God loves surprises. The Bible is full of unexpected twists and turns.
It should not surprise us, therefore, when God does something we do not expect or completely understand.
The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in Chapter Four of John’s Gospel teaches us to keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open, because God is working in unexpected ways in what may seem to us to be unlikely people. Everything in this account shouts, “Surprise!”
Jesus led his disciples on a less traveled road (by Jews, anyway) right through Samaria, instead of taking the usual longer route that skirted where “those people” lived. The Jews despised Samaritans and tried to avoid contact with them. Jesus amazed his followers by leading them into Samaria and engaging the inhabitants.
Our Lord also shocked the Samaritan woman who came to fill her jar at the town well. Jesus sent his disciples on an errand to purchase food. Being tired from the journey and sitting alone at the well, when the Samaritan woman arrived to fill her jar with water, he asked her to give him a drink. “Good” Jews would never talk to a Samaritan woman or drink from her “unclean” jar! Asking a favor from a despised Samaritan woman was how Jesus began his interaction with this intriguingly important woman.
The element of surprise immediately got the woman’s full attention, as you might imagine. This is one reason God does unexpected things. He wants to rouse us out of our dull routine and capture our hearts.
The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” John 4:9 (NLT)
Her curiosity set the stage for what came next – a strangely cryptic reply.
Jesus replied, “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.” John 4:10 (NLT)
Have you ever conversed with someone you knew held religious convictions that were completely opposite your own? How did that go? Did you walk on egg shells? Did you feel any tension? Did you skirt the contentious issue altogether, or did you get right into an argument? The controversy and hostility between Jews and Samaritans lurked just beneath the facade of civility being employed. How would our Lord handle this?
Instead of answering her question, Jesus made a odd sounding statement about himself, which riveted her attention. She did not know what to make of this surprising man!
Of course, we would not make such a statement about ourselves, but about the Lord. If we were there as present day followers of Christ, we might say something like the following.
“If you only knew the gift God has for you and the Jesus I know, you would ask him to give you living water.”
She quite naturally asked him where he would get this water because she was thinking on the natural or physical level, not realizing that he was leading her into spiritual realities.
Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 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.” 15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” John 4:13-15 (NLT)
To me, it is unclear from the text whether she was genuinely interested or being sarcastic. We would have had to have been there to know for sure. Regardless, what came next completely changed the dynamic of the conversation. Jesus shattered her guarded religiosity by providing her with a bit of personal information via the Holy Spirit, which some people call a “word of knowledge.”
The Holy Spirit is able to give us such a prophetic insight into a person, if we learn how to discern his voice.
“Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. 17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— 18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!” John 4:16-18 (NLT)
The surprise element contained in this prophetic insight, coupled with Jesus’ loving demeanor, opened her heart completely. From then on, she was “all ears.” Astonishingly, before the conversation ended, he also informed her that he was and is the Messiah, the one for whom she and her people were waiting. That was the very first time he told anyone so forthrightly. What an unexpected honor he extended to this Samaritan woman who was living with a man to whom she was not married!
If we learn to see people through God’s eyes, we may be privileged to participate in many such surprises!
Next God allowed this nameless woman, who was perhaps one of the village’s most despised inhabitants, to bring the entire village to faith in Christ. What a shock that God would do that! His disciples wondered that Jesus would even talk with a woman because that is something Jewish rabbis did not do. What a total shocking surprise that an entire Samaritan village would acknowledge Jesus’ messianic claims, something no Jewish village had ever done!
As we go through our day, are we looking for unexpected God opportunities to speak to people?
Do we see ourselves as God’s representatives, who are capable of ministering God’s life to others with the Spirit’s help? Do we seek to be loving, intriguing, and surprisingly compelling to those around us? Are we sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and willing for his gifts to flow through us? Are we ready to share the gospel when we get the opportunity?
35 You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. John 4:35 (NLT)
The above verse promises us that there are people all around us who are ready to respond to the gospel, thanks to the unseen work of the Holy Spirit going on in the background.
The harvest is ready because God is always at work. The question is whether he can find co-laborers to join him.
If not us, then who? Let’s ask the Lord to open our eyes to see the harvest and give us divine appointments with those whose hearts are open to God. Who knows what may happen? We may experience our own version of “Surprise!”
