“Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right
in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you
now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to
him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.” (John 4:16–19, ESV)
The woman at the well asked Jesus for some of that special
water so that she might not have to do these trips to the well again. Rather,
than clarifying her misunderstanding, Jesus dug a little deeper into the hidden
well that is her heart. As we have already read and restated, Jesus knew the
hearts of men, and He clearly knew this woman had some deeper issues that went
well beyond her physical thirst. She needed to know without a doubt that God knew
all about her, loved her, and had sent His Son to care about her whole life in drawing
her to salvation and worship.
His response to her request for living water was to ask her
to go get her husband. At first impulse, we might think that He thought it
proper not to speak with a married woman alone, but we quickly see that Jesus
knew something much deeper about this woman. He not only knew that she
currently had no husband as she responded to Him, but He knew that she had had
five husbands and that she was living with one currently who was not her
husband. We read this knowing that Jesus had just entered this region and had
sat down at the well to rest when this woman approached. I’m sure she had no
sign hanging around her neck declaring the hidden things of her life, but Jesus
knew what no stranger could possibly know. The woman’s response was to declare
that she believed Him to be a prophet—one sent of God and given special
knowledge.
I can’t pretend to fully comprehend Jesus as being fully God
and fully man. I don’t clearly know how His knowledge of things as God worked
together as He came to be born as fully man. What I do know from Scripture is
that Jesus was both—fully God and fully man. And as the God-man Jesus knew more
about this woman than she knew herself. It was this discovery that I was
created by a God who knew me intimately, who knew the words on my tongue before
they were ever formed, and scrutinizes my path even knowing when I rise up and
when I sit down that God used to draw me to Him and to accept the gift of
salvation in His Son. It was hearing a message on Psalm 139 and learning about
God who knew me this way that sparked my heart to respond by wanting to get to
know Him better. If God cared this much about me, then I knew that I could
trust Him with the deepest things of my heart. And so I asked for the salvation
which He so freely gave through His Son.
For this woman, Jesus demonstrating His knowledge of these secrets
convinced her that He was definitely one who spoke from God. But even in this
we don’t see that she saw Him yet as the Messiah. But He at least had, in her
eyes, the credibility to speak to the issues of her heart, and now she was
ready to trust Him with even more of her questions.
Coming to Christ, for many people, is not a quick
introduction and an immediate response. Rather it is more commonly a series of
pieces coming together over time and possibly through a variety of individuals
with some intervening circumstances. There is no one way that people come to
have their eyes opened. Jesus didn’t get straight to the point with her likely
because He knew she had to other issues to get to first. But He also did not
abandon the conversation because of her lack of understanding. He found the balance
with this woman, and perfectly guided her to a place of belief. As stated
earlier, we don’t know that she believed on Him as the Son, but she definitely
believed He was sent by God and was willing to listen to what He had to say.
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