flat. Women could not divorce their husbands--hus-
bands alone had the power to divorce their wives.
Five men had married her and five men had found
her lacking, and the man she was with now wasn't
even going to save her dignity by marrying her. She
stood there ashamed. She had never found peace.
She had never found love. She had never tasted grace.
edged Him as a prophet. Yet her prejudices were still
in place. "Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,
but you Jews claim that the place where we must
worship is Jerusalem" (vs. 20). This was the crux of
the hatred. The Jews, although imperfect in following
the ways of God, had at least tried to keep their reli-
gion pure. The Samaritans, on the
other hand, had taken the wor-
ship of Jehovah and allowed
other religions and their
gods to dilute it. They were
angry at the Jews for re-
jecting them, and the
Jews
tively making the wor-
Jesus acknowledged this funda-
mental difference, but even in
doing so He would not be de-
railed by the woman's theologi-
cal perspective.
time is coming when the true
worshipers will worship the Fa-
ther in Spirit and in truth, for
they are the kind of worshipers
the Father seeks. God is a
spirit, and His worshipers must
worship in the Spirit and in
truth" (vs. 23-24). Jesus sig-
naled that religious sects will
be swallowed up by the worship
of clean and pure hearts--not
determined by racial identity or
theological technicalities but by
union with Christ.
find a woman--a Samaritan
woman--talking to their rabbi.
the water she had come to fetch. She also left behind
her water jar, a fairly expensive and essential piece
of equipment, in her haste to tell anyone who would
listen, about her conversation with Jesus. Then they
heard Jesus speak of food that He had enjoyed, mak-
ing them wonder why they went looking for some-
thing to eat. Meanwhile, the woman, redeemed, for-
given and shame removed, stirred the village with a
ringing testimony of the Christ who had come to
Samaria and was even now at the town well. "He
told me everything I ever did," she said. The Samar-
itans thronged Christ, seeking out that grace that
they had seen change the woman. They investigated
and sought out Christ and in doing so found the grace
each one needed. They proclaimed to the woman,