Love is the deepest emotion and ultimate goal for many, a human heart longs for love from the day he/she is born into this world because it can't thrive long without love. When was the last time you heard from someone 'I love you'? Did you just instantly smile thinking about that person? Well, the heart feels like it could do anything to hear that again and again. And what if that heart is unexpectedly broken? Can it love again?
There was such a woman in the city of Samaria who longed for true love and who could do anything to find it and keep it. Her quest has never reached destination, one after the other failed to fulfil her desire and she kept picking up her shattered pieces and went searching again. She finally lost trust in love itself, she thought it wouldn't last, so she didn't want to call it a covenant. Her choices made her life miserable and there was dissatisfaction ruling her life. She longed for pure, unselfish, non-demanding, everlasting, living love. She looked above and thought, "Can there be something beyond this world which could offer true love?" but there was so much spiritual pollution and biases among people. No one knew the truth, everyone lived in darkness and longed for a 'Saviour.' She thought to herself, if only I could establish a connection with the divine, I could ask for my life to be set and a permanent solution for my problems, but she was limited in her access, she was told that her city is far from the true Holy temple and that they never deserve to worship. So, she continued to seek this temporary worldly love and never changed her life.
It was a mundane sunny noon, she picked her jar to get water from that area's famous Jacob's well. As she walked down the road all alone, her life felt miserable, for she avoided the crowd to hide her lifestyle. A kind refreshing voice was suddenly heard - "Will you give me a drink?"[1] she was surprised to see a man, not of her town, talk to her. She questioned back instead of fetching water for him to drink on that sunny day. And he, instead of being weary with her, says -
"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. Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give, he'll never be thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."[2]
She's surprised, confused and desperate at the same time so she sarcastically questions this man's greatness to offer her back even when she herself didn't do any. Since she hated walking all alone to quench water everyday to fulfil her thirst, she desperately asks him to offer such water without even wanting to know more about him who is saying such words.
How desperate are we in our lives, to get rid of tedious works, we want shortcuts, we only 'want' but never 'offer', we look for blessings instead of solutions. We become so comfortable in our rotten suffering that it no longer stinks, we try to justify our causes, we fool ourselves with lies, yet blame the other people for our problems. We often laugh at people who wants to help us with our struggling lives, we only desire pleasure in our flesh rather than to our soul, because correcting one's soul is challenging. So even if it is going to redeem our soul and restore joy into our lives, we don't want such help, we mock and run away and go back to our rotten self. How ignorant and timid beings are we.
Now coming back to this Samaritan woman's story, the desperation in her eyes moved the man's heart and he only asks her one condition, to get her husband. Her heart sank for this request, she is now tired of hiding and running away, she came to a point of dealing with this pain, so she opens up saying she has no husband. The man is impressed by her honesty but decides to complete her statement which she withdrew from saying completely. He said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."[3] Her life is now exposed and it astonished her, how could he decide to talk to her in the first place and along with that, offer her living waters despite knowing her secrets? She looks up into his merciful eyes perceiving he's a messenger from God and states her old queries before him about the connection with the divine. He responds with grace -
"Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father...the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."[4]
Her heart received an unknown peace, she realised her quest for love is not of the flesh but of the spirit, she is now admitting her all, she doesn't want to run away from this conviction. She desires to be redeemed once for all and now she is suddenly reminded of the 'saviour,' called the Messiah in her language, of whom her ancestors and everyone had been looking forward to, who would come to redeem people. She is now thinking if these words of Life are spoken by the One? yet she doesn't want to be deceived so doesn't admit but still out of hope, decides to express the same to him and says, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."
Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."[5]
Hearing it, she immediately left her jar near the well, went her way into the city, and said to people, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"
And many Samaritans, who are actually considered outcasts by the Jews and deprived of worthiness to worship true God because of their sinful life, came to Him and believed in Him. They urged Jesus to stay with them and He stayed for couple of days, and many believed and testified. They said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world."[6]
Oh what a joy to the lost soul and pleasure for the suffering, for the redeemer of the entire world has come down to the place of people's brokenness, the God's own Son was born into the world as a human to bear the sin and shame of the people and to take upon Himself the punishment of all i.e., from the worthy God's own people Jews, to outcasts like Samaritans, and to all people across the globe. Indeed, and He stayed for couple of days there is only one true Love, one pure Joy and one perfect Peace and these cannot be offered by mortal world, but they come through the divine intervention into this distorted heart. What a privilege to be able to receive such heavenly gifts which surpasses all our understanding, to be able to smile and spread positivity despite the pain and suffering in our lives. There is rest in surrendering our lives into God's secure hands and it brings forth real joy and hope. Have you ever thought about this Truth? And have you ever experienced such Life? Do you want to choose this Way?
Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Me."[7]
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Heart touching ....