Maybe she was a nagging complainer whose first husband thought that living on the corner of a rooftop was better than living with her.
Perhaps her second husband was jealous of how other men looked at her. His pride couldn’t take it any longer, so he kicked her out.
Husband Number Three may have seen her as a disposable piece of property he could squeeze some work out of. But after burning his supper for the umpteenth time, he tossed her out like trash.
Her fourth husband could have grown weary of continually trying to help her overcome her low self-esteem and decided it would be better for him if she left.
And her fifth husband? He might have abused her so badly that her physical and emotional pain built a wall around her heart. Yet she couldn’t imagine surviving without a man in her life, so she latched onto the next one who came along, hoping for a decent place to live and food to eat.
It was the heat of the day when she went to draw water from Jacob’s well. Strands of dark, sweaty hair stuck to her face. Hot veins in her arms bulged as she shifted the weight of her water jar from side to side, knowing it would be even heavier once it was full.
As she approached the well, she encountered a man who wanted her to draw water for him and give him a drink. Taking note of his accent and tassels on his robe, “she was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to him, ‘You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?’” (John 4:9)
She had come to draw water in her jar, but Jesus intrigued her with an offer of Living Water. He told her, “Those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” (John 4:14) Through their brief conversation, Jesus’ identity became clearer, and the wall around her heart lowered. At first, she called him ‘Sir’ out of respect for His gender. Then she called him ‘prophet’ because He knew she’d had five husbands and was not married to the one she was living with. Finally, after Jesus revealed Himself, she proclaimed Him to be the ‘Messiah’.
She didn’t know Him when she approached the well, but Jesus knew her and had traveled miles out of His way to meet her. He didn’t care that she was a Samaritan; He loved her anyway. He knew about all the men in her life, and He still loved her. When she tried to sidetrack the conversation with a question about religion, He knew the desires of her heart and loved her enough to give her more than she came for.
All her trials had prepared her to accept this moment. Her five husbands drove her to drink … the Living Water from Jesus’ wellspring of life. She quenched her need for acceptance and love by drinking what Jesus had to offer.
This Samaritan woman was ready for a change, and she got it. She found the one man she didn’t WANT to live without. That one conversation changed the eternity of all in her town who heeded her invitation to “Come and see!” Your testimony can change someone’s eternity.
Who’s on your invitation list?
“Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. 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.”
(John 4:39-42 NLT)
