Yesterday, we kicked off our Easter series Portraits of the Forgiven with a look at Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. He was heralded with shouts of praise and fanfare for all He had done during this ministry.
Over the course of the week, we are going to look at a few people who encountered Jesus, and received His healing power.
The Woman at the Well
It was midday when Jesus strolled into the Samaritan town of Sychar near Jacob’s Well feeling weary from walking.
He was thirsty, and needed a moment of rest and sat by the well.
It wasn’t long before a woman came out to the well to draw water, and Jesus asked her for a drink.1
The woman looked at him with a look of surprise for Jews and Samaritans did not like each other, let alone talk to each other.
Jesus, with compassion in His eyes for her said,
“If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”2
She looked puzzled by His response. She knew the well was deep and it had been there since the time of Jacob.
The woman said,
“How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”3
Jesus now flipped the script on the woman by replying,
“Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”4
The woman was eccastic – she wanted this water, so Jesus probed a little further telling her to go get her husband.
Sheepishly, the woman says she doesn’t have a husband.
Jesus told her she was correct – she was working on husband number 6, but Jesus did not chastise her, he loving talked with her.
She told Him that she knows the Messiah is coming, and He replies,
“I Am the Messiah!”5
The disciples came back and saw Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman, and were going crazy. They knew the two groups did not like each other.
The woman was so excited that she had met a man who knew so much about her that she dropped everything and ran back to her family to get them so they could meet Him.
It was on this day that she put her faith in the Messiah that was right in front of her, as well as her family.
Portraits of the Forgiven
Each of us has a story to tell. Sometimes our backgrounds are more messed up then others, but Jesus didn’t come for the perfect, the nearly perfect or the completely broken.
Jesus came for each one of us – no matter our backgrounds.
The Samaritan woman knew the Messiah was coming, but she had no idea that today, she would come face-to-face with Him, and her life would changed forever.
An Invitation
Your life can change as well. If you want to know the Savior, you can pray a simple prayer,
Lord, I want to know you. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart and make me a new creation. Amen!
There is no magic to these words, but it comes from your heart. Your portrait is now hanging in the halls of heaven as one of the redeemed.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for your healing power and your grace. Thank you for being our Savior and for showing us how we can be redeemed. Amen!
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Footnotes
Say Thanks
Listen On…
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