On a Divine Mission of Love

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
John 4:7-19

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
John 4:25-26

Jesus insisted on going to Galilee via Samaria. He could have taken any one of three other routes, but He chose the one least traveled by the Jews. The reason - He was on a divine mission of love. Samaritans were a mixed race - part of Jew and part Gentile - that grew out of the Assyrian captivity. They were rejected by the Jews because they could not prove their genealogy. However, Jesus was not swayed by Jewish prejudices.

By the time He and His disciples arrived at Jacob’s well, it was late in the day. After dismissing them to buy food, Jesus noticed a woman drawing water from the well. She was as Samaritan and a known adulteress. He knew their paths would cross the moment he began His journey. Racial barriers and sin are no match for the love of God.

Often people want to know who Jesus is. They cannot imagine love like His so divine, so wondrous as being theirs. Just like this woman, their lives are entrapped by sin. However, these are the very people Jesus rushes to meet.

The giving of His love at Calvary was God’s way of shouting to the world: “I love you unconditionally.” No matter where you are in this life, Jesus loves you want wants His best for you.

“...Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come...” Revelation 1:4