one believe His words as the woman had, and because He knew others there would believe too, that He felt satisfied without food.
He spoke of a harvest time, and told His disciples to lift up their eyes and look on the fields, “for they are white already to harvest.” Jesus meant there were people in that land who were ready to believe on Him as the woman did; they would be as a “harvest” to be gathered in for God, and the disciples were not to wait to go to tell them of Him.
Converts
The people the woman told about Jesus soon came to the well. She had said to them, “Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” They knew the Messiah, or Christ, had been promised to come to earth to save from sin, and they, too, had sins like the woman. Her honest words made them want to see this Holy One, and they came promptly.
We are not told what the Lord Jesus said to them, but they also believed Him to be the Christ, and invited Him to come into the town to visit them. They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have seen Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”
These people did not then know that Jesus must give His life to be their Saviour and the Saviour of the world, but they were glad He had come to earth. After He had given His life on the cross to suffer for all, and had risen and returned to Heaven, some of the disciples went to the towns of Samaria and told the people more about Him. Many more believed then, and there was great joy for such a Saviour. They were a part of the “harvest” for God, as Jesus told the disciples.
Challenging Work
It is not easy work to gather grain in the warm harvest time, and the disciples walked many miles to tell people of Christ. Now there are very many people to be told of Him, perhaps our own friends. Do you suppose we are as earnest and willing to leave our work or pleasure, as this woman who left her water jars, to tell her friends quickly of Christ? Although water was so necessary to her, she knew it was more needed for them to know One to save them from sins.
The woman also learned that day that it was not just at one certain mountain that God could be honored. Jesus told her that God wanted true praise, or worship, wherever the people were, and that it would be by His Holy Spirit, who teaches His words.
Further Meditation:
1. What did Jesus mean when He talked about the harvest?
2. Who else left things to follow or serve God? What did they leave?
3. For inspiring stories from the life of a man who worked faithfully to serve God you might enjoy Stories of the Grace of God in Bolivia by F. Smith.