The Gospel of John-22 – Go, Call Your Husband

John 4:10–19

“Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give Me a drink,” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?’ Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ The woman answered and said, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You have well said, “I have no husband,” for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.’” Amen.

 

The Journey of Salvation and the Stages of Dialogue

We continue our journey through the Gospel of John today. The message we share today is closely linked to next week’s text, forming essentially a single unified sermon. The conversation between the Samaritan woman and Jesus can be divided into three major stages; we will address the first and second stages today and the final stage next week. The purpose of Jesus leading this conversation is not merely to point out or solve a woman's personal problems. Rather, this dialogue vividly encapsulates how God unfolds His work of salvation centered on Jesus Christ, and how deeply He loves His people.

 

In other words, this conversation with the Samaritan woman embodies the reason why Jesus Christ had to come to this earth, and the process through which God chose the people of Israel and molded them into His own. Here, "stages" do not refer to levels of faith, but rather the chronological order in which the history of salvation is realized. It is not a progression from low-level questions to sophisticated ones; rather, it shows that even the same question is deeply related to the flow of time—that is, to history. You will find many parallels between the journey of the Israelites leaving Egypt and passing through the wilderness toward Mount Sinai, and the process of the Samaritan woman’s conversation with Jesus. Now, let us listen to Jesus’ assessment of the Samaritan woman.

 

Stage 1: The Limits of Common Sense in Misunderstanding God's Gift and Living Water

Look at John 4:10. “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give Me a drink,” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’” Through these words, Jesus points out two things to the woman: first, that she does not know what the gift of God is; and second, that she does not realize who she is speaking with. The woman reacts immediately. She retorts, asking how He can provide living water when He has no vessel and the well is deep. As you can see, the woman clearly heard Jesus' words. She accurately perceived the keyword of this conversation—"living water." I emphasize this again: she clearly understood what was said.

 

If she truly understood the essence of those words, would it not be natural to ask, “What is it that I do not know? What is the gift of God, and who are You?” Yet, the woman does not ask this. Instead, she persists in asking about the physical mechanism of drawing water. Finally, in verse 15, she pleads, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” The woman asked for the water because she recognized its value in her own way. As this dialogue shows, she was not an ignorant person; rather, she was a person with her own firm convictions.

 

The woman’s conviction and interpretation were as follows: to her, the "gift of God" was the "water" right before her eyes. Water that would quench her thirst and exhaustion—that was the gift of God she imagined. Furthermore, regarding the question of "who is before me," she concluded that He might be someone greater than Jacob. We, who know the end of the story so well, may find it difficult to understand her thoughts. But think from her perspective. To her, this situation was perfectly logical. A Jewish man, who initially asked for a drink, now says He will give her water that will prevent her from ever thirsting or needing to draw water again. Naturally, her response was to ask for that water.

 

Moreover, regarding Jesus’ question of “Do you know who I am?”, she thought that just as their ancestor Jacob gave them this well, perhaps this man was the one to give her a more precious water—a new kind of water she had never imagined. Her most urgent problem was water for her throat. Hearing this Jewish youth, it seemed she would no longer have to come to draw water. Since her immediate problem appeared solved, the only logical answer was to ask for the water.

 

God Trapped Within Us and the Framework of Blessing-Seeking Faith

How about our own appearance? Are we not also full of problems? There are times when we are weary and lonely, or when we do not know what to do in the face of insurmountable challenges. We often hear the teaching that if we go to Jesus, He will give us peace, heal our diseases, and that He holds a panacea for all things. Thus, it is natural for us to go to Him because we have immediate suffering and difficulties. The Samaritan woman was thirsty, and the labor of drawing water every day was exhausting and burdensome. According to Jesus’ words, if she could just get that living water, she would never need to come to the well again; she could drink comfortably at home, and perhaps even profit by selling that water.

 

We are the same. We are told that going to Jesus brings peace, blessings, and all-curing grace—who would refuse such good news? We "understand" it. It is the same as the woman saying, "I understand what this youth named Jesus is saying." That is why she asked for the water. It is a natural reaction. Who would refuse water that ensures you never thirst again?

