If you are not familiar with the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter 4, please take a moment and review it. In this story, Jesus meets a woman who had made a lot of mistakes. This woman had a lot of animosity toward Jesus because he was a Jew and maybe because he was a man. She was argumentative and quite defensive at Jesus' questions. Are you like that? Do you know anyone like that who needs to be saved? Then this word is for you.
The first thing we need to look at is that Jesus had more love than she had anger. Often, we view some types of people as being beyond hope. They seem to be too mean and beyond all hope of ever coming to know Jesus as their personal Saviour. We might be personally wrestling with some situations that seem far beyond our ability to handle. No matter how angry, bitter or defensive this woman became, Jesus had more love than she had anger. Whatever we are facing, Jesus is more than enough. As a Christian, we need to have more of God's love in us than sinners have anger. That's the challenge to us as soul winners.
Here is something else you might not have thought of in this situation. Jesus was her answer when she didn't even know the right question. This woman threw argument after argument at Jesus. Do you know anybody like that? Have you argued with anyone like that? Have you faced anyone that brought up the same old, tired defensive statements over and over again? Have you faced Jesus with the same arguments and defensive statements. Jesus is still the answer. He hung in there with her like a Holy Ghost bulldog until His love wore her down. When you pray and as you deal with the lost, Jesus is still the answer and He always knows how to reach them. Our challenge is to spend more time with Jesus and become more like him. Then the Jesus within us becomes more of an answer than they have questions. The questions she posed were all religious arguments. Sound familiar? You'll never win in a religious argument. Her real need was a relationship with the Father.
She kept looking to the physical for deep satisfaction. Jesus knew that real satisfaction came out of a relationship with the Father. (Does it sound like I am repeating myself? There's probably a reason.)
Her slaps and jabs at a Jewish man did not originate in hatred. Hatred and anger are the fruits that grow from the root of bitterness and hurt. Remember that in dealing with the lost. Remember that as you pray for the lost. Anger and hatred are false shields that people through up to keep from obeying Jesus. Remember also, that sinners are not the only ones that are filled with hatred and anger. Christians get caught up in them also. If you find your life entangled with these two poisonous attitudes, get alone with God and deal with your own root of bitterness before trying to reach someone else. Remember, Jesus's love was greater than her hurt. His love has to be the greater factor in our own lives as well.
1 Corinthians 13:8-Chaity never faileth. Jesus' persistent agape love never, never, never, never fails. His love disarmed every question and broke every defense mechanism she had. His Love. His Love. It was His Love for her that looked past her arguments and saw her real need. Her real need was a relationship with the Father. Again, we need to spend time in prayer until God's Love is perfected in us.
You need to notice, that at every defensive statement she made, Jesus came back with the same answer. He said it in different ways but the answer was the same. Jesus persisted until her vertical relationship with the Father was corrected. When that was corrected, her horizontal relationships became corrected, also.
The point to remember is this. Jesus' persistent love prevailed. If we are to be successful Christians and, most importantly, successful soul-winners, we have to spend more time developing our love relationship with Jesus first. Agape love never fails.
