EncounterLife Jesus' HeartSample

The Hope of a New Life

Jesus took the time to encounter people where they were. He went to their towns, their homes, and their front doors. He went out of His way to talk with the Samaritan woman so that she could hear words of life.

This woman’s mindset was rejection. She had nothing to offer anyone. We don’t know why all her other husbands had rejected her, but we do know that an unmarried woman in that day had no security, no prospects, no honor, nothing. Jesus came to empathize with her troubled past, having compassion for her in the present, in order to change her future.

God’s Word always gives life to those willing to hear it. Jesus, perceiving her plight and empathizing with her rejection and pain, tells her that there is more to life than what she’s known: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” God’s mercy is free to all who receive it. 

He is telling her that she can have a fresh start. She doesn’t have to live this way or settle for less. He invites her to experience hope — the hope of a new life. She wants it. She wants to forgive and be forgiven, to start over and be restored. “Sir,” she says, “give me this water.”

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” —John 7:37-38 (NKJV)

ENCOUNTERING JESUS’ COMPASSIONATE HEART PRODUCES LIFE

God’s gift of mercy is available to everyone.