There has been a 'trend' going on in Christianity on who is more righteous than the other. Some people in the church feel higher esteem when seeing someone who is poorer than they, or someone who made many more mistakes than they have. Some Christians feel so strongly about being 'perfect' that anyone who doesn't live up to their standards is a second-class citizen and unworthy of God's favor!
Well I've got some news for these type of self-righteous Christians...Many of those 'second-class' people you look down upon will make it to Heaven well before you do! Mark 10:31 says; "But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then." So be very careful in your judgment of others in the church or even out of the church.
Why was the Samaritan Woman Important?
Jesus ministered and healed a multitude of people. And although his ministry would only last for 3 years, he felt the need to go to Samaria to speak to a woman at the well. Not even a righteous woman at that, but a woman who has been married 5 times, and was currently living in fornication with another man! Jesus' disciples were even puzzled when they came upon Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well. Let's read about her face-to-face encounter with the Messiah, and then I will explain the importance of this woman;
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
What's so amazing about the Samaritan woman's encounter with Jesus Christ, is that although Jesus knew that she was living in sin, he found her worthy enough to talk to. What's even more amazing is the fact that Jesus rarely ever directly told anyone else that he was Christ the Messiah,but he felt the need to tell this sinful Samaritan woman plainly, "I, the one speaking to you-I am he"!
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
So in the end, this Samaritan woman who was considered a 'low class' citizen, and who was despised by others played a big role in Jesus' ministry! Because of this encounter, her testimony brought salvation to many people!
More Christians should follow this example before looking down on those who they feel are unworthy, and see the potential in them that Jesus saw in this Samaritan woman at the well. Regardless of someone's past, we must remember that Christ can change any circumstance and any person into something wonderful and encouraging to others! After all, Jesus himself said, "Behold, I am making all things new!" -Revelation 21:5
God bless,
