Counterfeit: Femininity — Friday
JOHN 4:28-30
The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” So the people came streaming from the village to see him. (NLT)
One of my favorite Bible stories is the one we will talk about today. The compassion and love of Jesus are incredibly evident in this story, and it’s yet another instance of God using a woman to spread the message of who He is to others. In this account, Jesus sits down at a well on His way from Judea to Galilee. Scripture says He was tired from the walk and had to pass through Samaria on His way. It tells us that a Samaritan woman walks up to the well around noon to draw water.
That detail is significant because it tells us that she purposefully avoided going when the other women would have drawn water. Instead, she went in the heat of the day carrying heavy vessels of water because she was not accepted by the other women. Naturally, Jesus would choose someone society would have called “unlikely” to carry the message of His coming. Not only that. He chose a Samaritan woman! I won’t go into all the details of why, but up to this point, the Jews were God’s people and they did not believe salvation could come to “Gentiles” (people who weren’t Jewish). But God, in His sovereignty, had come to save all people, so He approached a Gentile woman with a poor reputation to tell her that the Messiah had finally come.
She immediately ran into the village nearby to tell them that she had met Jesus, the Messiah who knew everything she had ever done, and her testimony was so compelling that they flocked to the well to meet Him. That’s what meeting Jesus does! He knows the worst about each of us, loves us anyway, offers us forgiveness, and changes us to look more like Him. What a gift!
This story tells us so much about God’s love for us, how deep it is, and how where we come from, what we look like, what our deficiencies are, or what our reputation here on earth is doesn’t matter to Him. He sees us as the children He created and loves us more than we can understand. He knows the good, the bad, and the ugly, and He simply wants us to accept His love and allow Him to save us.
Friday’s Reflection
This is such a good gift that Jesus offers. Take some time to worship Him today. Give Him thanks for saving you and for loving you. Still need to accept Jesus as your savior? We’d love to talk about baptism with you!