Encounter of the woman of Samaria with Christ

The spiritual language of Christ

An attention that we should particularly have, following the words of Christ and in particular as reported by the Apostle John, consists of understanding beyond what appears, what Christ really wants to transmit as teaching or Word.

Encounter at the Well,
The woman of Samaria who during her encounter with Christ demonstrated that she had some knowledge of the Scriptures (Written by Abraham and the other prophets recognized at the time), certainly knew the story of the encounters at the well. Indeed, when a foreigner newly arrived in a town, he went to the Well which was the ideal place to meet people: The common need of the community is water, the meeting point of the community is the Well , because water is especially rare in desert areas. Also the woman could imagine meeting a "stranger" at the Well, a person unaware of her painful misadventures and who for once would truly satisfy her thirst for a perfect companion, after all, isn't it at a Well that Jacob, then Moses centuries later, met those who some time later became their wives or was it not in such a place that Abraham's servant met Rebecca who married Isaac. Also, when she met this “Mister” whose identity she did not know, she could hope to have finally found the perfect Man, who perhaps this time would be her definitive husband.
Her hope was almost founded, only she found herself face to face with the one who would become the Spouse of the Church of which she would then become a member. Yes, she had finally found the perfect Husband, but not for a carnal relationship or the satisfaction of carnal desires; but the spiritual Spouse and for the satisfaction of the needs of her soul and her spirit.

Water that quenches thirst,
Going to the well is a daily if not regular act, because one must constantly stock up. The woman of Samaria, like all the inhabitants of the city, therefore had to constantly go to the Well. Only behold, the man met there spoke to her of a water that would definitively quench her thirst, and that he could provide for her. However, like the question of the husband underlined above, the Lord spoke of a spiritual Water and not of mineral water. Indeed, as we will note throughout the first part of this article, the Lord had this extraordinary way of communicating by evoking material and natural things to refer to spiritual things.

The Best Food,
Later, when the Lord had clearly revealed himself to the woman of Samaria, and she was about to announce the good news to the whole city, his disciples returned and offered food to the Lord, who replied that he had other food to eat. Once again, his interlocutors were perplexed. Jesus was not talking about physical food, but spiritual food: doing the will of the one who sent him, the will of Almighty God.
Dear reader, what is the best of your meals?

The harvest,
Finally, still in his conversation with his disciples, the Lord refers to the spiritual harvest, In the geographical calendar there were still four months before the harvest, but in the spiritual calendar, it was already harvest time: the fields were already white.

This parallelism can also be seen at the wedding at Cana. But both circumstances invite us to invoke the Grace of God, so that through the care of his Holy Spirit we can understand the Words of Christ and above all to obey them faithfully.

A personal experience

In this second part of the article, we will address the question of personal experience with Christ.

The personal experience of the woman of Samaria with Jesus
The woman of Samaria had until then had intimate experiences of a carnal nature, and which unfortunately for her, had all left her high and dry. She had not found the Husband to the point of resigning herself to living with a man who had not even taken the trouble to marry her. But that day, at the well, she was going to have an experience this time of a spiritual nature, but which was going to highlight her real need. Because this woman indeed had a deep spiritual thirst which we can easily realize by reading carefully the story that the apostle John tells us, (chapter 4: 3 to 43).

1. The first marker is found in this word of the Lord: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” Through this Word, the Lord lets the woman of Samaria know that he is this Person to whom she would have liked to ask for living water, the Person who would completely satisfy her spiritual thirst. Unfortunately, she does not understand the spiritual language of the Lord and believes that he is talking about natural water, the Lord then decides to manifest His Lordship by revealing to her the hidden things of her life: “Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.”
   

2. And this is where the second marker appears: when the woman realizes that she has a prophet in front of her, she immediately expresses her thirst for truth, she asks a question that was undoubtedly the subject of discussion between Samaritans and Jews and which preoccupied her to the highest degree, namely the place where it was appropriate to worship God, the place where worship rendered to God was pleasing to Him: “The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
   The Word of the Lord, whom she now considered a prophet, still did not satisfy her, for the Samaritans had certainly met several Jewish prophets. And it was then that she revealed the identity of the one to whom she would trust without reservation.