 

Seeing her plea for water reminds me of a conversation I once had. Someone asked me, “Pastor, do heaven and hell really exist? When I go to funerals, everything seems to end with death. If heaven and hell truly existed, wouldn't everyone believe in God? That’s only logical, so the fact that people don’t believe proves they don’t exist, doesn't it?” What do you think? Does believing in the existence of heaven and hell mean people truly trust God? Let me be clear: even if you believe heaven exists, you may not enter it. No matter how certain you are of hell, you cannot escape it by that certainty alone. What you and I believe or feel certain about cannot, in itself, lead us to heaven or rescue us from hell. Whether you saw heaven in a dream or experienced it through a near-death experience, shouting “I have seen heaven” does not get you there. Hell is the same. Have you deeply considered that this is our own reality?

 

The Samaritan woman possessed a very similar mindset. It is like the process of the Israelites entering the wilderness after crossing the Red Sea and heading toward Mount Sinai. The first problem they faced before God was "water." When they suffered because they could not drink the bitter water at Marah, they cried out to God, complaining, “How can we drink this bitter water?” God gave them water, but that was not the sum total of their problem. Similarly, for this woman, the water to quench her physical thirst was her greatest perceived problem.

 

Truth Beyond Rational Common Sense and Human Pride

This woman, like the Israelites, is a person of extreme common sense. We often criticize the Israelites, calling them sinners who disobeyed God’s commands, and we rebuke their stubbornness in forgetting the grace bestowed upon them. But honestly, put yourself in their shoes. Though they lived as slaves, Egypt was a place with abundant food and houses to live in. Compared to the desolation of the wilderness, even with hard labor, wouldn't returning there be the more "common sense" choice? Criticism like “Why do they rebel against God after He saved them?” is merely a perspective from those of us who already know the conclusion. In reality, the Israelites and this woman are showing very rational reactions.

 

“Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.” Hearing this, the woman requests, “Give me this water.” It is a perfectly sensible answer. However, the problem is that the One leading this conversation completely transcends human common sense. The woman could not accept the words about giving "everlasting springing water" within her own logic. So, she cut away the transcendent meaning and replaced it with a "spring" she could understand. Her request to "make water come out near my house so I never have to come to the well" is her will to interpret the situation only within her own logic and reason. She deleted transcendent terms like "everlasting" or "no thirst" and reduced the meaning to a worldly expectation of obtaining a plentiful well.

 

All humans crave the ultimate answer to life. But because that ultimate truth lies beyond our understanding, humanity falls into despair. We want to find the "correct answer" and hold onto the meaning and value of life. The Israelites who left Egypt also wanted to know where their lives were headed and how to enjoy happiness and joy. But on that path, a gateway always appears. When meeting the God who turns the bitter water of Marah into drinkable water, we inevitably face the doubt: “Can I really drink this?”

 

Unwittingly, we fall into the arrogant illusion that we can explain everything within the limits of our own understanding. One moment we admit, “I am a fragile human who cannot know everything,” and the next moment we proceed as if “we can explain and understand everything.” When Jesus says, “You will never thirst again,” instead of accepting those words as they are, we cut out the parts that don’t fit our framework and tailor them to our own benefit, saying, “Lord, give me that water so I don't have to draw it.” Scripture calls this "self-conceit" or "pride." The tragedy of pride is that the one who is proud does not know it. Since the moment you realize your pride you have already begun to escape it, the ignorance of not recognizing one's own pride is the deepest pride of all. Are you and I not living without knowing the corners of pride deep within us?

 

Stage 2: Existential Confrontation and Hidden Spiritual Thirst

Jesus understood the problem the woman faced more deeply than she did herself. He saw through where her eyes and heart were bound, and He knew that while she interpreted His words in her own way—thinking, ‘If I drink that water, I shall live’—she remained ignorant of the spiritual essence. However, her interest was not merely confined to the physical. Seeing the progression from the conversation about water to the story of her husband, and then to questions about worship, we can see that spiritual longing and inquiry were simmering within her.

