{"id":227,"date":"2021-11-21T23:56:21","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T23:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deadmannotwalking.org\/?p=227"},"modified":"2021-11-21T23:56:59","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T23:56:59","slug":"well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deadmannotwalking.org\/?p=227","title":{"rendered":"Well"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water.  Jesus said to her, \u201cGive Me a drink.\u201d  For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, \u201cHow is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?\u201d (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)  Jesus answered and said to her, \u201cIf you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, \u2018Give Me a drink,\u2019 you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water . . .  From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, \u201cHe told me all the things that I have<\/em> done.\u201d  So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, \u201cIt is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.\u201d  (John 4:7-10, 39-42, NASB)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an interesting story:  The Samaritan Woman at the Well.  Jesus is traveling with His disciples through the region of Samaria.  They arrive on the outskirts of a town called Sychar.  The disciples go into town to buy some food.  Jesus sits down at a well.  He’s waiting for her. 
Interestingly, this is Jacob’s Well, dug by the patriarch himself!  The woman arrives, and starts to draw water.  Jesus asks her for a drink.  She is amazed, John explains, because she is a Samaritan, and He is a Jew.  The Jews at the time looked down on the Samaritans, thinking of them as a mongrel race.  Sometime before, the Assyrians had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel.  Many people were exiled, and the Assyrians settled many of their people in the region.  The people intermarried, producing people called Samaritans.  The Samaritans worshiped idols, and some worshiped the God of Israel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus and the woman converse.\u00a0 Jesus tells her that He is source of living water; that His water is such that she would never thirst again, and would provide springs of water leading to eternal life.\u00a0 She doesn’t understand, and asks for this water so she doesn’t have to keep coming to the well to schlep water to her home.\u00a0 Jesus then tells her things about her life that a stranger wouldn’t know:\u00a0 How she’s had five husbands; and the man she lives with now is not her husband.\u00a0 She believes that He is a prophet, and tells Him that she expects the Messiah, the Christ, to appear soon.\u00a0 Jesus tells her that He is the One!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well<\/em> by Angelika Kauffman, 1795<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The woman runs back to town to spread the word about Jesus.  The townspeople come to see for themselves.  They ask, and Jesus agrees, to stay with them for two days to teach them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disciples were “amazed” that Jesus had been speaking with a woman.  I believe that Jesus was serving notice to his students that even in this culture that was dominated by men, His message of salvation was for women, too.  That He would spend time with the Samaritans said that salvation was not only for the people of Israel, but also for Gentiles! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of the Samaritan Woman teaches us lessons of salvation:\u00a0 She believed.\u00a0 She went to tell others.\u00a0 They came to see, and then believed.\u00a0 Salvation is for everyone.\u00a0
Have you heard the news of God’s salvation?\u00a0 Have you believed?\u00a0 Have you told somebody else who needs to be saved?\u00a0
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