A Woman Transformed by Christ

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14 NIV

A Woman Transformed by Christ … by Susan Parish

Jesus with the Woman at the Well The Sunday after my mom passed away, the pastor preached on the Samaritan woman. As I sat there listening, it occurred to me for the first time, that this was also my mom’s story.

The verses that struck a chord in my heart the most significantly were John 4:16-17, when Jesus said to the Samaritan woman: “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

Jesus and his disciples were in Judea baptizing people …

When they were finished, they left Judea to return to Galilee. John 4:4 tells us that Jesus needed to go through Samaria, needed being our key word here. The Jews did not associate with Samaritans, so traveling through Samaria was something they just didn’t do. Therefore, they would walk the long way around it. But Jesus, having an undivided heart to always do His Father’s will above His own, would not let human pressure decide which route He would take on his way back to Galilee.

So, Jesus came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given his son, Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and, Jesus, tired as he was from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink? (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” John 4:5-10

I’ve always loved this story …

In the past, my main focus was on the fact that the Samaritan woman was a woman, an unworthy woman at that. I could relate to this because, quite frankly, my dad was a very hard man who despised women. I can honestly say Jesus helped me forgive my dad for his hurtful ways.

As a grown woman I understand things about him and his own upbringing that I didn’t understand as a child. But there is so much more to this beautiful story …

Sitting in church that morning, it was the first time my focus was on the fact that the Samaritan woman had been married numerous times.

Why?

Why did the Samaritan woman have so many husbands? And why was she not satisfied with the first one or even the second one? She was caught up in a vicious cycle of moving from husband to husband. How could she not have felt stuck? Being stuck is one of the worst places to be and all the feelings that come with it can be difficult to sort through, right?

Did loneliness drive her? Was she controlled by weakness? Did she jump into each relationship too quickly? Was she afraid to be alone? Did she wrestle with unworthiness because of all the failed relationships? Or perhaps she ran headlong into each relationship because unworthiness was already there?

The feeling of unworthiness can cause us to do unhealthy things …

Jesus with the Woman at the Well We might bury it with a glass or two of wine. Or we may stuff it down with a big chocolate cupcake, excessive shopping, gossiping in order to keep the focus off of our own pain, drugs, smoking, bodily harm and the list goes on.

Whatever the reason or reasons were, as I sat in church that morning, I saw my mom …

My mom, like the Samaritan woman, had looked for love in all the wrong places. They were both hoping to fill the emptiness with a man … an emptiness a man cannot fill because he was never meant to fill it … only Jesus can.

“For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things” Ps 107:9 ESV.

Don’t forget what Jesus said in John 4:13-14 … “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

I love how Jesus went out of His way to minister to the Samaritan woman. He saw her pain and met her where she was. He did the same thing for my mom and will do the same for you.

My mom was married several times, and was in another relationship when Jesus met her at her own personal well. In the midst of her heartache. He gently took her by the hand and led her away from it. Once mom experienced the genuine love of Jesus, she never looked back. The emptiness was no longer there.

I see mom through fresh eyes now and this is the story I’ll tell others:

It doesn’t matter what she did before Jesus … she was never the same afterwards. She was transformed, completely changed in character and conduct, by the living water Jesus gave her. She is my heroine.

Do you know someone who has gone from relationship to relationship? Or maybe you are the woman who’s struggling with finding the right one or afraid of being alone.

There is hope. His name is Jesus. He can and will fill that void in your heart. I know that can be a hard pill to swallow when you don’t have an understanding of who Jesus is, but if you give him that chance, He will not let you down.

And remember, there will always be those who want to keep you in your past mistakes, but that’s not Jesus. Even if you’re still in the middle of the mess, Jesus is there; not to condemn you, but to lead you out and into His everlasting love. Surrender to Him. Let Him wrap His arms around you, comfort you, and fill you with the living water, so you too, may be transformed.

Father God, thank you! Thank you that we can come to your well and drink from Your living water, so our souls won’t be thirsty or empty from unfulfilled desires that leave us hurting and scarred for life, any longer.