As we journey through John's Gospel, we encounter a remarkable scene in chapter 4 where Jesus has the longest recorded conversation in the Gospels. In this interaction with a Samaritan woman, we see something beautiful about our Savior: He is always the initiator, seeking out those who aren't seeking Him.
John 4:4-7 "And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give Me a drink.'"
Have you ever thought about how unlikely this encounter was? For a Jewish man to speak with a Samaritan woman was shocking enough, but for it to be Jesus—this is extraordinary!
There were different routes to get from Judea to Galilee. Many Jews would take routes far around Samaria because of their hatred for this group of people. It would be like driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles but going all the way around Yosemite and through Reno, Nevada just to avoid Bakersfield. That's how much the Jews despised the Samaritans.
But Jesus "had to" go through Samaria. This wasn't about geography; it was about a divine appointment. The Greek word here, "dei," expresses divine necessity—the same word used when Jesus said you "must" be born again or the Son of Man "must" be lifted up.
And who was this divine appointment with? Not a crowd of thousands. Not an influential religious leader. It was with one woman—a reject among rejects. She was a Samaritan (viewed by Jews as religious half-breeds), she was a woman (men didn't speak to women in public), and she was an adulterous woman (living with a man who wasn't her husband after five failed marriages).
What's striking is that Jesus initiated this conversation when He was physically exhausted. We see His humanity on full display: "Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well." Don't let those Google Image pictures of Jesus with the perfectly blow-dried hair fool you—this was a tired, sweaty, slumping man who had been walking for hours.
Despite His fatigue, Jesus takes the initiative. This tells us something profound: Jesus cares deeply about individual sinners. He's not just a "megachurch, green room" Savior who only deals with crowds. He pursues the one.
Maybe you feel like that woman today—isolated by your shame, defined by your past failures, or convinced you're beyond the reach of God's grace. Or maybe you know someone who seems too far gone. The Bible's response is a megaphone saying: No one is beyond the scope of God's grace and mercy.
Jesus makes it clear that the gospel is for sinners. Not the almost-perfect family that just needs to add Jesus to their already-good lives. But for the broken, the rejected, the shame-filled. Jesus comes to save those who you would never imagine would ever want to be saved, nor thought they ever needed to be saved.
1. When was the last time you felt too exhausted to engage with someone spiritually? How does Jesus' example challenge you?
2. Is there someone in your life you've written off as "too far gone" for God's grace? How might Jesus view them?
3. What specific steps could you take this week to initiate gospel conversations with others?
Stay dialed in,
Jonny Ardavanis
