See Image

Snapshot

How did the Samaritan Woman drink?

In her confrontational discussion with Jesus, Jesus made the Samaritan woman ask for a drink. Thankfully, perhaps illegibly, she got what she requested. Since she asked, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw water (John 4:15),” which was in quick succession of a thirst Jesus had kindled in her. If Jesus hadn’t this water to give, He wouldn’t have made her asked for the water. Thus, we may conclude that the woman drank. The question we seek to answer in this series given the preceding is: “If she truly drank the living water without a cup, how did she drink?”

Drinking for cleansing

We observe that after her passionate plea to get this living water, Jesus asked her, “Go and call your husband and come here.” Intelligibly, Jesus knew she was a social reject: a past wife of 5, who’s currently cohabiting with a 6th - a suitor. With this polygamic tendency, she was the only known woman in the bible to thread the path of king Solomon. Nonetheless, to create an opportunity for her initial or foundational drinking, Jesus asked her to go fetch her husband. Look how sincere she got: “I have no husband.” Not every woman will be proud to say this, even when obviously their physique betrays their singleness and chastity.

Since she was blunt, but at the same time, honest, Jesus completed the complementary part of her confession. Is this in accord with any teachings of Jesus? Yes, I affirm. The prodigal son, after he came to his senses, found his way home. Despite the prodigal son’s smelly piggy dress and his wastage of resources, his father ran and grasped him in his embrace at his slightest glimpse. The thief on the cross too, whose sin was already conspicuous, didn’t say too much. In rebuking his counterpart malefactor, he said, “…we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our crimes…” Jesus’ response reads: “…today you will be with me in paradise.”

How He descended to His death for our sake even when we were devoided of our need of Him! Will He not rush out to our grasp when we motion towards Him in the renunciation of our sin? Every act of repentance is an acknowledgement of His generosity in pouring out His precious blood for the careless race of Adam.

Thus, the moment the Samaritan woman drew near by a step of repentance, Jesus took a million more steps to help her penitence. She eventually tasted the water of life for cleansing from her filth. It was both immoral and unrighteous to frolic flippantly around men. God hates divorce, which must have accounted for departure from her 5 homes. Since her interaction with Jesus showed her to be outgoing.

Dear brother, in what mire of sins has your soul sunken? Would you come to the fountain of the river of life and drink for your cleansing? Come confessing, before you call, he would have answered. As you begin by saying, “This is who I am. Forgive me, Lord!” He would have moved with compassion to perform that which you ask of Him. For He said, “Come now and let us reason together though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow…” Drinking for cleansing leads to this whitening. Come, all your iniquity, all your sins, bring to the fountain of life and live it there. There’s not a barrage of sins confessed he cannot cleanse. There’s not a cleanser like Jesus. Come then at once, each iota of sin remembered confessing. You will find help at the mercy seat. Come without any other plea, but that His blood was shed to cleanse you and that He bade you come to Him.

Observe that snow is a pure product of nature. Therefore, it can be stored and processed for further uses. Therefore, if you ever dreamed of being used by God, you cannot boycott this entry point. Snow majorly preserves. Would you like to be the salt of the earth, meant to restrain evil and preserve the earth? You must, like the salt, be drawn out of the living water after being dipped by repentance. The complement of the versed referred to above renders: “Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.” Would you warm God’s heart in a world that is cold with the evil of disobedience towards Him? Would you provide covering for the race of Adam that has lost its glory to sin and are now naked before God? Taste of the living water by confessing your sins to Him. He knows them before you came to Him. But He would have you acknowledge them.

Would you come to the source of the living water, dear Christian pilgrim? Despite your efforts, if your course has been progressive, you must have frequently sighed under the burden of your lack of conformity to the son’s image. As Charles Spurgeon rightly puts, “Sincere repentance is continual. Believers repent until their dying day…” Would you come confessing all the attempts that leave you at variance with becoming like Jesus? If conformity is delayed, it can be due to no fault of His but yours. This could be accounted for by many factors. Maybe due to your lack of patience to know that transformation is a process. It took Jesus 7 days to transform the earth from its shambles into what He could call “good”. Or perhaps due to disobedience emanating from fear and doubt. Don’t hold back confess your anxiety as much as you fear; acknowledge your lack of faith as much as your dearth of understanding. Continual cleansing precedes and eventually births total victory over sin, that is, the salvation Jesus promised to offer (see Matt 1:21).