John 4:1-26
Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
1 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 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.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”
John 4:28-30
The Samaritan Woman Acknowledges Jesus Before Others
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
Matthew 10:32-42
Acknowledging Jesus Before Others
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
The Samaritan woman recognized that Jesus was a Prophet, when He told her of her past...And as they talk one feels (as you read the verses) that she is ashamed of things that has happened in her past...And one feels (or at least I do) that by Jesus knowing her past personal life that she feels somewhat anxious that He has opened up her secrets and they are talking about them...But, I think the Samaritan is a brave woman as she listens to Him speak about her life...
Jesus knows our past too...Sometimes we hide things from others because we feel shameful or anxious about something we have done in our past or in our lives...We sometimes feel defective or weak about things in our secrets...We may hide different things, but Jesus knows our secrets...Hiding these things do not help or heal these secrets or the anxiousness that comes with those thoughts and experiences...Our past can make it harder to get close to others and make us less open about ourselves as we talk to others...But as the Samaritan woman found out, we have no secrets from Jesus ...He knows us for who we really are...Sometimes it is Him, who shows us -this is you...By coming forward and talking to the Samaritan woman in the way that He does, no doubt she felt better about her life, especially knowing that He is our Messiah...I think He seems very much like a friend to her as they converse...
I think the first part of the Jesus and Samaritan woman's conversation was a little about some shame (and things she did not want to talk about) in her past...But she shows courage...Now in St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus tells us a little something (I think) about shame related to another subject...The subject is acknowledging Him as our Messiah -and just talking about Him and who He is...Jesus says whoever acknowledges Him before others on earth, then He will acknowledge them before His Father in heaven...And whoever disowns Him before others, He will disown before His Father in heaven...These are striking words, especially because the subject of Jesus is for some reason, a very controversial one, especially outside of church and synagogue walls...But God and His Son are everywhere and know everything about us...One would think that since He knows us explicitly that we all would converse about Him and there would be much conversation about Him on an ongoing basis and that we would talk about Him daily...We are to acknowledge Him as the Samaritan woman did...She bravely and courageously went to town and told others that Jesus was the One to come -that He was the Messiah...
If you do not think the Samaritan woman was brave and courageous (and she had a past with an angst history for one reason or another), the next time you go to town or around your friends or with a group bring up Jesus and start talking about Him, as she did...It is a very difficult thing to do...