BYM ONLINE DESK Blessing English May 2017 | Page 3

you today and then dries up. It is a spring. You will never
thirst again. considered strangers (Lk 17:18). Jesus was contemptuously
called a Samaritan (Jn 8:48).
The words “Living Water” appear in two places. Here
and John 7:38. Here Jesus offers the living water to the
Samaritan woman. There He says, from that person it flows
out to others. She received it first and then it flowed to the
entire village. When we receive the living water, we should
let it flow to others. If God could use a sinful woman, why
not us? She cooperated with the promptings of the Holy
Spirit. Do we? Do we suppress Him? During the persecution by Saul, many disciples fled to
Samaria (Acts 8:1). That's how Philip got to preach the
Gospel to the Samaritans with incendiary effect. A revival
broke out and many were baptized and filled, with the Holy
Spirit. I believe this woman heard too, how the Messiah she
had met was crucified and rose again. I believe she was
baptized and filled, caught up in the great revival of Samaria
and became a powerful disciple. This is possible because
Peter and John preached the gospel in many Samaritan
villages (Acts 8:25). They already have experience with the
Samaritans when they went along with Jesus.
Before giving her the living water Jesus led her to
repentance. Jesus did not condemn her but saw her broken
heart because of her failed life. She must have wept her heart
out five times. May be she decided not to marry again but
give a trial with the sixth man.
Jesus had kindled the curiosity in her. Many times a
casual conversation about religion leads to serious
discussion and ends up fruitfully. We should never think,
“What is the point in talking for a few minutes?” God does
the follow-up if we cannot do it.
Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone
who is thirsty come to Me and drink” (Jn 7:38). The
Samaritan woman was thirsty. She came to Him. She wanted
to know more and more. She drank. She instantly believed in
Jesus. Rivers of living water started flowing from within her,
lea ding her and others to eternal life.
“By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who
believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the
Spirit had not yet been given, since Jesus had not yet been
glorified” (Jn 7:39). After the resurrection of Jesus, the
disciples were given the Holy Spirit to go to Samaria (Acts
1:8). Jesus had earlier asked them not to go to Samaria to
evangelise (Mt 10:5). He was once rejected there (Lk 9:52).
But He had a high opinion of them (Lk 10:33); though
When she saw Jesus as the Messiah, her priority
shifted. She put first things first. When the dialogue ended,
she left her pot there so that Jesus could drink. She did not
forget a tired traveller's request for a drink. And also so that
she could walk faster and bring the people before He
finished His food and left the place. Her idea of the Messiah
was that, “When He comes He will tell us all things.” So,
when He told her “all things that I ever did,” she knew He
was the Messiah. She talked to the people. She was not shy.
People knew her as a wayward woman. They had not yet
seen her changed life. How would they listen to her? Such
thought did not put her off. We may also think, “I am like
this; my family is like this. I suffer from this disease. How
can I testify?” No. We are not the power. The gospel is the
power of God to salvation (Rom 1:16). Don't give in to the
devil's discouragement. We must keep working at ourselves
and keep testifying. The disciples wanted to burn up a
Samaritan village but Jesus wanted to bring salvation. Let's
have the Spirit of Jesus (Lk 9:54-56). Go and convince
people. Let them come to Christ and see for themselves.
She narrated her own experience, though uncertain
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