Chapter 20
ERIN COULDN’T BELIEVE HOW HOT it was outside today. She wasn’t even moving at the moment and she had sweat streaming down her skin like she had a hard two-hour workout. Never mind how the sun was so bright it hurt her eyes and she thought it would blister her skin.
Wait a minute.
Her feet throbbed like she stood on them the last few days without ceasing, even though she hadn’t, and felt as thought they were raw and covered with dirt. Erin looked down at her feet and noticed how her feet were indeed raw, blistered, scraped, and covered with dirt and pebbles.
How did they get that way? She had no recollection whatsoever about her feet going through such poor treatment.
Was she living the next biblical scene from another’s perspective? Erin thought it was the only reasonable explanation. Would she ever get used to this, if it was the case? She wished if she really was living in another’s shoes at the moment that she didn’t have to live it so literally. Man her feet were sore and she was positively parched.
She couldn’t help but crack herself up when she realized she looked in her bag for a water bottle. There weren’t any plastic water bottles in the times of John. So, of course, she wouldn’t find one. But, she was spoiled rotten and wished it was that easy at the moment.
What did she know about finding her own water or food? Yes, it was pretty amusing to think about and she found the humor in the situation.
Erin quickly sobered; however, when she worried she might very well need to find water and food, ever mind shelter. How on earth would she ever do any of the activities?
She would pray.
It was the only reasonable solution she could come up with at the moment. She prayed the Lord would guide her and tell her what she needed to do.
Erin looked around and for the first time became aware of her surroundings. She saw Jesus. He sat on a rock at what Erin thought was possibly a well. She wasn’t entirely sure, but she thought that was what it was because she was well aware John 4 was the next chapter in the journey.
Erin decided to sit on another rock and started to massage her aching feet as she watched Jesus. He was about twenty yards from her and she was able to see His sweat.
Jesus sweat.
He was tired.
He was sweaty and tired.
The realization took a moment to sink in and she was astonished by the simple notions of how God sweat. He was real. God was real.
She identified these concepts before, but there were times understanding gained more depth. This was one of those times for Erin. She learned more and had a deeper comprehension of how God was man when Jesus lived on this earth.
The Son of God lived so He could teach the world how to live for and worship His Father. Jesus also lived for His Father, obeyed His Father, and loved His Father. He was the perfect representation of how we are to do the same, Erin recognized.
But, since she saw Him sweat, like she could, she felt far more connected to Him. God lived like her at one time, in the flesh, so we would know He fully recognized what it meant to be human. He never had to because He could recognize what it was to be a person without being one because He was God and knew all. However, He chose to become one of us, so we would know without doubt and be without excuse that He knew firsthand of our plight as human beings.
Wow.
Erin wiped the tears from her gritty face and sat in awe. She had the impression she wouldn’t be the first and thought He wouldn’t mind because she stared not to judge but to fully see Him in a whole new, deeper, and more intimate way.
He was God. He was real. He sweat.
Hold on for a moment.
It was a well. That was Jacob’s well! She stared at it for a moment and allowed the realization to sink in that she stared at a very old well. She not only stared at a very old well, she stared at it with her own eyes. She didn’t have to stare at a picture. Instead, she saw the real thing. Jacob’s well was old in Jesus’ day, never mind in her own timeframe.
What got her the most, hwoever, was what Jesus said next.
John 4:7-4:8
7-8A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.) (MSG).
Jesus asked for a drink.
Erin wasn’t sure what got her attention more. Was it the fact that Jesus wanted a drink? Or, was it that Jesus asked someone to serve Him in such a manner? Or, was it that the Samaritan woman had no idea who made the request? Erin wasn’t too sure, but His question got to her.
He asked for what He needed. He asked a woman who Jews normally hated for some water.
Wow.
She didn’t have the opportunity to think about it for too long, nonetheless, because she heard John read the words he penned from John 4:7-26.
4 But He needed to go through Samaria.
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10 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.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He,” (NKJV).
DANIEL LOVED HOW JESUS COULD care less about being politically correct. Nor could He care less about offending people. He didn’t water down the gospel to spare people’s feelings. Truth was truth. Sometimes, it hurt. Sometimes if offended. But, He did not sin while He might have offended.
Jesus recognized that if He offended people, it was because they were caught in their sin and were uncomfortable because of their own sins and limitations. He couldn’t coddle them and allow them to stay where they were in their mistaken perceptions of how to live. He couldn’t allow them to live in error. He shared the truth with them and He knew it might offend.
When it was offensive, it was always for the purpose of brining glory to His Father and for correction. He didn’t do it to be rude or to offend. Offense was just a natural thing that happened when people had to face their sins and errors.
Hence, Daniel took note of this and wanted to apply it to his own life. He didn’t want to water down the message of Christ and the message of the Bible because someone might have thin skin and might be afraid of facing their wrongdoings or wrong perceptions. That wasn’t his fault. He would be gentle in doing so, however. He would not intentionally try to offend people.
Jesus also didn’t care what other people think. He hung out with the sinners, the nobodies, the least-likelys, the ones the world rejected, and the people He knew He could bring to believe in and worship His Father. Case and point: the Samaritan woman.
A Samaritan in those days never associated with a Jew and vice versa (John 4:9 mentions this fact.). Period. End of discussion. They hated one another. Yet, Jesus asked her for a drink of water from the well.
What was the living water Jesus spoke of in John 4:10?
John 4:10
Jesus answered, "If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would ask Him, and He would give you living water,” (HCSB).
The living water is defined in John 4:13-4:14,
13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life,” (NASB).
Daniel watched the facial expression of the Samaritan woman after she heard what Jesus said in John 4:13-4:14. The woman didn’t doubt whatsoever what He shared with her. As a matter of fact, Daniel observed it sounded quite appealing to the woman.
Daniel thought how appealing this sounded to him now. Daniel wanted to never thirst again as a modern-day man. Never mind with how thirsty she was in the land in John’s time because of the lack of plastic water bottles. The parched nature of the area at this time only added to her thirst. However, Daniel knew He referred to the thirst of the soul. He thirsted for Him terribly. However, he didn’t need to do so. He already had the eternal springs of water in his life the moment he chose to believe. Nevertheless, he thirsted for more of Him and she hoped that never stopped.
Consequently, the water analogy was even more appealing to the Samaritan woman because she was in the major heat of the day, working at getting water. Yes, of course, she wanted the water that meant she would never thirst again.
Daniel also couldn’t help but be reminded how nobody can pull the wool over God’s eyes. We can’t hide from God or hide things from God. He knows all. (Author’s Note: See John 4:16-4:18.)
How often do we try to do that, though? How often do we try to hide things from God? The thought was ludicrous, yet we still try to do it anyway.
Daniel also couldn’t imagine what the Samaritan woman thought after her discourse with Jesus in verses 21 through 26. However, it was verse 26 that made Daniel wonder what she thought even more. Verse 26 would have been a bombshell to her. Jesus admitted He was the Messiah. I’m pretty sure she fell on her face the moment her eyes were opened. She probably fell on her face in worship (at least figuratively) once the shock wore off in her mind.
Daniel wondered why he wasn’t more blown away by the fact that Jesus was/is the Messiah. Why didn’t he feel amazed by it in a fresh way every time he thought about it? Jesus is the Messiah. It’s a truly remarkable miracle
Daniel never wanted to take advantage of that truth again. Jesus was his Savoir. His life has radically transformed because of Jesus being his Savior and he was a new man.
Jesus was the Messiah and was his Savior. Life just didn’t get any better than that.
By Stacy Duplease
of Stories by Stacy
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