Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
Convinced that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the woman urgently invites the men of her city to come and see one who laid open her whole past life, holding up His knowledge of all she ever did as evidence while asking whether He is the Christ. Acting under conviction of the Spirit with conscience aroused and soul thirst awakened, she believes without miracles in a teachable spirit, and in overflowing gladness forgets her errand to the well, leaves her waterpot and hastens to tell others. Her personal testimony stirs curiosity and brings the people out to see and hear for themselves, so that many believe because of her word and many more believe after hearing Christ themselves and knowing He is the Saviour of the world. The invitation shows salvation offered beyond Israel, as He mingles freely with despised Samaritans, accepts their hospitality and teaches in their streets, bringing divine grace to those the Jews rejected and proving His love is not limited by race or nation. After finding the Saviour she immediately works for Him, speaking firsthand what she herself has found and calling others to come and see and learn for themselves, which all who recognize Jesus as the Christ are to do likewise.
Setting at Jacob's Well
The invitation belongs to a noontime meeting at Jacob's well after a long journey since morning under the noontide sun, where Jesus sits faint from hunger and thirst by the deep well with no rope or water-jar, with cool water near yet inaccessible, waiting in the lot of humanity for someone to draw. Jews and Samaritans are bitter enemies avoiding all dealing except necessary trade, with all social intercourse condemned, so that a Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan nor receive even bread or water, and even His disciples think only of buying food and never of asking a favor or seeking to benefit Samaritans. When a woman of Samaria comes and fills her pitcher, in the East where water is the gift of God and to give drink to the thirsty traveler is a sacred duty, hatred keeps her from offering kindness. Jesus seeks the key to this outcast heart and with tact born of divine love asks rather than offers a favor, since an offer might be rejected but trust awakens trust, and He who as King of heaven made the ocean and controls the waters of the great deep and opened the springs and channels of the earth rests weary and depends on a stranger's kindness even for a drink of water.
It is an invitation of mercy and goodness that cuts away doubt about finding mercy, grace, salvation, answered prayer, and favor from God. It belongs where His mission work commenced, with a despised Samaritan at Jacob's well after He asked her for drink and offered her living water, spoken with positive authority in perfect harmony with its subject. It belongs to a personal encounter with the despised woman at Sychar's well, where she receives individual attention and His richest instruction is opened to her because her receptive heart and mind are discerned.
Woman's Conviction and Invitation
Acting under conviction of God's Spirit, she believes His words as truth, with moral nature aroused, higher need awakened, slumbering conscience aroused and spiritual perceptions quickened. This happens because He reads beneath the surface and reveals a thirst of soul that water from the well of Sychar could never satisfy. Her natural thirst has led her to thirst of soul for the water of life. Though she makes no request for her spiritual wants, abundant supply is offered for her soul's great need.
She believes His word without miracles, with a teachable spirit emptied of prejudice and ready to learn, and she is glad for the light. She had nearly lost her opportunity to learn, but she begins to feel after the truth, and as soon as its value dawns upon her, even before she fully comprehends it, she acts. She learns that He knows the sins of her life yet is her friend who loves and pities her, and that God will receive her as His child if she is willing to forsake her sins, which fills her with gladness.
She receives precious light and living water with earnest desire of soul, with heart overflowing with gladness. There is a new expression on her face and a change in her whole appearance, so her words touch hearts with power. She forgets her errand to the well and even forgets the thirst she had purposed to supply, including the Saviour's thirst she had purposed to supply. His words have awakened faith in her, and she immediately carries the light she has received to others.
Forgetting the errand that brought her to the well, she leaves her waterpot or pitcher and hastens into the city to impart to others what she has received and to tell the wonderful things she has heard. She forgot that she had come for water and hastened to tell others what she had learned. Convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, she urgently invites the men of her city and all she meets to come and see. She presents His knowledge of her past life as evidence, telling them He told her all she ever did and asking whether He is the Christ.
Her personal testimony stirs interest and leads many to investigate, to go out to Him and to believe. He speaks plainly to those whose hearts are open to receive truth, revealing the Father and the service acceptable to Him, and to the woman He identifies Himself as the one she is seeking.
