The Woman of Samaria: Part II
JeBus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. — John, iv. 26.
I AM not only struck with the important truths of revelation, but also with the manner in which they are delivered. Here is nothing artificial, nothing labored. Everything is natural and easy. Nothing appears to be studied, nothing designed; but all seems accidentally to spring out of circumstances. Nothing can be found like a scheme of doctrine, sy sterna ticallj’ arranged, as in our “Bodies of Divinity;” but histories and epistles, facts and reflections, are thrown together in a beautiful irregularity; and our Saviour, who spake as never man spake, teaches us, by suffering us to be with him in the house, and in the road; to hear his discourses and his remarks; and to judge, from what he said in particular cases, what his sentiments are on all other subjects of the same kind.
One of the most remarkable of all our Saviour’s discourses, is the conversation he had with the woman of Samaria. It is pecuharly interesting, whether we consider the effects resulting from it, or the topics on which it turns. It commences from a present object, and takes occasion, from the water of Sjchar’s well, to inform the woman of that living water which Jesus had to communicate; infinitely superior in its properties and use to that which he had requested. “He said unto her. Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give hin shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
This left her mind in a state which it is not easy to determine. She immediately exclaimed, “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” Did she say this in a way of pure banter? “O this is a thing indeed! It would save me a deal of ])ain, never more to thirst; and a deal of trouble never more to draw.” Nothing is so offensive as treating divine subjects with ridicule. It does not follow that a thing is absurd, because it is for the time incomprehensible. A good man trembles at God’s word. If, however, this was the case with this woman, it would be far more excusable in her than it would bo in us, because she did not possess the same advantages.
But let us hope that what she said was not illdesigned, but rather the language of ignorant wonder;’ some impression having now been made upon her mind; and that she began to suspect that something more was intended than was expressed. This seems to be unavoidable, from our Saviour’s having connected the communication with “everlasting lif.”
But our Lord saw that it was necessary to do something more; and, therefore, he immediately applies himself to convince and alarm her conscience. And this is the proper method of dealing with sinners. It is not likely that we shall prize the physician while we are whole; or flee for refuge while we think we are safe. “The full soul loath eth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” A certain state of mind, therefore, is necessary, not to recommend iis to Christ, but to recommend Christ to us; and to enable us to understand the design, and feel the importance of his coming, work, and sufferings.
And in bringing a man to this state, we may observe that, commonly, some one particular sin, gross in its nature, and to which he has been addicted, is charged home upon the conscience. But though it begins, the conviction does not end here; and the man is soon led to more general and more spiritual views of his own depravity; till he discovers the natural root of all transgression, which is the heart; and sees it to be “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”
But a broad surface is not likely to penetrate; it must be pointed to enter. The indictment which arraigns this criminal, like every other, exhibits some specific charge; and the man exclaims, “0 my swearing, my lying, my Sabbath-breaking, my prayerless life!” Thus Peter charged the Jews with crucifying the Lord of life and glory; and “they were pricked in their heart, and said, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Thus Christ charged Saul with the sin in which he was then engaged; “Why persecutest thou me?” And thus our Saviour here accuses this woman of the sin in which she was then living. “Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband;” wishing to impose upon our Saviour, as if she had always been single, or was now a widow. But out of her own mouth he condemns her: “Thou hast well said, I have no husband; for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.” We have no reason to believe she had buried so many husbands. It is probable she had eloped from some of them, or by her unchaste carriage constrained them to forsake her. However this may be, she was now living in criminal intercourse with one, to whom she was married unlawfully, while another was her proper husband; or, which is more likely, to whom she was never married at all. How wise the expedient to bring her sin to her remembrance. How mild the reproof. How unanswerable the charge.
It is easy to imagine her surprise at hearing this narrative of her past and present life; and from a stranger too, one whom she had never seen before. But whatever inward confasion she feels, she does not attempt to deny the truth, or extenuate the guilt; nor does she seem displeased with our Lord’s freedom.
