Jesus who met a thirsty Samaritan woman
John 4:1-26
Key verse - John 4:26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
This scripture deals with a woman married & divorced 5 times and lives with the 6th man. During the conversation, she revealed that she was waiting for the perfect man, the Saviour (the Messiah, the Christ). Jesus declared in v26 “I, the one speaking to you – I am he.” Jesus is the true husband she was looking for.
The Bible indicates us that our relationships on the earth like husband & wife, father & son, and shepherd & sheep are mere shadow of true reality. God is husband and believer is His wife. The bridegroom is our Saviour and we are His brides. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are His sheep.
Men on the earth understand what women do before and after marriage would make them happy. We can apply the same principle to the relationship between ourselves and the Christ. We can think of whether we are good women to the Christ. Based on our purity, commitment, and love toward Him, we may see ourselves somewhere between pure brides and wayward wives. If you want a pure bride who makes 100% commitment to you and only loves you, you can know what the Christ also expect from us. Therefore let us always worship and serve Him only. Let us not be astray but give our heart to Him alone.
There are four types of love – Eros (erotic love) , Philia (friendship), Storge (love in family), Agape (unconditional love of God). The love the woman pursued is Eros.
We don’t know why the woman of the scripture was so love-hungry. But we all have hunger & thirst for love & satisfaction. It can make us astray and go extensive distance in life. Our life – its time and resource – is so precious and it is so important to understand and handle this issue. The solution is found in John 4.
The Bible is a so amazing book. Each verse gives us the important message. For example, v7 (how Jesus humbles himself to ask help to start communicating with close-minded woman), v9 (how this woman responds to Jesus to show scars in her heart), v15 (she is tired of the life of drawing water), v25 (she was waiting for Messiah), etc. But it is impossible to mention everything the scripture wants to tell us in one piece of writing.
Instead of interpreting verse by verse, this time, let us study a relevant topic.
God or pleasure?
2 Timothy 3:4 mentions “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” of terrible times in the last days. What does this mean? We are created to love God (Deuteronomy 6:4, 5) and love our neighbours (Leviticus 19:18). But they love pleasure (what God created) more than the Creator. We are created to worship God and serve Him only (Matthew 4:10). But they serve their own pleasure and stomach only (Romans 16:18).
When the Samaritan woman in John 4 was ignorant of the true object of worship & service to God, ‘husband’ was her object of worship & service. Human men are imperfect and have faults which could be selfishness, self-centredness, greed and/or others, causing scars in her heart. So, men are not the right object of worship. But her pursuit would never end because boundless desires she has are out of control unless worshiping, serving and obeying the true object of worship.
See Ecclesiastes 12:1
1Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”—
This verse also contrasts Creator and pleasure. The youth may be busy serving their pleasure, forgetting their Creator. Don’t forget we are created to serve God. The message here is “Serve God rather than pleasure.”
This verse also indicates the remorse of being gotten old without having been serving God, having wasted all life to serve pleasure.
Not serving God will result in remorse, the great remorse. Serving God is your greatest honour, privilege and desire your soul have. It is because God is your loving Father who concerns most about your happiness and interests. You owe Him for all you have. He sent His one and only Son to die for you.
God and His love are real. When we pray before God and say, “I want to serve you”, we start to recognize His presence, feel His love, remember what God did for us and can’t help crying.
Let us start to serve God in the days of our youth.
