Call the Doctor

Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

The woman answered, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.” John 4:13-18 (WEB)

Jesus is so loving and so compassionate. He will not allow me to distract Him or divert Him. He knows my REAL pain and how to CURE the problem. He does not want to treat the symptoms – but go for the cure!

The Samaritan woman wants a cure for her immediate problem of embarrassment and acceptance in her community. Jesus wants to cure her spirit. Jesus sends His probe straight into her heart and reveals her pain.

The woman recognizes Jesus as more than a man. She gives Him the role of prophet. Then she brings in the old rift between Samaritans and Jews about where to worship. Jesus assures her that there will be a time when we will all get it and realize that we can worship God any where because we will realize that our whole life is about worshiping God. God wants us to worship Him in truth and with our whole spirit (vv. 19-24).

I believe this woman’s real pain and rejection begins with the deception that she has been rejected by God because of the ‘rules’ of the church. She feels that as a sinner, God has ‘written her off’! The real truth is that God sent His Son for sinners like her, like me (Matthew 9:12-13) to make us well. And Jesus tells her that – He is the Messiah that has come to give her the water of life.

Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in Yahweh’s house forever. Psalm 23:6 (WEB)

Jesus will follow us into whatever pit of pain that we try to hide with goodness and love or grace and mercy. All I have to do is turn and say, “Yes, come and heal me.” And it is contagious. Others see the change and they want what I have – Jesus. People believed in Jesus because a woman they knew told what she knew about Him. An Evangelist. A church leader in a time when women just did not do that.

If you have a wound or a sore spot that has you spiritually limping, Jesus makes house calls and will come to you day or night with His cure. There isn’t anything too shocking or disgusting because all He sees is one of His children in pain.