"The Perfect Chance Encounter" Part 1

He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But he needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. John 4:3-6

For days now I have felt the tug of the Spirit to take a look at the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. I think I can honestly say that I have been trying to stall Him off. If you want, you can even picture me holding my hand up to Him and saying, "Hold that thought." At this point you might be asking yourself, "Why? Why put it off?"  Because I know that there is so much in there and that it will be a very, very, very, VERY long message that will take me FOREVER to write. Okay, so now you know I'm lazy, and I procrastinate.

Anyways, what we are going to do is take a look at it in little bites instead. That way I can be obedient and we can receive what He has for us. Today's bite is found in these first three verses. Now, you might be wondering what we can learn here since they haven't even met yet but lets take a look anyways.
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He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But he needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
      
It says that He left Galilee went to a city called Sychar and where Jacob's well could be found. It says, 'Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.' This kinda looks like Jesus just happened here in this place and at this time by chance. That it is where His journey and His thirst and need to rest led Him to be. Now I'm not saying He wasn't ready to sit and rest or that He wasn't really in need of water but I in no way believe that this chance encounter was anything but a divinely appointed one!

I say that because of what it says, 'But he needed to go through Samaria.' He didn't happen to go through Samaria, He needed to go. The King James version puts it, 'And He must need go through' meaning it was necessary for Him to go this way, this particular route. There was a different route that most Jews took, on purpose to avoid going through Samaria. But it says that for Jesus, on this day, it was necessary for Him to go through Samaria. Why? Some people think that it was because He was avoiding political issues with the Pharisees who had discovered that He/His disciples were baptising more than John and avoiding Herod's territory and so on and so forth, but I don't.

The scribes and pharisees themselves said, "...nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men." Matthew 22:16  Jesus wasn't afraid of men or their opinion. There is only One that He considered it "necessary" to heed, and that was His Father. Jesus Himself said, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. John 6:38 If Jesus felt that He needed to go this particular way, then it was because the Holy Spirit led Him this way! Why?  Because, at the sixth hour, the Father had the perfect chance encounter all lined up!