A Woman at Jacob's Well

Meditations based on readings from

The Story of My Life As Told by Jesus Christ

August 13, 2019

A Woman at Jacob's Well

Page 63-64

Matthew 4:12, Mark 1:14a, John 4:1-42

Samaria is a region of land between Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee. The inhabitants believed they could trace their ancestry all the way back to Abraham, just as the Jews did. However, the Samaritans did not practice their religious faith in the same manner as the Jews, and since the Jews had returned to Israel from exile in Babylon several centuries before, there had been enmity between the Jews and Samaritans.

In today’s passage, Jesus is ignoring many of the social customs shared by the Jews and Samaritans to make the point that God has opened his Kingdom to all people, everywhere. (Devout Jewish men did not have social interactions with women in a public setting, certainly not if they were alone, and most certainly not with a Samaritan.) However, while the invitation to enter into the Kingdom of God is delivered to people as they are, to accept the invitation, it is necessary to turn your life around and embrace the values of God’s Kingdom, just as this Samaritan woman did!

The phrase ‘living water’ was a common way of referring to running water, as in a stream or river. Such water was considered to be pure and fresh as compared to standing water in a pond or well. Jesus was telling the woman that worshipping God in truth and spirit was not about where you worshipped. It meant turning away from her present life, which was symbolized as stagnant water, and receiving God’s new life, which Jesus symbolized as living water.

Today people misunderstand Jesus’ simple teaching to the Samaritan woman. Many people love their local church or denomination (or non-denomination) more than they love the Kingdom of God. Many people also think worshipping God in truth and spirit can be accomplished apart from God’s chosen means to build his Kingdom, which is through the local church.

My Takeaway: The Samaritan revival began so innocently. The woman simply told her neighbors and friends how she had experienced Jesus. She had no great theological insights or understanding. She had an encounter with Jesus and told others about her wonderful experience. Can starting revivals be so simple?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.