But she exclaims, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”
Two reasons may be assigned for her proposing this question so instantly and abruptly. It has been supposed, First, that it was by way of diversion; that, confounded by the discovery which had been made, and fearing more, she dexterously contrived in this manner to tarn off the conversation to something more distant, and less personal. And it is no new thing for persons to endeavor to keep convictions from fastening upon their minds, instead of cherishing and strengthening them. Felix said, “Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” Some have recourse to worldly dissipations to drown the voice of conscience. Some wretches drive away sorrow by drinking. But all such expedients will be found to fail in the end. The lion is only asleep; by and by it will rise and roar with tenfold fury. There is but one way of obtaining peace: it is not by stifling convictions, but by suffering them to lead you to Christ, who has said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
But it has also been supposed, Secondly, that her aim was to seize the present moment to gain information as to what was deemed important, and which she concluded this knowing one might afford. If so, she is an example worthy of imitation; and shows us that when we are in the presence of those who can teach us, we should be concerned to. learn; proposing our doubts and difficulties; always anxious to be set right; and “redeeming the time,” that we may “not be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is,”
With regard to the object of her inquiry, and which was the grand question that divided the two parties, our Saviour allows that the Jews had the advantage of the Samaritans. He allows that Jerusalem was the place which God had chosen to put his name there; that better notions of his perfections and pleasure prevailed among the Jews; that to them were committed the divine oracles; and that of them, as concerning the flesh, the Messiah was to come. It is his meaning, when he says, “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.”
But he takes the opportunity to reduce the importance of the question, by observing that whatever stress had been laid on any of these external things, a dispensation was commencing which would lay all such distinctions aside. “Woman, believe me, the hour Cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. The hour Cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth,”
Herein two things are observable.
First That it should cool us, in many of our contests, to remember that the things we are contending about axe of short duration; and that while we are disputing tliej are vanisbing awaj. There are “things which cannot be shaken, but must remain.” Christian principles and blessings, concernmg which the people of God agree, are permanent and eternal: but the hour cometh when forms of church government, and modes of discipline, and ceremonies and usages, which now set us at variance, will be seen no more; and if wonder and sorrow can enter heaven, we shall be surprised and grieved to think what an undue stress we laid on these things; and that we differed more about the scaffolding which was to be taken down, than about the building which was to remain. The question hereafter will not be, with whom we worshipped, but whom we worshipped; not where we worshipped, but how we worshipped.
For, Secondly The best way to make up differences in little things, is to be zealous about great ones. To these, therefore, the Scripture always directs our regards; knowing that if these supremely occupy the mind, we shall have neither time nor inclination for comparative trifling. The best way to soften, if not to harmonize the sprinkled and the dipped, would be for both of them to be more concerned to be baptized with the Holy Ghost, and largely to partake of his influences and comforts. Communicants at the Lord’s table would not think much about sitting or kneeling, if only they were by faith showing forth the Lord’s death. In proportion as our heayts are right towards God, we shall feel properly towards others; pitiful, if they are in misery; forgiving, if they have offended us; candid, if they differ from us.
“I feel,” says the woman, “some hesitation.
hardly know wlietlier what thou hast said upon this subject be true; but one thing I know; ‘I know that Messias cometh, who is called Christ; when he is come, he will tell us all things;’ deciding every dispute, and rectifying every mistake.”
What this woman says of our Saviour’s appearance in the flesh, we may apply to his glorious return. “Once, in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself And unto them that look for him, shall he appear the second time, without sin unto salvation.” Much information he has given us already; but much he has left in the dark, to try our faith, and to draw forth our desire. Some parts of his word are “hard to be understood:” many of the dispensations of his providence are inexplicable: but “what we know not now, we shall know hereafter.’’ He is coming to explain. He is coming to “bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and to make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise of God.”
Our Saviour now discloses himself, as the Messiah; saying, “I that speak unto thee am he.” Never had he before, to any one, so expressly revealed himself. And who is the honored individual to whom the discovery is made? Caiaphas? Any of the rulers? of the Scribes? of the Pharisees? He “hides these things from the wise and prudent, and reveals them unto babes.’,’ He would not encourage sin, but he would tell us that the vilest need not despair: he would, tell us that often “the last shall be first, and the first last.”
