COME,
SEE A MAN!
John
4:29
29
Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the
Christ?
Coming to the well at the sixth
hour, about twelve noon, a Samaritan woman executed her
daily duty of drawing fresh water from an old well. She had settled into a more
or less comfortable relationship with a man who was not her husband. After so
many husbands and so many failures this relationship had simply skipped the
formality of clergy.
What was she thinking as she arrives at
the well?
Was she full of remorse at the life she had lived or had she long ago simply
stopped thinking about it? Was she hopeful that today she would find some great
treasure or was she simply surrounded by the same dust and well and town as
yesterday? We can only guess.
There sits a man upon the well and he
looks weary.
For a moment a spark of sympathy may have surged through her but she quickly
dismissed it because this man was a Jew. Now he speaks, “Give me to drink!”
Perhaps she suddenly thought that she had found yet another man who had a
thirst for her to quench! Perhaps hurt and anger boiled up inside her. Maybe
tenderness had not completely died and so she turns to reply. “How is it that
thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the
Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”
The feud between the Jews and Samaritans might have
caused her to ponder two questions. First, why would this man ask for
a drink? It was the pride of the Jew that made him endure whatever hardship
necessary to avoid the Samaritans. Next, she wonders why this man would expect
to receive a drink from a Samaritan. It was a wonder that he would even
speak to her.
The man speaks again, “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.” Now the Jewish pride is revealed, she thinks, and so she
responds by pointing out the obvious, “Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and
the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou
greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof
himself, and his children, and his cattle?” That should silence this pouch of
pride!
There is a brief conversation about some kind
of “living water” which she dismisses as fantasy but then the man speaks again
and this time it cuts her to her soul! “Go, call thy husband, and come back.” Call
my husband, indeed, which one? Besides, I have no husband! This is something he
obviously does not know!
She explains that she has no husband and then this
man climbs inside her heart and stomps around when he says, “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.”
With tears too dry to spill forth, she wonders out
loud if he is a prophet. She had heard that Messiah would come and when he came
he would be able to tell all things. Then the most amazing thing spills out of
the mouth of this most unusual man. He says, “I that speak unto thee
am he!” While she thought this over several other men came and
interrupted the conversation. She was glad for the disconnection because she
was anxious to tell others about this curious man. She did not realize that she
had left her water pot.
Now,
here are some things for us to consider this morning!
Ø
The
most ordinary days may hide a great treasure!
Ø
The
most casual conversation may cut you to the heart!
Ø
Jesus
knows us more thoroughly than we know ourselves!
She said to the men of the city, “Come, see a
man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
He didn’t, you know! He did not tell
her everything; just those things she thought were well
hidden. She had no doubt that he knew more – much more.
Ps
139:1-3
O
LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my
thought afar off.
3
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
Thank
you Lord, that even though you know me you still love me. Help me to approach
my many “wells” today with great expectation. AMEN