Harvest Among Samaritans
Her testimony stirs curiosity and awakens interest, drawing people out of the city and village to see and hear and investigate Jesus for themselves, and her urgent invitation to come meet the man who revealed her past life begins a wider harvest of believers. Her witness bears immediate fruit by bringing them to Him, and one person's witness in this way prepares others to hear Christ.
Many Samaritans believe because of her saying, and many more believe after hearing Christ themselves and knowing for themselves that He is the Christ, the Saviour of the world. Those who first hear from her then hear many precious truths about the kingdom of God from His own lips and receive Him as the Christ of God. True witness speaks firsthand what it knows from its own meeting and finding of the Messiah, and calls others to come and see and to search and learn until they see and hear for themselves.
Their coming is the harvest Christ means when He says the fields are white already to harvest, showing how sowing by Christ and by the woman's witness prepares a harvest for others to reap. It is seed sowing followed immediately by ingathering, with conversion and seeing truth as it is in Jesus, and with no waiting time between sowing and reaping when souls hungry for the bread of life receive the Word and rejoice in the truth. Her readiness and their interest illustrate this speedy spiritual harvest as a lesson and encouragement of success in labor for all who unite in His service.
Jesus remains two days teaching them at the well, and many listen to His words, repent of their sins, and believe on Him as their Saviour, coming to a knowledge of the truth. Many believe her words and go to the well to meet Christ, which gives Him opportunity to give them living water. Because of this earlier harvest, believers in Samaria are not persecuted, and among these Samaritans the later persecuted little flock scattered from Jerusalem finds a safe asylum.
In seeing her drink of the water of life, Christ Himself loses all sense of hunger and thirst and weariness, His thirst satisfied and rejoicing in spirit at her awakening, while through the words spoken to her the water of life flows forth to many thirsting souls. Her words have a lasting and continuing influence for the saving of souls in the years since then, leading many Samaritans of that city to believe on Him. Such soul-winning labor that gathers eager, attentive crowds shows that the fields are white already for harvest, as seen in crowds in Brisbane and Newcastle.
Salvation Beyond Israel
Though a Jew, He mingles freely with the Samaritans, setting at naught Pharisaic customs and prejudices, accepting the hospitality of this despised people, sleeping under their roofs, eating at their tables of food prepared and served by their hands, teaching in their streets, and treating them with the utmost kindness and courtesy. While He draws their hearts to Him by the tie of human sympathy, His divine grace brings to them the salvation which the Jews rejected, for His work is not to create barriers or constantly thrust upon people that they were wrong. His sympathy and social kindliness recognize the dignity of their humanity, and His words fall upon their thirsty souls with blessed, life-giving power, awakening new impulses and opening to these outcasts of society the possibility of a new life and a longing to become worthy of His confidence.
His preaching of the gospel to the people of Sychar shows salvation offered beyond Israel, that Samaritans whom many regarded as unworthy could hunger for the truth, and His welcome teaches that His message is for all people without territorial or social barriers. That preaching gives evidence that His love and grace are not limited by race or nation, contrary to Jewish intolerance. His visit to Samaria shows His love for the Samaritans remains unchanged despite their earlier rejection of Him, and His words and acts of mercy toward them win their hearts so they become receptive to His message.
People who have not previously heard the truth can be more receptive than those who have received evidence of God's work, for the Samaritans receive the light while the Jews, with mighty healings and the mighty outpouring of Spirit and grace in plain sight, do not recognize Him because prejudice reigns in their hearts. He reveals Himself plainly to a humble Samaritan woman, though not as plainly to the learned Jews, and she represents those who hear and believe with practical faith and become witnesses who invite others to come to Him, for receiving the water of life makes a person a source of life and refreshment for others. He finds a place for His truth in her heart though she is a sinner, making her a new bottle into which He can pour the new wine of His kingdom, unlike the scribes and Pharisees who are like old dried-up skin bottles that cannot hold it and have no place for His precious lessons, as when He calls Matthew the publican and the fishermen. Truth is revealed to her because it is known she will use what she learns well, and her response belongs to a gospel harvest among Samaritans who are ready to receive the light He brings.
