Did the Samaritan woman influence God’s ‘NOW’?

Last week(1) I asked the same question related to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Today I visit Jacob’s well near Sychar in Samaria and follow the conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman. For Bible-readers, this story from John 4 is well known, and like the rest of John’s gospel, there are so many layers of truths, both obvious and hidden, that it deserves to be re-visited again and again.

In one moment, it seems as though John is ridiculing the woman’s ignorance with regard to what Jesus was trying to tell her. In the next moment, John is suggesting that the woman actually grasped spiritual truths which for scholars, like Nicodemus, seemed inaccessible mysteries. This is why I love his gospel and regard it as a master-piece.

When Jesus speaks about the water he can give, the woman replied: “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” For many years I thought and taught that she didn't understand what Jesus spoke about. But what if she actually did understand?

It is clear the Jacob’s well had a religious significance. May be it was part of her religious thirst that made her come all the way to this special well? In the context of the whole conversation, I believe that was what she meant.

When the woman later asked where the right place of worship is, I believe that Jesus knew that she was about to grasp what worship was all about, and he answered:

“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”
John 4:23

So, yes, I believe that the woman influenced God’s NOW. Jesus said “Yet a time is coming” – which points to the future; however, because it was revealed for the woman and she had believed it as true, Jesus continued: “and has now come!”.

‘Manna’ for today:

Faith in what God has revealed to me, influences His ‘NOW’!

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(1) This reflction is part of a series on the "Call to Mission - NOW!'