As they conversed, the woman came to this point of which mountain they should worship upon. She claimed that the Jews say it should be in Jerusalem while in Samaria they claim it’s on their mountain which is mount Gerezim. This is their argument until today; the Samaritans believe that the Jewish are not worshipping God's way. But Jesus said to the woman that salvation is of the Jews; and this is because the Son of God came as a Jew. Now we understand the extreme hatred the devil has against the Jews - the saviour of the world, the crusher of serpent’s head came as a Jew.
‘Salvation is of the Jews’, Jesus said, ‘If you knew the gift of God (Yonatan), and who is it that is speaking to you, you would ask Him and He would give the water of life’. Yonatan which is Jonathan in English means the gift of God. I want to go back to the bible and show something amazing about what Jesus said to this woman. This is what Jesus, “If you knew the gift of God (Person), and who is it who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink’, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10).
If the ‘Gift of God’ is a person, who is this person? In the context it looks like Jesus is referring to Himself as the gift of God, right? And yes He was figuratively referring to Himself, but the gift of God was the Samaritan high priest. Well the 49th Samaritan high priest lived in the days of our Lord Jesus and his name was Yonatan. Obviously, if Yonatan was the Samaritan high priest, this woman and the rest of the Samaritans would go to him submitting their prayer requests, that’s why Jesus says, if you knew the gift of God… you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.
The Lord Jesus Christ is our High Priest and Advocate, He was figuratively saying to this woman, ‘I’m your High Priest, if you he come to Me, you don’t need your high priest Yonatan.’ How many people understood that He was the High Priest? Very few! Remember when He encountered 10 men with leprosy, He told them to show themselves to the priest. How many recognised the real Priest? Only 1 out of 10, because we read that only 1 man came back to Jesus when he had his leprosy was cleansed.
Jesus was rererring to this Lawn: “This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest. And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him; and indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leper, then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field. He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, and shall stay outside his tent seven days” (Leviticus 14:2-8).
We learn that there is no priest who performed this kind of ritual. Why am I saying this? I say this because, there is no recorded cleansing of leprosy in Israel. What about Naaman? The Bible states very clear Naaman was not a Jew but a Syrian. So this law to be fulfilled, it needed none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who died on our behalf to ensure escape death and hades. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who is infallible and perfect He is the who was found worthy to fulfill all the law.
Jesus was the High Priest and still is our High Priest and Advocate in heaven today. The Lord Jesus turned this woman into an evangelist. This was an instant turnaround for this sinner who lived in promiscuity. She was changing men now and again, but because of how the Lord Jesus dealt with her, when she departed from Jesus she rejoiced and told others about her experience. She experienced the perfect love, knowing that she was loved first by who knew all imperfections and unworthiness and yet He is still accepted her. Anyone who has found the Lord Jesus cannot keep quiet because of the joy that fills their hearts. I remember how I rejoiced when I first found this gospel of Grace, I couldn’t hold myself but started putting everything I learnt on print, like what you reading right now even on social media.
We all become evangelists when we know the Grace and truth (Hesed ve emet). The word Grace is so rich that in the Old Testament they couldn’t directly write. Instead they would put terms like; favour, lovingkindness, mercy, kindness etc. because it’s so rich that they couldn’t comprehend. But now we can comprehend it, the Hesed of God, and that the Hesed of God is not a teaching but a Person who is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you can understand this, you will be well in this journey of life.
Today, what happened to this woman can happen to you; you can become an evangelist, spreading the Good News. Because you have come to know Yonatan, and you have been transformed completely. This woman was saved and was sealed with the seal of the Holy Spirit. You are not different, the Lord wants you. The Lord Jesus wants to start a relationship with you, and He is interested in making relationships and not breaking relationships. Are you available for Him?
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