17th February 2022 – John 4:9-14

Thu 17 Feb 2022

^"9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” ¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 4:9-14

It is customary to interpret the woman's words to Jesus in 9 as indicating her astonishment at His speaking to her at all. This is doubtless true, but it would also be true to say that this kind of woman would not be much concerned with religious distinctions of that nature, and she may well have been saying these words with a twinkle of mocking laughter in her eyes. This raises the more general question of how we are to envisage her as a character. One commentator points out that there is no single word of description of her in the entire chapter. Yet she stands out graphically, as a positive personality. Hers was a broken, burnt-out life, it is true, but it would be a mistake to represent her as a droopy, bedraggled figure, like a typical Dickens portrait. Being dead in sins does not mean being inert, either emotionally or psychologically. She had sparkle, as her conversation clearly shows. And it would not be far from the mark to say that the mocking note of laughter persisted in her words even when an undertone of seriousness began to be evident. This is true to human psychology. She clearly did not know what to make of Jesus, and one can almost see the quizzical look developing in her eyes as He began to speak of living water, as if to say, 'What is this you are saying to me?'

There is much to learn here about personal work. One sometimes meets with people like this, with positive, even dazzling personalities, though wicked and depraved. And mocking laughter ought not to be allowed to put us off. If this was on her face, we may be sure that our Lord matched it with the look in His eyes and on His face, smiling to her even as He spoke His tremendously serious words. And he went patiently on, until He broke through her mystification and her mockery, and got to her heart.

16th February 2022 – John 4:5-10

Wed 16 Feb 2022

“5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was… →

15th February 2022 – John 4:5-10

Tue 15 Feb 2022

14th February 2022 – John 4:1-4

Mon 14 Feb 2022

“4 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had… →

13th February 2022 – John 3:30-36

Sun 13 Feb 2022

“30 He must increase, but I must decrease.” 31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He… →

12th February 2022 – John 3:27-29

Sat 12 Feb 2022

“27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has… →

11th February 2022 – John 3:22-16

Fri 11 Feb 2022

“22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. 23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized… →

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