“Neither do men put new wine into old bottles (wineskins): else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish.” Matthew 9:17
When the Lord Jesus deliberately passed through Samaria, He stopped at a well, where He rested, sitting on it. There came a woman, who identified herself to the Lord as a “woman of Samaria,” whose people were despised by the Jews, and had no dealings with them. Jesus, by His demeanor, clothing, and words, was evidently a Jew, and yet, He spoke to this woman. Why? He knew the heart of the woman, that she was thirsting after something that she could not identify. Like the prophet Jeremiah had so eloquently expressed many years before, she was seeking a solution to the deep, spiritual need of her heart, by drinking of the broken cisterns of the world, “… that can hold no water.” (Jer. 2:13) She was in some sense like the woman, whom Jesus’ healed, who had an issue of blood many years, and had spent all of her money on ineffective doctors, only to be faced with certain death, because her need was beyond their capacity to help. Both women, though different, were brought to the end of themselves, their search having led them to one final hope, and possible solution, Christ. The woman who was ill, knew by faith, that if she could only touch the hem of Jesus’ garment she would be healed. The Samaritan woman had to be brought face to face with her need, the only answer to that need, and the hindrance which kept her from being met. Her need was not that of another husband, of which she had had five. Nor was her need to meet someone who was just greater than “our father Jacob,” who had given the well. Her need was not to go to Jerusalem to worship the Father. It was to see that she did not know God, specifically Christ. She had to be brought to the place in mind and heart to recognize, and be persuaded, that there was only one solution, and it transcended all that was physical, all that was of man, in his traditions, religion, and false concepts, his empty, broken cisterns. How did Jesus deal with this woman?
As Jesus was the Master of illustration, He in essence took the woman by the hand, to lead her to see the difference between her physical and spiritual needs. This is why He spoke to her of thirst. He would take her beyond the passing, and limiting factors of physical thirst for water, to understand that she had a greater spiritual need that only God could meet. He would speak to her of something probably unknown, “living water,” water that was alive with eternal and abundant life. The water she knew was physical, necessary to live physically, but only met that need in a physical manner. It could never meet her soul’s eternal need, which was causing her to thirst. In addition to making the distinction between the two types of water, Jesus speaks to her of “the gift of God,” a gift to be received from God alone, but which could only be received IF she would choose against the world’s broken cisterns.
As certainly was the case with the woman who had an issue of blood, both women were also brought face to face with who Jesus was. The Samaritan woman at one point during her time speaking with the Lord, said to Him, “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things.” (4:25) It was then in response that Jesus tells her: “I that speak unto thee am He.” (v.26) God brought the woman of Samaria to realize, and be persuaded, that Jesus was who He declare Himself to be, the only One by whom living water could be received.
The Samaritan woman was brought to the crossroad, either to choose Christ and know eternal Life by the Spirit, God’s gift, or continue to drink from her broken, lifeless cistern.
Dear Father, Strengthen us to believe. In Jesus’ name, Amen.