Jesus demands true worship from followers

John 4 contains one of the most familiar and beautiful conversations in all of Scripture. In this passage Jesus offered salvation to an outcast woman as if he were handing her a drink of water. Her life was a tangle of adulteries and broken marriages. In her society, that would have made her an outcast. She had no more social status than a common prostitute. She seemed anything but a prime target for conversion. Jesus forced her to face her indifference, lust, self-centeredness, immorality and religious prejudice.

The powerful and omniscient Christ revealed himself to her. This account is not primarily about the Samaritan woman. Rather, this passage is about Jesus’ self-revelation as Messiah. John 4:1-42 contains five critical lessons for understanding the way of salvation.

The lesson of the well

Jesus came to seek and save the lost (verses 1-6). Verse 1 tells us that word was out about his success. Masses of people were flocking to Jesus. Verse 4 says, “He had to go through Samaria.” This was not a geographical necessity. In fact, traveling through Samaria was not normal for a Jew. The Samaritans and Jews hated one another. The hatred and bitterness had gone on for centuries.

The reason he had to go that way was to fulfill a divine appointment at Jacob’s well. Jesus had come to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). Even if it meant a serious breach of cultural protocol, he would be there when the time was right. His timing was critical. Had he arrived at the well 10 minutes early or late, there would have been no woman. But his schedule was perfect. He wrote the script himself even before the foundation of the world.

The lesson of the woman

God is no respecter of persons (verses 7-9). “There came a woman of Samaria to draw water” (verse 7). This woman was a moral outcast, ostracized from society. Imagine her shock when Jesus said, “Give me a drink” (verse 7). She was deeply startled. She was used to being shunned by everyone. In that culture, men did not speak publicly with women — even their wives. Jesus shattered the racial barrier. She asked, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (verse 9).

God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). Jesus was not ashamed to take a drink from a woman for whom he had come to die. Nobody — not this woman, not even the most loathsome leper — was beyond the reach of his divine love.

The lesson of the water

Everyone who thirsts may come (verses 10-19). “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water’” (verse 10). Jesus turned the situation around. The issue was no longer his physical thirst but her spiritual need. Jesus was offering her living water for her dry soul.

“Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life’” (verses 13-14). Jesus offered water to quench a parched soul.

In order to receive eternal life, there must be spiritual thirst. Willingness to confess the reality and hideousness of one’s sin is an essential manifestation of genuine spiritual thirst. Jesus knew all the details of her sinful life. He peeled back the camouflage of it all. Jesus gently said, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands; and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly” (verses 17-18).

It is as if Jesus said, “All right, if you’re not going to confess your own sin, I’m going to confront you by telling you what it is.” Then she did confess her sin. By saying, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet” (verse 19), she was, in effect, saying, “You are right. That’s me. That’s my sinful life. What you said about me is true.”

The lesson of true worship

Now is the acceptable time (verses 20-26). Jesus confronted her with her real need — forgiveness. Jesus challenged her to become a true worshiper of the living God (verse 23). She said to Jesus, “I know that Messiah is coming…. when that one comes, he will declare all things to us” (verse 25).

Jesus’ reply must have shaken her to the core of her being. “I who speak to you am he” (verse 26). What a dynamic confrontation. This man who had asked her for a simple cup of water was now standing there, claiming to be the true Messiah, holding forth living water and promising to forgive her sin and transform her into a true worshiper of the living God. The hour of salvation had come for her. I believe she embraced Jesus as Messiah and Savior somewhere in the white space between verses 26 and 27. She experienced eternal life. She responded with repentance and saving faith.

The lesson of the witness

This man (Jesus) receives sinners (verses 27-42). She evidenced all the characteristics of genuine conversion. She had sensed her need. She had confessed her guilt. She recognized Jesus as the Messiah. She was showing the fruits of her transformed life by bringing other people to Jesus. She went to the men of her town and pointed them to Jesus. Her testimony had a profound impact on her village (verses 40-42).

Those who confess and forsake their sin will find a Savior eager to receive them, forgive them and liberate them from their sin. Like the woman at the well, they will find a source of living water that will quench forever even the strongest spiritual thirst.

The final chapter of the Bible closes with this invitation, which evokes a picture of the Samaritan woman. “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes to take the water of life without cost” (Revelation 22:17). While it is free, it is not cheap. The Savior paid the ultimate price on the cross so that thirsty, repentant sinners can drink as deeply as they like.

Ethan Hansen is pastor of Faith Bible Fellowship in Big Lake. He can be reached at ehansen@biglakefaithbible.org.