In our first part of "Jesus had a drink with a woman", Jesus was waiting on a woman to come to the well. I believe the text allows us to assume He knew what He was doing. He asked her for drink and she gave it after schooling Him on what is right and wrong in society. After all, He was a Jewish man and He was speaking to a Samaritan woman. This would be akin to a white man speaking to a black woman in public in Selma, Alabama in 1958.
He then answers her with, "If though knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked him, and he would have given thee living water". The very first thing that comes to mind is the separation of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46. Jesus says to the sheep, "when I was thirsty, you gave me to drink". Her response here is akin to their response in Matthew 25. Good deeds are done by Christians because it is in us (Holy Spirit).
I believe that because she was unsure of what to make of this guy, she says something sort of puzzling. "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; from whence then hast thou that living water?" She knew He would not be drawing this from the same place she was getting the water. Nicodemus knew in John 3 that he could not be born again physically so asked Jesus a similarly sarcastic question. You know she had a little sarcasm in her response because she follows up with, "Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?" She is letting Jesus know that know matter what water He has, everyone has heard of Jacob and surely Jacob's water was better than any imported by Jesus.
Jesus then throws her a curveball. "Whosover drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
She addresses the thirst part because she understands being thirsty. However, she leaves the second portion of His statement alone; for now. She responds with, "sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw." Who wouldn't be interested in never being thirsty again. After all, Jesus told her he had some miracle water that would prevent her from ever being thirsty. What she added to the end of it though adds to her legend.
As we will find out in a few verses, which is expertly drawn out of her by Jesus, she comes from a jaded past. He past has created a nasty present. How do we know? Let us look again at some facts. Jesus was there and sat down at about the "sixth hour". This time on our clock would be noon. It is HOT! The women, being responsible for the home, would have gathered in groups (for safety reasons) and gone at daybreak to avoid the heat. Remember, they were completely covered in clothing. It would have been scorching at noon; especially completely covered from head to toe in garments. Why go at noon?
If you have a past, you know the easiest thing to do is hide. While you cannot hide from the world, you can hide from those that would consider you less than. You can choose when and where to to so as to not allow yourself more pain than you already have.
Am I reading too much into this? "... neither come hither to draw". That is in King James. In case you don't get it, this is the New Living Translation, "... I won't have to come here to get water". Hello? Why is she hiding? Because it is easier than explaining her life over and over. It is easier than listening to the jabs and seeing the smirks. It is easier than crying over something you can avoid.
Jesus is bringing her hope. Jesus is bringing us hope. The main hinge point for her, as well as us, is when we finally decide to be truthful. Not to Jesus. He knows the truth. We must be truthful with ourselves. It is only at that point that He can truly help us. The next in this series will address her past and how He helps her, and us, deal with hiding.
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