Model for Personal Witness
After finding the Saviour she immediately invites her townspeople and countrymen to come and hear Him, gladly acknowledging Him and urging them to come and see Him. She leaves the errand that brought her to the well to tell others about Him, and her trust in Him makes her an effective missionary. Her witness quickly brings others to Him and brings a whole city to hear Him, showing that the good news is to be shared with others.
His work is largely composed of personal interviews with faithful regard for a one-soul audience. The intelligence and truth received by the one Samaritan woman from her conversation with Him is carried from that one soul to thousands. Her personal encounter, in which His knowledge of her life led her to ask whether He was the Christ, carried its message to many others, showing that one soul who receives the truth can share it with thousands.
True witness speaks firsthand what it knows from its own meeting and finding of the Messiah, not as the product of somebody else's mind. It bears testimony from that meeting that it has found the Messiah and calls others to come and see Him. It calls others to search and learn the truth for themselves, and draws people out to hear Him until they see and hear Him for themselves and know He is the Christ.
When convinced of sin and believing in Jesus because He told her what she had done and revealed her past to her, she invites her countrymen and the people of her city to see and meet Him. Her encounter moves her from seeking ordinary water to sharing the news of the water of life with others. Her testimony prompts them to go out to Him and prepares them to hear Christ, and many believe.
She immediately carries the light she has received to others, His words having awakened faith in her. She joyfully invites her townspeople to meet Jesus, asking whether He might be the Christ because He had revealed knowledge of her life, and her testimony brings the Samaritans to Jesus, where many believe. She joyfully receives great truths about eternal life and immediately goes into the city to impart what she heard and bring others to Christ. The seed sown in her mind bears fruit at once with no waiting time between sowing and reaping, and her testimony causes the Samaritans to come to Jesus to hear for themselves the things of the kingdom of God, where those who first heard from her then hear many more precious truths from His own lips and receive Him as the Christ of God.
When convinced she has found the Messiah upon hearing His words, she immediately works for Him and magnifies His name, going into the city to do missionary work by inviting all her Samaritan friends to come see Christ. Those who recognize Jesus as the Christ are to do likewise by catching her spirit and doing the same. That means advancing from city to city to cultivate the great vineyard and enter the harvest field.
Convinced that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the woman urgently invites the men of her city to come and see one who laid open her whole past life, holding up His knowledge of all she ever did as evidence while asking whether He is the Christ. Acting under conviction of the Spirit with conscience aroused and soul thirst awakened, she believes without miracles in a teachable spirit, and in overflowing gladness forgets her errand to the well, leaves her waterpot and hastens to tell others. Her personal testimony stirs curiosity and brings the people out to see and hear for themselves, so that many believe because of her word and many more believe after hearing Christ themselves and knowing He is the Saviour of the world. The invitation shows salvation offered beyond Israel, as He mingles freely with despised Samaritans, accepts their hospitality and teaches in their streets, bringing divine grace to those the Jews rejected and proving His love is not limited by race or nation. After finding the Saviour she immediately works for Him, speaking firsthand what she herself has found and calling others to come and see and learn for themselves, which all who recognize Jesus as the Christ are to do likewise.
Setting at Jacob's Well
The invitation belongs to a noontime meeting at Jacob's well after a long journey since morning under the noontide sun, where Jesus sits faint from hunger and thirst by the deep well with no rope or water-jar, with cool water near yet inaccessible, waiting in the lot of humanity for someone to draw. Jews and Samaritans are bitter enemies avoiding all dealing except necessary trade, with all social intercourse condemned, so that a Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan nor receive even bread or water, and even His disciples think only of buying food and never of asking a favor or seeking to benefit Samaritans. When a woman of Samaria comes and fills her pitcher, in the East where water is the gift of God and to give drink to the thirsty traveler is a sacred duty, hatred keeps her from offering kindness. Jesus seeks the key to this outcast heart and with tact born of divine love asks rather than offers a favor, since an offer might be rejected but trust awakens trust, and He who as King of heaven made the ocean and controls the waters of the great deep and opened the springs and channels of the earth rests weary and depends on a stranger's kindness even for a drink of water.
