MM Meditation - Jesus Nurtures Repentence

John 4

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.”

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This familiar retelling of the Lord Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman is so powerful and has ministered to many through the years.

Recently,  I was struck by something new.

I wasn't thinking about the Lord speaking to a woman from an opposing race, one that most Jews would avoid.

I wasn't thinking about her well-known immoral life that forced her to draw water in the heat of the day to avoid the scorning crowds.

Instead,  I noticed the Lord's soul-winning techniques.

First, she slightly nibbled, interested, but looking for physical relief, not spiritual.
     "Sir, give me this water."

He knew there was something between her and the Savior that had to be cleared away before the spiritual thirst could be quenched. He had to create true thirst by revealing her parched soul.
     "Go, call your husband."

Her answer was honest, in some respect.
     "I have no husband."

The Lord graciously reveals He knows all of her sins.
     "You have had five husbands…one now is not your husband."

When she had admitted what the Lord already knew, they were ready to go on with the rest of the message. Confessing sin is not telling the Lord, it is admitting what He already knows as a sin against Him.

He patiently fans away the smokescreen diversion while she attempts to discuss the religious debate over where the true temple is located, her mountain or Jerusalem.
     "...when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,"

 He doesn't ask her to join in religious rituals.  He didn't instruct her how to clean up her life. He
     " for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."

It prompted the remembrance of something she previously heard, and her hope was ignited.
     “I know that Messiah is coming."

With the sin exposed, religious debate swept away, the invitation given, desire inspired, He revealed His identity.
     “I who speak to you am He.”



She became a worshiper in spirit and truth, and immediately went out and shared the message  in Samaria with great results.

³⁹ And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”

What if she hadn't said anything?  An entire city would still be thirsty.

In Creation, all living things were created with seed to bear fruit after its own kind.

In Salvation, all people given eternal life have the seed of the Gospel needed to bear fruit after its own kind. We just need to be spreading the seed and helping others to become true worshippers, in spirit and in truth.