3. “The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.” This last part of the exchange between the woman of Samaria and Christ, therefore clearly and definitively establishes that this woman had many questions in her heart about worship, about Faith in God, that she was no longer satisfied with the answers even of prophets, but was now eagerly awaiting the advent of the Messiah who would come to settle every question, who would announce "all things." And this is why the Lord Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to this well and at this precise hour, and this is why the Holy Spirit allowed this woman to be at this well, at this precise moment; which does not fail to remind us of the encounter between Abraham's servant and Rebecca who would become Isaac's wife. The woman of Samaria at the well had a personal experience with the Lord Jesus Christ that immediately changed her life and outlook. And in her joy, she ran to bring the good news to her people: “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”

4. The fourth element that attests to the woman of Samaria’s deep spiritual thirst is a statement that the Lord Jesus made in his dealings with his disciples when they returned from buying meat in the city: “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” In doing so, the Lord was indicating to his disciples that this woman of Samaria and many others of her fellow citizens had hearts ready for true fellowship with God, which was confirmed by the brief stay that the Lord and his disciples spent in the city.

Thus, the Lord Jesus was led to a woman who at one point in her life began to long for an encounter with Christ, hoping to receive from Him revelations about all things, including how to worship God. She had had many disappointments after several unsuccessful marriages, however her supreme concern was not a perfect marriage, but rather to worship God as it is appropriate, where it is appropriate... And God heard her prayer, he favored the circumstances so that She met the one who was indeed the answer to all her questions, truly existential questions.

The personal experience with Jesus, of the remnant of the Samaritan people
Once the woman of Samaria had brought the good news to her fellow citizens, many of them were converted. However, after the Lord had remained a few days (more precisely two days) with them, a greater number were converted and they declared to the woman: “Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” (John 4:42)

God almost always uses one or more men to bring us the Gospel and lead us to the new birth or to new revelations of the Father and His Christ. This can be through conversations as with the woman of Samaria and her fellow citizens, it can be through Christian literature, radio or television broadcasts, evangelical tracts, ... But when it happens that we are actually converted, then a life of intimate communion with God through the Lord Jesus Christ begins immediately. This life, this experience, will very quickly overshadow the initial revelation that we had received. For illustration, if it was recommended to a young lady to accept the marriage proposal of a young man. After a certain time, she would remain in the marriage or speak with pride about her spouse, no longer referring to what had been said to her about him, but exclusively by recounting her personal experience as a wife at his side. Consequently, even if the person who had recommended him to her were to sabotage him later, she would not pay attention to it, because she would know who her husband is.

In the same way, you cannot say that you abandoned the faith because the very person who announced the Gospel to you was a false brother; no, that would mean that you never knew Christ. Because to know him is to immediately begin an intimate communion with him, which will be the source of your new life. Likewise, the Corinthians who claimed to be some of Paul, others of Apollos, or even Cephas thus demonstrated their spiritual immaturity as the apostle Paul will attest (1 Corinthians 1:11 to 13; 3:3 to 9 and 21 to 23); for once the Lord has granted you a revelation through one of His Servants, once you have attained true fellowship with Christ from that revelation, then while honoring the teacher of the Word, you would recognize nevertheless that you should be careful to not “let glory in men”, that Christ ultimately remains alone the one in whose Name His Church is baptized, “Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 )

O High and Holy God, grant us, like these Samaritans, to each have a personal revelation of who Christ is. Bless each of us with grace, granting us the Grace to be able to build an intimate communion with the Savior of the world. May we be able to proclaim with the testimony of Your Holy Spirit, a few minutes, hours, or days after each teaching that you have led us to follow, that “we have heard it ourselves.” And may we personally testify that Christ is not only our Savior, but also our Master, the One who by His Holy Spirit ultimately teaches us all things, making us his true disciples.

In the name of Christ Jesus.
Amen !!!