It is an invitation of mercy and goodness that cuts away doubt about finding mercy, grace, salvation, answered prayer, and favor from God. It belongs where His mission work commenced, with a despised Samaritan at Jacob's well after He asked her for drink and offered her living water, spoken with positive authority in perfect harmony with its subject. It belongs to a personal encounter with the despised woman at Sychar's well, where she receives individual attention and His richest instruction is opened to her because her receptive heart and mind are discerned.
Woman's Conviction and Invitation
Acting under conviction of God's Spirit, she believes His words as truth, with moral nature aroused, higher need awakened, slumbering conscience aroused and spiritual perceptions quickened. This happens because He reads beneath the surface and reveals a thirst of soul that water from the well of Sychar could never satisfy. Her natural thirst has led her to thirst of soul for the water of life. Though she makes no request for her spiritual wants, abundant supply is offered for her soul's great need.
She believes His word without miracles, with a teachable spirit emptied of prejudice and ready to learn, and she is glad for the light. She had nearly lost her opportunity to learn, but she begins to feel after the truth, and as soon as its value dawns upon her, even before she fully comprehends it, she acts. She learns that He knows the sins of her life yet is her friend who loves and pities her, and that God will receive her as His child if she is willing to forsake her sins, which fills her with gladness.
She receives precious light and living water with earnest desire of soul, with heart overflowing with gladness. There is a new expression on her face and a change in her whole appearance, so her words touch hearts with power. She forgets her errand to the well and even forgets the thirst she had purposed to supply, including the Saviour's thirst she had purposed to supply. His words have awakened faith in her, and she immediately carries the light she has received to others.
Forgetting the errand that brought her to the well, she leaves her waterpot or pitcher and hastens into the city to impart to others what she has received and to tell the wonderful things she has heard. She forgot that she had come for water and hastened to tell others what she had learned. Convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, she urgently invites the men of her city and all she meets to come and see. She presents His knowledge of her past life as evidence, telling them He told her all she ever did and asking whether He is the Christ.
Her personal testimony stirs interest and leads many to investigate, to go out to Him and to believe. He speaks plainly to those whose hearts are open to receive truth, revealing the Father and the service acceptable to Him, and to the woman He identifies Himself as the one she is seeking.
Harvest Among Samaritans
Her testimony stirs curiosity and awakens interest, drawing people out of the city and village to see and hear and investigate Jesus for themselves, and her urgent invitation to come meet the man who revealed her past life begins a wider harvest of believers. Her witness bears immediate fruit by bringing them to Him, and one person's witness in this way prepares others to hear Christ.
Many Samaritans believe because of her saying, and many more believe after hearing Christ themselves and knowing for themselves that He is the Christ, the Saviour of the world. Those who first hear from her then hear many precious truths about the kingdom of God from His own lips and receive Him as the Christ of God. True witness speaks firsthand what it knows from its own meeting and finding of the Messiah, and calls others to come and see and to search and learn until they see and hear for themselves.
Their coming is the harvest Christ means when He says the fields are white already to harvest, showing how sowing by Christ and by the woman's witness prepares a harvest for others to reap. It is seed sowing followed immediately by ingathering, with conversion and seeing truth as it is in Jesus, and with no waiting time between sowing and reaping when souls hungry for the bread of life receive the Word and rejoice in the truth. Her readiness and their interest illustrate this speedy spiritual harvest as a lesson and encouragement of success in labor for all who unite in His service.
Jesus remains two days teaching them at the well, and many listen to His words, repent of their sins, and believe on Him as their Saviour, coming to a knowledge of the truth. Many believe her words and go to the well to meet Christ, which gives Him opportunity to give them living water. Because of this earlier harvest, believers in Samaria are not persecuted, and among these Samaritans the later persecuted little flock scattered from Jerusalem finds a safe asylum.
In seeing her drink of the water of life, Christ Himself loses all sense of hunger and thirst and weariness, His thirst satisfied and rejoicing in spirit at her awakening, while through the words spoken to her the water of life flows forth to many thirsting souls. Her words have a lasting and continuing influence for the saving of souls in the years since then, leading many Samaritans of that city to believe on Him. Such soul-winning labor that gathers eager, attentive crowds shows that the fields are white already for harvest, as seen in crowds in Brisbane and Newcastle.
