The Gospel of Grace
This past week, I was reminded of the woman at the well story in John 4. You’ve probably heard this message in church or at a conference before. It’s one of the most powerful, familiar moments in Scripture – full of redemption, grace, and compassion!
Let’s look at part of it together!
“Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John — although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.).” – John 4:1-7
I’ll pause there for a second.
If you aren’t familiar with the context, there are a couple important things to keep in mind:
- Samarian women were considered sexually immoral, impure, and alienated by their society. They were considered unclean and unworthy.
- On top of that, Jews and Samaritans were considered enemies.
And yet, Jesus starts a conversation with her.
Jesus drew the woman in as he began talking about “living water” – not the physical matter but something much deeper! This “living water” that Jesus was referring to was a spiritual water that would quench her thirst and give her new life. A kind that only He could give. When the woman responds, “Sir, give me this water,” Jesus gently addresses her past, not to shame her but to show her that the life she’s been living will never satisfy what she’s truly searching for. Only Jesus could give that to her.
And despite her past—despite how others saw her—Jesus reveals Himself to her.
That alone is powerful. But honestly, that’s not even what stood out to me most this week.
It was one small word in verse 4: had.
“Now he had to go through Samaria.”
He didn’t accidentally pass through Samaria – it was intentional! Jesus could have kept going on his journey. He could have passed directly by the woman at the well and not thought twice about it, but he didn’t.
He had to go to Samaria. He had to encounter this broken, hopeless, shame-driven woman.
Why? To share the gospel message of grace.
Jesus had to go to Samaria… for her.
And that’s the part I can’t shake: Jesus doesn’t pass up opportunities to meet with you. He doesn’t overlook the broken or the ashamed. He moves toward them! He moves toward us!
The gospel message isn’t a one-time message we hear when we first come to the faith. It’s something we need over and over again. It’s for the saved as much as it’s for the searching.
Grace isn’t something we experience once—it’s a gift we get to dwell in forever.
The Samaritan woman had a past. She had multiple husbands and the man she was living with at the time wasn’t her husband. She knew what people thought of her. She had likely believed every label placed on her, but Jesus met her with grace and compassion. He showed her that her past didn’t define her – and that her deepest need wasn’t acceptance, but a Savior.
And the same is true for us.
Your past does not define your future and it is not your identity.
In the same way that Jesus had to go to Samaria, He also had to go to the cross.. So that you & I could be forgiven, restored, and brought back into relationship with the Father.
If you ever find yourself doubting God’s love for you, look at the cross. Look at what God was willing to give up for YOU. (John 3:16-17) Look at the Samaritan woman and how Jesus took time to sit and engage in a conversation with her – how He spoke to her, pursued her, and revealed Himself to her.
For much of my life, I let other people’s opinions tell me who I was.
In high school, I wanted to be known as the sweet girl – the kind girl, the good friend, the one everyone liked. I found so much of my worth in being accepted. Then college came and my identity shifted. Instead of chasing approval through opinions, I started chasing it through appearance. My worth became tied to how my body looked and what people had to say about it. Every compliment felt like validation.
But the truth is, none of those things were ever meant to hold the weight of my identity.
When I met Jesus, He began to gently show me that I had spent so much of my life building my worth on things that could never truly satisfy me. People’s opinions changed. Compliments faded. Approval came and went. And if my identity was built on those things, then I would always be striving, always performing, always searching for more – never truly satisfied.
But Jesus.
He showed me that my identity was never rooted in what I could do, how I looked, or how others perceived me. My identity is rooted in Christ. In Christ, I don’t have to earn love, chase approval, or prove my worth. I am already fully known, fully loved, and fully chosen. And that changes everything.
If you’ve ever found yourself looking to people, praise, appearance, or achievement to tell you who you are, friend – let this be your reminder: those things were never meant to define you. Your identity is not rooted in what you’ve done or what others have said about you/to you. Your identity is in Christ alone.
The Samaritan woman was changed forever that day. She ran back to her town telling everyone what had happened. She wasn’t weighed down by shame or second-guessing the conversation.
She left KNOWING who she just encountered and it changed everything!
That’s what the love of Jesus does.
It’s not predicated on how well you perform or how put-together your life looks. His love for you is unconditional. It’s unmerited! And it meets you exactly where you are – not with condemnation but with grace.
Friends, the gospel message is for us every single day! It is a humbling and hope-filled reminder that because of Christ, we have salvation, the forgiveness of our sins, and the promise of eternal life. His grace doesn’t just cover our past; it transforms our present and secures our future. In Him, we are made new – the old has passed away and new life has begun. (2 Corinthians 5:17) What a gift! What a Savior! What GOOD NEWS!
