Who Jesus Is!

The Most Remarkable Journey continues with a woman at the side of the well. I love this story dearly. Today we are not going to focus as much on the woman as we are on the man. Today we will see who Jesus is!

I love this journey that Jesus takes us on. He lets us know His character, His desire for holiness, and lets us see into pieces of His heart.

Jesus could have come to earth in any position. After all, He is the Creator of the World, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But that is not what He chose to do. He chose to come to a humble obedient Jewish girl, be born in a stable, laid in a manger and became the son of a carpenter. Nothing extraordinary for an extraordinary God.

As Jesus journeyed along the road He met many people. We see the same thing along His journey. He comes to open the eyes of the blind, heal the sick, and seek and save the lost. What we see most is the common people that He stopped and spent time with. We don’t just see Him spending time in the royal courts, where He was most expected to appear and conquer.

What I love about that is it gives us hope. It gives us a sense that the reality that we are living in is not unreachable or untouchable by the Holy One of God.

John 4 tells us of a story of a woman that had an unannounced divine appointment. We are going to explore this by the responses of Jesus to this woman. Are you as excited about this journey as I am? Let’s GO!

He Pursues Us

Now He had to pass through Samaria. John 4:4

Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee. The shortest route was through Samaria. Even though this was the shortest route, Jews would avoid it at all cost. The relationship with the Samaritans was such a deep-seated hatred that they would even take a longer route to get around this land.

Not Jesus. Jesus had a divine appointment with a woman at the well at noon and He didn’t want to miss it.

Most women drew water at the well morning and night. This woman did more than avoid the crowds she went at the hottest part of the day to avoid the scrutiny of the other women.  Jesus, however, showed up to meet her.

Jesus was Fully Human

Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. John 4:6

It is vital to keep in mind that Jesus was fully human while being fully God. As a human, he came to experience life as we do. He understands our temptations and frustrations and gets how our hearts and bodies become weary. He is passionate and compassionate toward His most beloved creation.

Jesus Sees Us

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” John 4:7 (BSB)

Anyone one else might have looked past this woman. He was a Jew. He was a man. They were in a public place. This woman’s reputation, which is about to be revealed, is greatly tarnished. He had no reason to talk to her except to use her vessels for gathering water. Jews didn’t associate with Samaritans, let alone use their watering cup.

Jesus overlooks these bounds to deliver a message. He not only sees her but engages in a tender conversation.

He goes beyond social, economic, political, cultural, gender, religious bounds and worldly ideas to show us who is and His great love for us.

Therefore the Samaritan woman says to Him, “How do You, being a Jew, ask drink from me, being a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no association with Samaritans. John 4:9 (BLB)

Jesus defines His mission. It is not that He changes it, He just makes it clear. Her being a woman, a Samaritan, intermarried, married multiple times, living in sin, worshipping out of the Holy City. He doesn’t let that define the message that he had for her. The message that she needed Him.

Jesus Offers the Gift of Life and Soul Satisfaction

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10(NIV)

The rules seemed to change when Jesus showed up on the scene but Jesus’ offer for eternal life was beyond the bounds that were placed on it. The Jews believed it was only for them. Jesus is saying it is not defined by who the world sees you as. It is defined by your need for a Savior. What Jesus offers this woman is something she seems to be searching relentlessly for. That same offer is available to us today.

She is an outcast in her own community and Jesus says, you, outcasted, no name woman, I came to offer you a gift. This water won’t leave you searching or thirsting from an empty well. I can give you life. Not just water but the living water that can flow through your soul.

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14 (BSB)

He Offers us Grace and Mercy When We Least Deserve it

This story continues with an exchange between the two. Jesus tells the woman to go get her husband. She tells Jesus she does not have a husband. This reminds me of my children. When they know I am searching for the truth they are willing to give me a half-truth in order to divert my attention from the full reality of the situation.

This may occasionally get by me but it doesn’t get by the all-knowing creator of your soul. He knows. He knows the full truth and has come to bring to light what is hid in the darkness.  I know you don’t have a husband He tells this woman. In fact, you have had five and the man you are living with now is not your husband.

What I love about this is Jesus was not afraid to call out her sin for the sake of hurting her feelings. He didn’t back away from the truth and accept a half-truth. He wanted to bear the truth so she could be set free.

Jesus was telling this woman He was willing to give her the gift of life, in spite of all that she had done. In spite of her choices, He would satisfy her true thirsts in life.

He Loves Us in Spite of Ourselves

No, she didn’t deserve this kind of grace and mercy but neither do we. Yet the offer is the same for us as it was for this woman.

Christ came to set us free from the bonds of our sin. He came to not only set us free but to refresh us with the water that flows through us and wells up like a spring to satisfy our real thirsts.
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We, too, look for things and people of this world to satisfy our every whim. And when they don’t, we feel let down and disappointed. Real satisfaction will only ever come from God. He loved us so much He sent Jesus to die for us.

Jesus is the Messiah

I can only imagine the emotions this lady was feeling. You can see this welling up inside of her as she sprinkles these moments of hope in their conversation. It is as if she wanted to believe all that He was telling her but it seemed too big to be true.

She continues to divert the conversation by talking about worship and her hopes for the coming Messiah. She expresses her hopes for Him to clear up centuries of hardships for her people.

And then it happens. For the first time, Christ declares to a Samaritan woman who He is. We went from seeing that He was fully man to now seeing His own declaration that He is the Messiah.

Jesus answered, “I who speak to you am He.”  John 4:26 (BSB)

How Should We React to this News?

I love this woman’s reaction and this part of the story because it not only tells us who Christ is but teaches us the appropriate response to the news of Jesus, the Messiah.

 Then the woman left her water jar, went back into the town, and said to the people,“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” John 4:28-29 (BSB)

She left her jar. Her thirst had been quenched and not by the water she had been dragging up from this deep well. She no longer had to hide behind her choices that she had made in life. They no longer define her. They are exposed and in the light and she is free. She has a new lease on life and she couldn’t be happier than to leave it behind and tell the Good News.

Remeber, in the beginning of the story we saw her go to the well at noon just to avoid the people. Now she is running to town to the same people she was trying to avoid. Why? Because she just received the best news she had ever heard.

Jesus, the Messiah, (Please don't miss this statement, friends) told her EVERYTHING about her. We are not defined by who we are. Our story is defined by Whose we are!
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If we are in Christ, we are a new creation. The old has passed and the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17) That is the best news we could receive.

Our sins were laid out in the open. They were exposed on the cross, and Christ bore them all. We don’t have to hide behind our watering jars. We can leave them at the well and go and tell the Good News that Jesus has come and He is everything that we need!

Personal Reflections:

1. This story may be familiar to you but were there any fresh thoughts that flowed out of today’s study?
2. What do you do with the Good News that Jesus tells you everything about yourself?
3. Can you share with us today a bit of your testimony? It gets easier every time we put down our jar and tell it.
4. Jesus paid for your sins and mine on the cross. Have you allowed Him to free you from the sins that were keeping you bound?

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The post The Most Remarkable Journey: Who Jesus Is! appeared first on Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel.