Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
At her testimony and invitation the townspeople left their work and went out of the city to come to Him at the well to hear for themselves whether He was the Christ. Overflowing with gladness she had forgotten her errand, left her waterpot as proof of her desire for living water, and hastened to town with changed appearance to tell the men He had told her all things she ever did. Their eager coming was the harvest He meant when He said the fields are white already to harvest, with truth sown in one mind bearing immediate fruit and souls ripe with no four-month wait. Many first believed because of her testimony about His knowledge of her life, and many more believed because of His own word and confessed Him as indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. As soon as she found the Saviour she carried the light at once to her countrymen, proving a more effective missionary than His own disciples and showing that His work for one soul is carried by that one to thousands who then come to Him.
Setting at Jacob's Well
Then they went out of the city, and came unto him, pictures Jesus sitting at Jacob's well at noontide, faint with hunger and thirst after the morning's long journey, with cool water close by yet inaccessible because the well was deep and He had neither rope nor jar, waiting in the lot of humanity for someone to come to draw. His presence there broke the bitter enmity by which Jews would have no dealings with Samaritans beyond necessary trade, would not borrow from them nor receive bread or water, and would not ask a favor or seek to benefit them. Though a Jew, He mingled freely with this despised people, setting at naught Pharisaic custom and Jewish prejudice.
Instead of offering, He asked the Samaritan woman who came to fill her pitcher for a drink, since trust awakens trust and an offer might have been rejected. A drink of water as God's gift was a sacred duty that no one of the East would withhold, yet hatred had kept her from offering it, so that the Maker of the ocean and controller of the deep waters, who opened the springs of the earth, rested weary and dependent on a stranger outcast soul for even a drink. His asking was tact born of divine love to find the key to the heart.
The woman was convinced by personal conversation in which He opened rich spiritual truths to her despised yet receptive heart. She believed His word without any miracle, glad for the light, and learned that He knew the sins of her life yet was her loving, pitying friend and that God would receive her as His child if she forsook her sins. Knowing doctrine in this way depends on coming with a teachable spirit emptied of prejudice, bringing ideas to the Scriptures to learn, rather than demanding wonderful miracles.
Overflowing with gladness at His words and the wonderful revelation, she forgot her errand and the thirst she had purposed to supply. She left her waterpot as unmistakable proof of the effect of His words and her earnest desire to obtain the living water. She hastened to the nearby town with a new expression on her face and a change in her whole appearance, telling the men that a man had told her all things she ever did and asking if He was the Christ and inviting them to come and see.
At her testimony and invitation the townspeople left their work and went out of the city to come to Him at the well to hear for themselves and to know whether He was the Christ. They came eager to hear and ask questions, to hear Jesus and invite Him to stay. Their coming in answer to His invitation of mercy and goodness belongs to the commencement of His mission work offering living water to all who thirst.
Harvest Ready to Gather
Their coming out of the city to Him was the harvest He meant when He said the fields are white already to harvest, with no four months to wait between sowing and reaping. The truth sown in the woman's mind bore immediate fruit, for she received His great truths about eternal life and the kingdom of God joyfully and went at once to tell her story, and those who heard left the city to hear for themselves. Though the natural fields showed no harvest, the field of souls was ripe, and the seed of truth was followed quickly by an ingathering of souls. Their readiness to receive truth and astonishment at great light from the Scriptures made them ready to receive the gospel, and her knowledge of Him would help lead others to true faith.
Their eager, attentive willingness to come and listen began the harvest of people accepting the gospel. They left their work, heard Him, questioned Him, and eagerly listened as He explained what they had not understood. They believed, invited Him to stay in their city, and He remained two days teaching them many more precious truths from His own lips. Many first believed because of the woman's testimony about His knowledge of her life, and many more believed because of His own word. They listened to His words, repented of their sins, and confessed Him as indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world and the Christ of God.
Their coming in answer to His invitation of mercy and goodness proves that no soul needs to remain in doubt whether the Lord will hear prayer and give mercy, favor, grace and salvation. It belongs to the commencement of His mission work with the woman of Samaria, where His positive, authoritative teaching offered living water to all who thirst. Their coming and conversion served as an object lesson that souls beyond the churches were ready to hear the truth and believe, so the work of reaching them could not be put off. The disciples saw nothing in Samaria to indicate an encouraging field, for their thoughts were fixed on a great work to be done in the future, and they did not see that right around them was a harvest to be gathered at once. Her witness brought a whole city to hear Him and revealed a harvest ready to be gathered.
The Samaritans, though hated by the Jews, received the light, while the Jews who saw His majesty and grace in mighty healings and the outpouring of His Spirit would not recognize Him. The difference was prejudice in the heart, for the greatest miracles had no effect where prejudice reigned, and she listened and accepted Him without any miracle because she believed His word. Knowing the doctrine depends on coming with a teachable spirit emptied of prejudice, bringing ideas to the Scriptures to learn and discerning where God is working without demanding wonderful miracles. The unbelieving and those who have never heard the truth have hearts more susceptible to receive it than those who have been long in the truth and had evidences of God's work yet hold to unbelief and excuse it.
His preaching to Sychar and the people's coming out to meet Him demonstrate that His grace and ministry extended beyond the Jewish people to Samaritans. His work among them showed that salvation is for all mankind and that no people were to be excluded by the divisions the Jews maintained. His loving treatment, words and acts of mercy won their hearts despite their earlier rejection of Him, and their later readiness to receive His messengers followed. Their readiness is a lesson of the success to be expected in labor for souls hungry for the bread of life and perishing for knowledge of the truth among both Jews and Gentiles. There prophets, teachers and John the Baptist sowed and new workers reap by praying for laborers, putting in the sickle and gathering the ripe sheaves from the great field lying open.
Witness That Draws Others
The going out of the city to come to Him shows the effect of Christ's personal interview with one soul. His work was largely made up of personal interviews with faithful regard for the one-soul audience. The intelligence received by that one soul is carried to thousands when those who hear go out of the city and come to Him.
As soon as she found the Saviour she carried the light at once to her countrymen. Through her a whole cityful were brought to hear Jesus, for her encounter with Him became the means of bringing others to the Saviour. She proved a more effective missionary than His own disciples. The disciples despised her and saw nothing in Samaria to indicate an encouraging field, for their thoughts were fixed upon a great work to be done in the future and they did not see that right around them was a harvest to be gathered. They came eager to hear and ask questions, leaving their work, questioning Him, and eagerly listening as He explained what they had not understood.
Those who receive the water of life become channels of life to others. People who receive the truth help others see it in Jesus, and practical faith works to reach those who need the gospel. The seed of truth may be followed quickly by an ingathering of souls, and her knowledge of Him would help lead others to true faith as a people ready to receive the gospel.
He drew them by setting at naught Pharisaic custom and Jewish prejudice against this despised people and mingling freely with them. Though a Jew, He accepted their hospitality, slept with them under their roofs, ate with them at their tables of food prepared and served by their hands, taught in their streets, and treated them with utmost kindness and courtesy and human sympathy. By thus recognizing the dignity of humanity His words fell with blessed, life-giving power on their thirsty souls. They awakened new impulses and opened to these outcasts of society the possibility of a new life and a longing to become worthy of His confidence. By drawing their hearts to Him through human sympathy, His divine grace brought them the salvation the Jews rejected.
At her testimony and invitation the townspeople left their work and went out of the city to come to Him at the well to hear for themselves whether He was the Christ. Overflowing with gladness she had forgotten her errand, left her waterpot as proof of her desire for living water, and hastened to town with changed appearance to tell the men He had told her all things she ever did. Their eager coming was the harvest He meant when He said the fields are white already to harvest, with truth sown in one mind bearing immediate fruit and souls ripe with no four-month wait. Many first believed because of her testimony about His knowledge of her life, and many more believed because of His own word and confessed Him as indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. As soon as she found the Saviour she carried the light at once to her countrymen, proving a more effective missionary than His own disciples and showing that His work for one soul is carried by that one to thousands who then come to Him.
Setting at Jacob's Well
Then they went out of the city, and came unto him, pictures Jesus sitting at Jacob's well at noontide, faint with hunger and thirst after the morning's long journey, with cool water close by yet inaccessible because the well was deep and He had neither rope nor jar, waiting in the lot of humanity for someone to come to draw. His presence there broke the bitter enmity by which Jews would have no dealings with Samaritans beyond necessary trade, would not borrow from them nor receive bread or water, and would not ask a favor or seek to benefit them. Though a Jew, He mingled freely with this despised people, setting at naught Pharisaic custom and Jewish prejudice.
Instead of offering, He asked the Samaritan woman who came to fill her pitcher for a drink, since trust awakens trust and an offer might have been rejected. A drink of water as God's gift was a sacred duty that no one of the East would withhold, yet hatred had kept her from offering it, so that the Maker of the ocean and controller of the deep waters, who opened the springs of the earth, rested weary and dependent on a stranger outcast soul for even a drink. His asking was tact born of divine love to find the key to the heart.
The woman was convinced by personal conversation in which He opened rich spiritual truths to her despised yet receptive heart. She believed His word without any miracle, glad for the light, and learned that He knew the sins of her life yet was her loving, pitying friend and that God would receive her as His child if she forsook her sins. Knowing doctrine in this way depends on coming with a teachable spirit emptied of prejudice, bringing ideas to the Scriptures to learn, rather than demanding wonderful miracles.
Overflowing with gladness at His words and the wonderful revelation, she forgot her errand and the thirst she had purposed to supply. She left her waterpot as unmistakable proof of the effect of His words and her earnest desire to obtain the living water. She hastened to the nearby town with a new expression on her face and a change in her whole appearance, telling the men that a man had told her all things she ever did and asking if He was the Christ and inviting them to come and see.
At her testimony and invitation the townspeople left their work and went out of the city to come to Him at the well to hear for themselves and to know whether He was the Christ. They came eager to hear and ask questions, to hear Jesus and invite Him to stay. Their coming in answer to His invitation of mercy and goodness belongs to the commencement of His mission work offering living water to all who thirst.
Harvest Ready to Gather
Their coming out of the city to Him was the harvest He meant when He said the fields are white already to harvest, with no four months to wait between sowing and reaping. The truth sown in the woman's mind bore immediate fruit, for she received His great truths about eternal life and the kingdom of God joyfully and went at once to tell her story, and those who heard left the city to hear for themselves. Though the natural fields showed no harvest, the field of souls was ripe, and the seed of truth was followed quickly by an ingathering of souls. Their readiness to receive truth and astonishment at great light from the Scriptures made them ready to receive the gospel, and her knowledge of Him would help lead others to true faith.
Their eager, attentive willingness to come and listen began the harvest of people accepting the gospel. They left their work, heard Him, questioned Him, and eagerly listened as He explained what they had not understood. They believed, invited Him to stay in their city, and He remained two days teaching them many more precious truths from His own lips. Many first believed because of the woman's testimony about His knowledge of her life, and many more believed because of His own word. They listened to His words, repented of their sins, and confessed Him as indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world and the Christ of God.
Their coming in answer to His invitation of mercy and goodness proves that no soul needs to remain in doubt whether the Lord will hear prayer and give mercy, favor, grace and salvation. It belongs to the commencement of His mission work with the woman of Samaria, where His positive, authoritative teaching offered living water to all who thirst. Their coming and conversion served as an object lesson that souls beyond the churches were ready to hear the truth and believe, so the work of reaching them could not be put off. The disciples saw nothing in Samaria to indicate an encouraging field, for their thoughts were fixed on a great work to be done in the future, and they did not see that right around them was a harvest to be gathered at once. Her witness brought a whole city to hear Him and revealed a harvest ready to be gathered.
The Samaritans, though hated by the Jews, received the light, while the Jews who saw His majesty and grace in mighty healings and the outpouring of His Spirit would not recognize Him. The difference was prejudice in the heart, for the greatest miracles had no effect where prejudice reigned, and she listened and accepted Him without any miracle because she believed His word. Knowing the doctrine depends on coming with a teachable spirit emptied of prejudice, bringing ideas to the Scriptures to learn and discerning where God is working without demanding wonderful miracles. The unbelieving and those who have never heard the truth have hearts more susceptible to receive it than those who have been long in the truth and had evidences of God's work yet hold to unbelief and excuse it.
His preaching to Sychar and the people's coming out to meet Him demonstrate that His grace and ministry extended beyond the Jewish people to Samaritans. His work among them showed that salvation is for all mankind and that no people were to be excluded by the divisions the Jews maintained. His loving treatment, words and acts of mercy won their hearts despite their earlier rejection of Him, and their later readiness to receive His messengers followed. Their readiness is a lesson of the success to be expected in labor for souls hungry for the bread of life and perishing for knowledge of the truth among both Jews and Gentiles. There prophets, teachers and John the Baptist sowed and new workers reap by praying for laborers, putting in the sickle and gathering the ripe sheaves from the great field lying open.
Witness That Draws Others
The going out of the city to come to Him shows the effect of Christ's personal interview with one soul. His work was largely made up of personal interviews with faithful regard for the one-soul audience. The intelligence received by that one soul is carried to thousands when those who hear go out of the city and come to Him.
As soon as she found the Saviour she carried the light at once to her countrymen. Through her a whole cityful were brought to hear Jesus, for her encounter with Him became the means of bringing others to the Saviour. She proved a more effective missionary than His own disciples. The disciples despised her and saw nothing in Samaria to indicate an encouraging field, for their thoughts were fixed upon a great work to be done in the future and they did not see that right around them was a harvest to be gathered. They came eager to hear and ask questions, leaving their work, questioning Him, and eagerly listening as He explained what they had not understood.
Those who receive the water of life become channels of life to others. People who receive the truth help others see it in Jesus, and practical faith works to reach those who need the gospel. The seed of truth may be followed quickly by an ingathering of souls, and her knowledge of Him would help lead others to true faith as a people ready to receive the gospel.
He drew them by setting at naught Pharisaic custom and Jewish prejudice against this despised people and mingling freely with them. Though a Jew, He accepted their hospitality, slept with them under their roofs, ate with them at their tables of food prepared and served by their hands, taught in their streets, and treated them with utmost kindness and courtesy and human sympathy. By thus recognizing the dignity of humanity His words fell with blessed, life-giving power on their thirsty souls. They awakened new impulses and opened to these outcasts of society the possibility of a new life and a longing to become worthy of His confidence. By drawing their hearts to Him through human sympathy, His divine grace brought them the salvation the Jews rejected.