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By the Ties of Human Sympathy, June 18
There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give
me to drink.
John 4:7
.
He [Christ] passed by no human being as worthless, but sought to apply the
healing remedy to every soul. In whatever company He found Himself He presented
a lesson appropriate to the time and the circumstances. Every neglect or insult
shown by men to their fellowmen only made Him more conscious of their need of
His divine-human sympathy. He sought to inspire with hope the roughest and most
unpromising, setting before them the assurance that they might become blameless
and harmless, attaining such a character as would make them manifest as the children
of God....
Though He was a Jew, Jesus mingled freely with the Samaritans, setting at
nought the Pharisaic customs of His nation. In face of their prejudices He accepted
the hospitality of this despised people. He slept with them under their roofs, ate with
them at their tables—partaking of the food prepared and served by their hands—
taught in their streets, and treated them with the utmost kindness and courtesy. And
while He drew their hearts to Him by the tie of human sympathy, His divine grace
brought to them the salvation which the Jews rejected.
Christ neglected no opportunity of proclaiming the gospel of salvation. Listen to
His wonderful words to that one woman of Samaria. He was sitting by Jacob’s well,
as the woman came to draw water. To her surprise He asked a favor of her. “Give
me to drink,” He said. He wanted a cool draft, and He wished also to open the way
whereby He might give to her the water of life. “How is it,” said the woman, “that
thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews
have no dealings with the Samaritans.” Jesus answered, “If thou knewest the gift of
God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of
him, and he would have given thee living water” (
John 4:7-10
)....
How much interest Christ manifested in this one woman! How earnest and
eloquent were His words! When the woman heard them, she left her waterpot, and
went into the city, saying to her friends, “Come, see a man, which told me all things
that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” We read that “many of the Samaritans of that
city believed on him” (
verses 29, 39
). And who can estimate the influence which
these words have exerted for the saving of souls in the years that have passed since
then?
Wherever hearts are open to receive the truth, Christ is ready to instruct them.
He reveals to them the Father, and the service acceptable to Him who reads the
heart. For such He uses no parables. To them, as to the woman at the well, He says,
“I that speak unto thee am he” (
The Ministry of Healing, 25-28
).
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