The woman was speaking of the Messiah, but little did she imagine that she was speaking to him. But so it was. And our Lord is often with his people, when they are not aware of it; and many are lament- g his absence, and longing for his presence, when he is communing with them already How little did the disciples going to Emmaus imagine that he, whose death they were deploring, was talking with them, when a stranger joined their company, and inquired why they were sad. How little did the disciples in the storm imagine, when they saw a spirit and cried out for fear, that it was their deliverer; who immediately said unto them, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” In his solitary flight, how little did Jacob expect to find the ladder, the angels, and God: — but he exclaimed, “Surely the Lord is in this place. This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’”
If this woman had been told that the Messiah was come, she would have attached something very splendid to him; and had she been told that she should some time or other find him, she never would have expected to meet him as a weary traveller, a beggar of a cup of cold water at a well. “His ways are not our ways.” We can hardly think that in such a wreck of our fortune, in such a disappointment, in such a sickness, in such a distress of mind, in such a self-despair, he is there; yet he it is that talketh with us.
Here we must again suspend the thread of the history; and, for the present, conclude with a few additional reflections.
i^M’si, Observe the Omniscience of our Lord; and bring it home to yourselves. It seems impossible to read the Gospel, and not be convinced that to him all hearts are open, all desires known, and from him no secret is hid. Though he had never seen this woman before with his bodily eyes, he perfectly knew her history, and her character. And he knows yours. He sees all your actions, hears all 3’our words, observes all your thoughts, and the verj’ “imaginations of your thoughts.” And what you have forgotten he has not. It is all recorded in the book of his remembrance; and will hereafter be brought into judgment, before an assembled world: he will “tell you all things that ever you did,” and your memory will be found an exact counterpart of its contents.
It will be well if you learn this truth by a present process, however painful it may be: I mean, by a saving conviction of sin now. Some of you do know it by experience. You remember a time when “sin revived.” You were “made to possess the iniquities of your youth.” Forgotten transgressions were recalled. Things once deemed innocent appeared flagrantly guilty. The Bible seemed alive. His word was “quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow; and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” You were confident that it was the work of him, “in whose sight all creatures are manifest, and to whose eyes all things are naked and opened.” Entering his house, you seemed laid open to the view of the preacher: who described your case as if he had been apprized of it by an invisible witness; yea, you seemed “convinced of all, judged of all; and so, the secrets of your heart being made manifest, you reported that God was in them of a truth.” And did not the rehef and consolation which he applied, equally persuade you that this friend is altogether acquainted with your desire and your wants?
Secondly Let us Worship the Lord “tVi the beauties of holiness :^^ and in order to this, never forget the information which our Saviour has given us.
It would be an abuse of his meaning, were we to suppose that he intended to discountenance all public and external worship. We are required to glorify God in our body, as well as in our spirit. Under a notion of the spirituality of divine worship, some have made no difference between the Sabbath and other days, and have abandoned the house of God, and all the means of grace. But the form is only condemned when it is unaccompanied with the power. While we are here, we need modes and places of worship; and we ought to be very thankful that we have places in which to worship God.
But let us guard against bigotry and superstition. Let us never exclaim with the Samaritans, or with the Jews, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temj)le of the Lord, are we.” Let us never hmit the Holy One of Israel to temples made with hands. If our lot should be cast where we cannot enjoy public ordinances; or if, by accident or sickness, we are withheld from them, let us not despair of meeting with him in the situations in which we are placed. “I will,” says the Apostle, “that men pray everywhere:”.and, says the poet,
Where’er we seek thee, thou art found;
And every place is hallowed ground.
And guard also against formalitj. Never bring upon yourselves the reproach of “drawing near to God with your mouth, and honoring him with your lips, while your hearts are far from him,” “He looks to the heart.” It is sincerity, it is fervency, which he requires. They are “those who worship him in spirit and in truth, that he seeks to worship him.”
Thirdli Let us Inquire whether he has tnanifested himself to us: I do not mean in dreams and visions, but by an illumination of the mind. He has been revealed to us; has he been revealed in us? Do we know him? If we do, he appears “fairer than the children of men.” If we do, like this woman, we shall “show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light.”