JESUS, The Living Water

In Jesus’ times the Jews and the Samaritan has a long history of animosity towards each other. The main reason why the Samaritans were despised by the Jews is because they were half-breeds, meaning they have practiced inter-racial marriages. The Samaritans were foreigners who intermarried with the Israelites, and they adopted an idolatrous religion. (see 2 Kings 17). In the book of John chapter 4, it tells about Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman.

 

In John 4 we see Jesus speaking with a Samaritan woman, and even asking the woman for a drink. The Samaritan woman was surprised for Jesus was asking her for a drink. The Jewish people have no dealings with the Samaritans. (There is a legislation that forbids Jews to eat or drink with the Samaritans while, the Samaritans are not that strict in terms of ritual cleanliness as practiced by the Jews.) 

 

In the gospels, the disciples of Jesus depicted him as the lover of the unlovely, the despised, and the outcast. As Christians we were taught, and are always reminded to never ‘yoke with unbelievers’, 2 Corinthians 6:14. Maybe, some take this reminder to the extreme that we do not realize that we have become like these Pharisees (They are men of the Scriptures, they were committed to memorized all the 39 books of the Old Testament, but in doing so they fail to practice the greatest commandment of God which is love.). 

 

Jesus reached out to the outcast, to the friendless, to the unloved. The same goes for the apostle Paul, from an article of John MacArthur, in his sermon with regards to 2 Corinthians, let me quote, “Paul didn’t leave the world.  He didn’t run from it.  He got right in the middle of it for the purpose of leading people to the knowledge of Christ.  He is not calling for isolation.  There’s no place for isolation from unbelievers.  If God wanted us isolated from unbelievers, He would have saved us and instantly catapulted us into heaven.  He’s not calling for isolation.  In fact, we are mandated to intersect with the unsaved all the time.  Now let’s follow this and see where Paul really sets his limits.” 

 

Jesus didn’t isolate himself instead He reached out to them, and He preached the truth. He tells them about Himself, He came that we may have life, and that we may live it in abudance (John 10:10)

I am not writing this so as to justify that it is okay to be friends or to even have a relationship with unbelievers. While it is not wrong to be friends with them, we are urge to make a stand when it comes to the sinful and wrong practices of unbelievers. Do not participate in their wrongdoings, and be influenced by them. Instead we should teach them the truth, and of course share the good news with them. If we isolate ourselves with the unbelievers, how can we share to them the good news! 

 

The Samaritan woman’s problem, is not mainly because she’s a sinner. Her problem as Jonathan Parnell writes in his article, is that she doesn’t know Jesus, similar with all the unbelievers out there. The Samaritan woman was leaving an immoral life, and what she needs is hope in what it seems to be hopeless situation of hers. There is hope in Jesus.

 

Jesus is the light, in the dark, and the hope of the hopeless, the love that the unloved needs. 

Jesus talks about Himself as the living water. Those who drinks the water that He will give will never be thirsty again. (John 4:13-14). Jesus differentiates the earthly temporary satisfaction with eternal satisfaction. All earthly pleasures will fade, but the eternal life He gives is everlasting, and in Him can we find the only satisfaction and contentment that our unsatisfied hearts long for. 

 

Are you tired of everything?, is life suddenly has become meaningless to you, and are you longing for something to fill the void in your heart? Are you longing for the eternal water that He is offering? It is never too late, Come to Jesus!

In closing, let me quote a very short but powerful statement, “Be in the world, but don’t be of the world.”