Jesus says to her, Go, call thy husband, and come here.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
The woman answered and said, I have not a husband. Jesus says to her, Thou hast well said, I have not a husband;
The woman had asked for water that would end her daily walk to the well. Instead, the Lord told her to go and call her husband. Her four-word answer is true as far as it goes. He agrees with it, and then finishes it for her.
So far the conversation had been all gift. One writer explains why that was not the whole of what she needed:
Yet grace alone is not enough. Man is fallen, evil, and hostile to God without knowing it rightly, if he knows it at all. He must know his own moral ruin if he is to be saved and blessed. He must therefore know himself as well as God — himself in God's presence, as God sees him... She already felt something of His grace. But truth enters through the conscience, so that the soul may truly know both grace and truth.
Her statement was accurate. It was also a screen:
He had been pouring out words of grace. It all flowed over her head. It passed over a heart absorbed with the things of the world. He takes the other side — not the gift of God, but the state of man: "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered, "I have no husband." Quite true. She tells the truth to hide the truth — as people often do in this poor world. The conscience is reached now; and that is where the word always enters.
Another writer puts her unspoken thought into words:
"I have no husband." How naturally we hate the light! Her inward thought was: He does not know me; I must pass myself off on Him as a virtuous woman. But she had to find herself in the presence of One who knew her infinitely better than she knew herself.
He does not contradict her. He agrees, and then fills in the rest. Notice what is missing from His reply:
"I have no husband," she answers quickly... How overwhelming, yet how gracious! There was no reproach in His mouth. He knew all men. With one word He drew from her the confession of her real state of sin and shame. He set before her such a picture of her life that it bore witness to her conscience.
The exposure told Him nothing new. He had already offered her living water, knowing her whole story:
She had lived through unusual ups and downs in marriage. And now she was living in sin. She did not tell the Lord that. He told her of her past and her present. She admitted it. He had known it all along, yet had offered her the living water. He had come to seek and to save the lost. So He did not drive her away as too unclean a person to talk with. Nor did His shining as the light make her withdraw, like someone who avoids it.
Reaching the conscience opens the way in. It is how a person comes to know God, and how she came to stay rather than run:
Conscience is the avenue by which God, now that man is a sinner, enters his heart. It is also the door of understanding by which man learns God. A man feels that he is known by God, and so learns to know Him... She does not, however, go away. The fact is that the grace of Christ had triumphed, and it was the deep sense of His grace that now held her to the spot.
Her answer shows how His words landed. Notice what she did not do:
Her answer proves that His words had entered her conscience, and that her soul fell under them. There was no fighting back, no excuse, no hiding or escaping from His presence. On the contrary, she stood there a convicted sinner. She owned not only that He spoke truly, but that she saw Him to be "a prophet." By the grace now at work in her, though humbled to the dust, she was content to own what she really was, and to receive from Him as from God's own mouth.
- Grace first. He offered her living water before He said a word about her husbands. He already knew it all.
- Truth next. Grace alone could not finish the work. She had to see herself as God sees her, and truth enters through the conscience.
- Her dodge. She told the truth to hide the truth. She hoped to pass herself off as a good woman to a stranger who already knew everything.
- His method. He agreed with her words and then completed them. No reproach — just her own life set before her.
- The result. Her conscience was reached, and she did not run. Grace held her at the well, and she owned Him as a prophet.
for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom now thou hast is not thy husband this thou hast spoken truly.
The Lord had just told her to call her husband, and she replied that she had none. His answer agrees with her words, then fills in all she left out — five husbands, and a man now who is not her husband.
The short list of husbands sums up a whole life. One writer looks at her coming to the well alone, at the wrong hour, and sees where following her own will had left her.
This woman, tired of life, comes to draw water. Isolated in fact, isolated in her heart, she did not come at the time when women draw water. She had followed after pleasure in doing her own will. She had had five husbands, and she had probably been devoted to them. The one she had was not her husband. She was weary of life; her will and her sin had left her heart void; she was isolated and abandoned by the world.
Her "I have no husband" was accurate. It also shut a door. Notice how the Lord changes ground from what He gives to what she is.
He had been pouring out words of grace. It all flowed over her head. It passed over a heart absorbed with the things of the world. He takes the other side, not the gift of God, but the state of man — "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Quite true. She tells the truth to hide the truth — as often happens in this poor world. The conscience is reached now: and that is where the word always enters.
Why press on her past at all? One writer explains why sin must be felt before grace can be enjoyed.
Man has a conscience. That conscience must be met and reached. The springs of the soul's history must be touched with a sense of its sin and guilt. Otherwise there will never be a link with God, or the true enjoyment of His grace.
The wonder is not only that He knew, but how He spoke. There is no scolding — only her own words taken up and finished.
"I have no husband," she answers quickly. Jesus says to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true." How overwhelming, yet how gracious! Not a reproach in His mouth! But He who knew all men drew from her, by a word of His, the confession of her actual state of sin and shame. He set before her such a sketch of her life that her conscience had to testify: in her case at least, all things were naked and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom she had to do.
The Lord opened her whole record at that well. One writer shows why the timing of that exposure mattered.
He lets the light in upon her guilty life, and she feels herself in the presence of the Searcher of hearts. But it was the day of grace, and the grace in which He spoke to her enabled her to bear the searching. He told her all that she ever did. It was well for her that it took place in the day of grace. Had it taken place in the day of judgment it would have meant for her an eternity of woe. The great white throne was anticipated. All that could be brought to light was manifested, and there was no condemnation. When it was all out it was all gone.
Being found out usually makes people run. She stayed, and then went to tell her town about the Man who told her everything.
This stranger did not resent the light shining into the deepest recesses of her heart, for the light that exposed her in all her sin and need also revealed the heart and mind of God, and the glory of the Person of Jesus, and this divine light did not repel her — it attracted her to the Son of God. God was working with her, otherwise she would have fled when exposed, and hated the light that showed how sinful she was.
- Empty. Five husbands and a sixth man left her heart void and her life isolated.
- Evasion. She told the truth to hide the truth; her accurate answer screened the real story.
- Conscience. He turned from the gift to her state, because that is where His word enters and a link with God begins.
- Grace. He laid her whole life bare, yet not one reproach came from His mouth.
- Timing. That well anticipated the great white throne. It all came out in the day of grace, and when it was all out it was all gone.
The woman says to him, Sir, I see that thou art a prophet.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.