John 4:15-26 says,...

Today's devotional verses are John chapter 4 and verses 15 through 26, which read,

v.15 - The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw."

The conversation with the woman at the well in Samaria is continuing on.  Jesus is talking about spiritual water and the woman keeps talking about physical water.  She is following the example of the very religious leader Nicodemus in the last chapter.  All she heard was the part about never thirsting again, thinking physically, and being relieved of this duty of coming all the way out of the town each day to retrieve water.

v.16 - He said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here."

Jesus asks another simple request.  The first was for a drink of water from the well and the second is for the woman to bring her husband to Jesus to hear and maybe understand what Jesus is talking about.  How does Jesus know she has a husband?  Is this just a hunch or is this Jesus showing that He is more than just a man?

v.17, 18 - The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."  Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."

What a can of worms Jesus opens up here with the knowledge that He has supernaturally about this woman.  She gives a truthful answer that she is not married but doesn't offer the information of her past relationships or the relationship she is in at the moment.  We find out from Jesus that the woman had five legal marriages but now has chosen to go the route of living with someone instead of formally getting married to him.  We don't know the nature of the breakups of the former married relationships.  Did they all die?  Did they end in divorce?  Was she the instigator or the victim?  All we know is that she has chosen to live in direct violation to God's law.  Jesus compliments her on saying the truth while giving her the truth about her spiritual situation before God.

v.19, 20 - The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

Let's quick change the subject.  She goes from Jesus being a Jewish man at the well asking for a drink to a Jewish man who must be a prophet because He knows too much about her life.  She diverts the conversation away from her personal life to something Samaritans and Jews were arguing over.  Where is the proper place to worship God.  The Samaritans only read the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, and so they placed a temple were Abraham built an altar to God at Shechem.  The Jewish people read all of the Old Testament and placed their temple in the city of Jerusalem, the holy city.  The Samaritans have their place and the Jewish people have their place.  Which one is right?  "Let's talk about this instead of my personal sin."  This is a common tactic when we get uncomfortable about something we are doing wrong.  We will bring up a controversy to debate about instead of confessing our sin.

v.21-24 - Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Something is coming that will supersede the worship of God on this mountain or that mountain.  Some hour is coming that will negate this controversy.  People won't be able to debate this anymore because it will be answered on a certain "hour."  Worship will continue of the Father but it won't be tied to a location.  The worship of the Father will be tied to spirit and truth.  There is also a distinction made by Jesus that there will be true worshipers meaning that there will also be false worshipers.  The Father is seeking true worshipers.  These true worshipers will recognize that God is not some object or limited to a location but a spirit, eternal, and everywhere.  The true worship of God must happen this way.  This all comes because of this "hour" that is to come that brings salvation which is prophesied to come from the Jewish people in the form of a Messiah, a Deliverer, the Anointed One.  This "hour" is near.  "It is now" is what Jesus is telling this Samaritan woman at the well.  He really gives her a lot of information to process that goes well beyond the debate about this mountain or that mountain.  How will she respond?

v.25 - The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us."

The woman goes further in revealing how much she knows spiritually.  She knows about a coming Messiah.  The Samaritans were waiting for a coming Messiah.  This is One who will be lord of all, the Christ.  This coming Messiah will have all the answers to these questions.  She is agreeing with Jesus that a time is coming, an "hour" when someone with divine authority will give the definitive answer on worship.  And then Jesus says it.

v.26 - Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

Jesus lets the "cat out of the bag" with this "living in sin" Samaritan woman at the well that He is the Messiah.  The Christ has come.  He is the One who is declaring all things.  Jesus goes from a conversation with a very religious Jewish man to a conversation with a very openly sinning Samaritan woman with the same salvation message.  Jesus goes from one nationality to another.  In the original Greek this sentence from Jesus literally says, "I who speak to you am."  "I am who I am" goes back to Moses in front of the burning bush.  Jesus is telling this woman that He is God.  What will she do with this information?  Will she try to divert the conversation again?  That will be for Wednesday as we unfold more of this encounter with Jesus.  Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, I thank You that You are not just the God of the Jews but to all who worship You as spirit in spirit and truth.  You require us to do this if we are to be true worshipers and it is not based on our nationality or region of the world but our acknowledgment of You as God sending salvation by and through Your Son.  Thank You for making Yourself known to us like You did the Samaritan woman.  Amen."

Pastor Adam