Salvation Beyond Israel
Though a Jew, He mingles freely with the Samaritans, setting at naught Pharisaic customs and prejudices, accepting the hospitality of this despised people, sleeping under their roofs, eating at their tables of food prepared and served by their hands, teaching in their streets, and treating them with the utmost kindness and courtesy. While He draws their hearts to Him by the tie of human sympathy, His divine grace brings to them the salvation which the Jews rejected, for His work is not to create barriers or constantly thrust upon people that they were wrong. His sympathy and social kindliness recognize the dignity of their humanity, and His words fall upon their thirsty souls with blessed, life-giving power, awakening new impulses and opening to these outcasts of society the possibility of a new life and a longing to become worthy of His confidence.
His preaching of the gospel to the people of Sychar shows salvation offered beyond Israel, that Samaritans whom many regarded as unworthy could hunger for the truth, and His welcome teaches that His message is for all people without territorial or social barriers. That preaching gives evidence that His love and grace are not limited by race or nation, contrary to Jewish intolerance. His visit to Samaria shows His love for the Samaritans remains unchanged despite their earlier rejection of Him, and His words and acts of mercy toward them win their hearts so they become receptive to His message.
People who have not previously heard the truth can be more receptive than those who have received evidence of God's work, for the Samaritans receive the light while the Jews, with mighty healings and the mighty outpouring of Spirit and grace in plain sight, do not recognize Him because prejudice reigns in their hearts. He reveals Himself plainly to a humble Samaritan woman, though not as plainly to the learned Jews, and she represents those who hear and believe with practical faith and become witnesses who invite others to come to Him, for receiving the water of life makes a person a source of life and refreshment for others. He finds a place for His truth in her heart though she is a sinner, making her a new bottle into which He can pour the new wine of His kingdom, unlike the scribes and Pharisees who are like old dried-up skin bottles that cannot hold it and have no place for His precious lessons, as when He calls Matthew the publican and the fishermen. Truth is revealed to her because it is known she will use what she learns well, and her response belongs to a gospel harvest among Samaritans who are ready to receive the light He brings.
Model for Personal Witness
After finding the Saviour she immediately invites her townspeople and countrymen to come and hear Him, gladly acknowledging Him and urging them to come and see Him. She leaves the errand that brought her to the well to tell others about Him, and her trust in Him makes her an effective missionary. Her witness quickly brings others to Him and brings a whole city to hear Him, showing that the good news is to be shared with others.
His work is largely composed of personal interviews with faithful regard for a one-soul audience. The intelligence and truth received by the one Samaritan woman from her conversation with Him is carried from that one soul to thousands. Her personal encounter, in which His knowledge of her life led her to ask whether He was the Christ, carried its message to many others, showing that one soul who receives the truth can share it with thousands.
True witness speaks firsthand what it knows from its own meeting and finding of the Messiah, not as the product of somebody else's mind. It bears testimony from that meeting that it has found the Messiah and calls others to come and see Him. It calls others to search and learn the truth for themselves, and draws people out to hear Him until they see and hear Him for themselves and know He is the Christ.
When convinced of sin and believing in Jesus because He told her what she had done and revealed her past to her, she invites her countrymen and the people of her city to see and meet Him. Her encounter moves her from seeking ordinary water to sharing the news of the water of life with others. Her testimony prompts them to go out to Him and prepares them to hear Christ, and many believe.
She immediately carries the light she has received to others, His words having awakened faith in her. She joyfully invites her townspeople to meet Jesus, asking whether He might be the Christ because He had revealed knowledge of her life, and her testimony brings the Samaritans to Jesus, where many believe. She joyfully receives great truths about eternal life and immediately goes into the city to impart what she heard and bring others to Christ. The seed sown in her mind bears fruit at once with no waiting time between sowing and reaping, and her testimony causes the Samaritans to come to Jesus to hear for themselves the things of the kingdom of God, where those who first heard from her then hear many more precious truths from His own lips and receive Him as the Christ of God.
When convinced she has found the Messiah upon hearing His words, she immediately works for Him and magnifies His name, going into the city to do missionary work by inviting all her Samaritan friends to come see Christ. Those who recognize Jesus as the Christ are to do likewise by catching her spirit and doing the same. That means advancing from city to city to cultivate the great vineyard and enter the harvest field.