Come See A Man...! - Part Four

 

 

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are q prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that, Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

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LESSON



 

The woman still has her mind on earthly things and she thinks, "I've just walked downhill and it took me forty-five minutes and I'm going to take an hour to walk back uphill and this round trip every day is two hours. Now if I had running water in the house this would save me a lot of steps. Plumbing is the answer." She was not ready to receive this living spring. Her idea of it was still on the plane of selfishness, and there was no thought of the cost to the giver. So she said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst nor come here to draw" (v. 15). Now when a person is stupid like that, what are you going to do? You've got to put your finger on the fact that they're sinners. 'Woman," He said, "Go call thy husband." Now this was her sin. If he was talking to some men, He'd say, "Go and get your income tax form and let me see it." Or He might say something else that covers your particular sin and relationship to the Lord.

 

What will be her answer to this question? For He is revealing His deity and showing her that He knows the thoughts of her heart and the actions of her life. She is forced to respond that she has no husband. Forced, I say, for immediately the Lord shows her the extent of His knowledge. "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." (See vv. 17- 18.)

 

So to you today the Lord speaks, offering living water, springing up within you. But if your heart is to receive the gift of this eternal spring you must first admit your sinfulness before the Lord. There are some who may be low in sin as men count their standards. There are some who may be high. But pride is as bad in the sight of a holy God as adultery, and murder can be forgiven where God will not receive the one who rejects the atoning value in the death of Jesus Christ.

 

The woman is confused. Here a stranger surprised her by engaging her in conversation and has kept the talk on a level which she had never known before. He had made wonderful promises and then, suddenly, had told her the secret thoughts and actions of her life.

 

She knows already that this is no ordinary man. So she takes the first step saying, "Sir, I perceive that Thou art a prophet."

This is what is known as a red herring across the trail to try to get the subject changed as fast as possible. Brother, he has just made it hot for her and she is taking recourse in theology. Theology is very, very frequently the first recourse of the person who is convicted of sin. You talk to people about their souls and they say, "Oh, tell me, what do you believe about evolution." They will twist away like a game trout and will do all they can to avoid the definite approach to their own need. Men are quite willing to listen to talk about the sins of the social order or about men of old; but if you come down to the penetrating "Thou art the man," they seek to avoid the implications of that declaration which is intended only to bring them over into the place where God can bless them.

 

But the Lord used even the theological argument to bring out further truth for her. She had said, that since He must be a prophet, she would like to know His opinion about the age-long controversy between Jew and Samaritan concerning the place of worship. Was it in reality at Jerusalem as the Jews claimed, or upon the nearby mountain as the Samaritans contended? He was very true to the Scriptures in His answer, and yet He found it possible to bring the subject back from the by-path of a theological discussion.

 

He pointed out that the time was soon coming when men would no longer be required to worship God with any geographical restrictions. Worship was to be taken away from temples made with hands into the inner sanctuaries of men's hearts. Her fathers had indeed been wrong and she was worshiping in ignorance, for salvation was indeed of the Jews. "But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." (See vv. 23,24.)

 

What conviction is in this explanation! God does not desire external form, but a heart that understands the sin of the old nature and realizes that the unchanging holiness of God demands a sacrifice no less than the blood of Jesus Christ. To such a heart God makes Himself known. To such a heart God brings life.

 

Once again Jesus brought the conversation down to her personal need and the woman once more sought to escape. She broke in with an attempt to stop the conversation entirely. "Messiah who is called Christ will come," she argued. "When He comes He will be able to bring a fulness of teaching, answering all questions." This was a polite hint that the question could now be dropped for good. Messiah is greater than any prophet and she was willing to wait for Messiah. How astounded she must have been at the breath-taking answer of the Lord Jesus. For in words that could not be misunderstood He announced simply that He was the Messiah.

 

To any one familiar with the Old Testament such an answer classifies the speaker at once. Jesus claims to be the Messiah. This claim is true or false. If it is true, then He is the Saviour. If it be false then He is of the spirit of the antichrist. There can be no middle ground. Jesus is Jehovah or He was an hallucinated being with religious megalomania. No one can truly stop with mere praise of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ must be cursed or worshiped if one is to retain the least semblance of proper thinking.

 

He claims to be Jehovah. If He is not what He claims to be reason leaves no other response; He would be a deceiver or deranged. But we accept His claim and worship Him as the eternal God. At this moment the disciples returned.

 

The woman, in amazement at the revelation of the Person of Jehovah the Messiah, left her waterpot and started up the hill in haste to the village. Forgotten was her errand at the well. She arrived in the village and came to a group of men probably seated in the shade by the village gate, looking down over the valley. They knew her. A woman cannot live in a village and have had five husbands and be living with another man without her name and fame being bandied about among the men.

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