376 THE KING’S BUSINESS She had asked for the water that, theThe look and tone with which our
Lord Jesus alone could give; before she could receive it, she must be brought to a consciousness of her own sinfulness and of the deepest need of her own soul. What the woman had asked for was the “living water” of which Jesus spoke, and, as we have al ready seen, the living water is the Holy Spirit, and conviction of sin al ways precedes the reception of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 2:37-39). In this, as in many other things in the interview, our Lord shows Himself as the master personal worker and a model for us all. The one who would win souls will never cease to find new instruction in the careful study of this interview of our Lord with the woman of Samaria. Before we can do gen uine and deep and lasting work with any person whom we would lead into the light, we must first of all bring them to a sense of their own sinful ness and consequent need. Dr. J, A. McClymont’s comment on these words are worth quoting; He says, “The meaning of this command has been much discussed. The most natural view seems to be to regard it as the first step taken by our Lord to comply with the woman’s prayer. A well of repentance had to be dug in her heart. A^ sense of guilt had to be awakened within her before there could be any real reception of the grace and truth which He had come to bestow. She had referred indirectly to her home when she spoke of not having any longer to ‘come hither and draw’ and Jesus now speaks the word which brings to her recollection the great sin of her life,” As in all his conversations with men and^women. our Lord illustrates here His omniscience. He had never seen this woman before, yet her whole life in all its details lay bare before His gaze. This will come out more clearly as we proceed with the conversation.
Lord spoke the words doubtless added much to their power. The woman must have felt that He was looking down into the deepest depths of her hidden life of sin, and thus she was being prepared for the disclosure oi Himself as the Messiah, which He was soon to make. When He used that one word “husband” He touched at last the one key that would awaken her soul from its dormant and stupid state, bring her to a sense of her own deep need and prepare her for a reve- •lation of Himself as the Christ. At first Jesus had been to her but a de spised Jew (v. 9) ; then He had come to be One who might possibly, though she would scarcely entertain the thought, be greater than Jacob (v. 12) ; still further on He had come to be One who must be addressed with respect and whom she, in a measure, realized had something to give that she needed (v. 15); but now as He stands looking into the depths of her soul and says, “Call thy husband,” a great wonder takes possession of her, “Who can He be?” This wonder will deepen as the conversation goes on (cf. v. 29). If this is not a true inci dent, who is the master artist who draws the picture? It was in no wanton delight in wounding that our Lord uttered the word “husband.” The wound was a wound of love. He would wound in order that He might heal. Vs. 17, 18. “The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto (rather, to) her, Thou hast well said (rather, saidst well that), I have no husband; for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband; in that saidst thou (rather, this hast thou said) truly.” ; . ' The woman had no intention of lay ing bare, her life to the Lord. She in-
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