There is a false belief among many today that Jesus is only interested in people who have it all together. Those who operate under this belief believe that people who have a past filled with mistakes and sin are "too far gone" to be used by Jesus. Of course, this belief is entirely contrary to Scripture. In fact, when we read the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we see that Jesus specifically reached out to and used those who did not have it all together. One of these people was a Samaritan woman whom He sought out to have a life-changing conversation with.
John 4 reveals the story of this Samaritan woman. In this passage of Scripture, Jesus was on His way to Galilee when He stopped through the town of Samaria along the way. Now, it is important to remember that Samaria was a place many Jewish people avoided because Jews and Samaritans did not get along. Jesus not only did not avoid it, but He purposefully went to Samaria. While He was there, He came to a well for water when a Samaritan came to the well to draw water. He asked this woman for a drink. In response, she said, "You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink" (verse 9). She was confused that Jesus, a Jewish man, would speak to her, a Samaritan woman, and request a drink. After all, Jewish people purposefully avoided Samaritans. Throughout their interaction, Jesus revealed to this woman that He offered better water than the well they were at could provide. He offered living water.
When Jesus told her this, she responded like we all would have. She said, "Please, sir… Give me this water" (verse 15). What happened next is unexpected. Jesus asked her about her past. He revealed that He knew that her past held pain, shame, and heartache. She had had five husbands and the man she was living with was not her husband (verse 18). Jesus did not turn away because of her past. He had purposefully chosen her to speak to. Through their conversation, Jesus revealed to her that He was the Messiah, a truth that He rarely acknowledged during His earthly ministry.
This conversation with Jesus changed the Samaritan woman’s life. Scripture tells us in John 4 that she “left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone.” She could not keep the good news that Jesus was the Messiah to herself. She went throughout her village saying, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could He possibly be the Messiah?” (verse 29). As a result, Scripture tells us that “many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus” (verse 39).
John's account of this interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is a reminder that Jesus will reach out to and use anyone, regardless of their past. No one is too far gone to be used by Him. Let’s commit to sharing the good news of what He has done for us and what He can do for anyone with everyone we encounter.
After having this life-changing encounter with Jesus, this woman could not help but tell everyone around her about Him. Who is one person who you can share the hope of Christ with today? Reach out to them and share your 2-minute story, the story of what your life was like before Christ, how you came to know Christ, and the difference Christ has made in your life. May your story of what Christ has done in your life bring them hope and point them straight to Him.
1Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). 3 So he left Judea and returned to Galilee.
4 He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”
10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
11 “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”
13 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”
16 “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her.
17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied.
Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— 18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. 20 So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?”
21 Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus told her, “I am the Messiah!”
27 Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” 28 The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” 30 So the people came streaming from the village to see him.
31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.”
33 “Did someone bring him food while we were gone?” the disciples asked each other.
34 Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. 35 You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. 36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37 You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.”
39 Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40 When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, 41 long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”
43 At the end of the two days, Jesus went on to Galilee. 44 He himself had said that a prophet is not honored in his own hometown. 45 Yet the Galileans welcomed him, for they had been in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration and had seen everything he did there.
46 As he traveled through Galilee, he came to Cana, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a government official in nearby Capernaum whose son was very sick. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son, who was about to die.
48 Jesus asked, “Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?”
49 The official pleaded, “Lord, please come now before my little boy dies.”
50 Then Jesus told him, “Go back home. Your son will live!” And the man believed what Jesus said and started home.
51 While the man was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. 52 He asked them when the boy had begun to get better, and they replied, “Yesterday afternoon at one o’clock his fever suddenly disappeared!” 53 Then the father realized that that was the very time Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” And he and his entire household believed in Jesus. 54 This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did in Galilee after coming from Judea.