 

The problem is that she does not recognize that spiritual reality. When we point this out as pride, she protests, “I am not being proud; I am just trying to find out so I can understand clearly.” It is like asking Jesus, who says “I am the living water,” “How can a person become living water?” I often receive similar questions. When I say, “Living in Jesus Christ is true joy,” people retort, “Who exactly is Jesus that we can enter Him? How can a figure from 2,000 years ago be an object of faith?”

 

Whenever we hit the walls of our own limitations, we tend to tailor the situation to our understandable range rather than humbly acknowledging our limits. We repeat the act of boldly cutting away parts of faith that do not fit our framework. This is not just the appearance of those without faith. Today's Christians also constantly repeat this in their spiritual lives. How many of you accept the words “God is almighty, and you are totally protected under His hand” at face value? If we truly trusted those words, our lives would have changed beyond imagination. We cannot even fully accept the truths we confess; we set up our own frameworks to decide what to accept and what to discard. Ultimately, we trap God within our small circles and live under the illusion that "this is my God, and this is everything." If this is truly not our appearance, we should be thankful; but if it is, we must sincerely ask ourselves.

 

While the woman remained trapped in her common-sense framework with her spiritual eyes closed, Jesus moves to the second stage. It is the question: “Go, call your husband.” Just as God asked the Israelites, “Who are you?” while pointing out their betrayal and resentment during their struggle with bitter water, Jesus asks the Samaritan woman about the reality of her existence: “Where is your husband?” This question asks, “Who are you, who have boasted of taking responsibility for your life through reason and common sense?” It is a solemn command to “Open up your life and see what is inside.” This question contains the terrifying yardstick of the ‘Law.’ It is asking what kind of being you are when your life is spread out before God.

 

Honest Self-Reflection and the Mirror of the Law

Of course, there are those around us who live in pursuit of pleasure or only their own greed and benefit—people who, even to our eyes, do not look particularly good. Perhaps there are such people among us. Sometimes we judge others, saying, “That person is worse than me,” or “That person is more stained by the world than I am.” Certainly, there are hedonists in the world who live as they please. But they are not the only ones. There are also ethical and moral people, the so-called ‘people who could live without laws,’ or those who agonize every day to live uprightly. The Book of Romans examines these types of people one by one in depth, a topic we will explore next time, so today I will only touch upon it briefly.

 

This second group of people values ethics and morality and lives considering them precious. They have their own clear standards. Jesus speaks to those who have those standards: “Spread out your life.” How does the woman answer? To the command “Call your husband,” she replies, “I have no husband.”

 

She thoroughly conceals her truth. She never imagined that Jesus would know everything. The words “I have no husband right now and am not married” were, on the surface, an accurate answer. Even Jesus acknowledged, “You have well said.” But in reality, she was immediately activating a defense mechanism to protect herself against the demand to reveal her true self.

 

Are we not the same? We often think, ‘I haven’t lived that badly; I’ve tried to live cleanly in my own way, pursued spiritual values, and I’m attending church. So how could my life be pitiful or meaningless?’ There are two reasons why the Bible calls even such moral people ‘sinners.’ First, because any standard you set falls short of God’s justice. If you have not perfectly practiced the great commandment of the Law—'Love God and love your neighbor'—then the standards set by man are never valid. Second, because we cannot perfectly keep even the standards we made for ourselves. No matter how low the bar is set, humans lack the power to fulfill it completely. Therefore, we are sinners by our conscience and sinners by the Law of God.

 

Honest Surrender Through the Gateway of Grace

The declaration of being a ‘sinner’ is never a pleasant word. But it is our undeniable reality. To bring the Samaritan woman to the true spiritual essence, Jesus Christ brings the life problems she must confront to the forefront. If you truly want to know God, you can never deeply meet Him without passing through this solemn gateway—not through knowledge, experience, or any way you have pursued thus far. Even if you fast for forty days on a mountain, devote yourself to lifelong study, or attend every single worship service and hear wonderful sermons, you cannot truly understand without passing through this gate.

 

Just as the Samaritan woman faced the question “Go, call your husband” before Jesus, we too must honestly lay ourselves down before the Lord’s question: “Who are you?” Until this sincere surrender occurs, we cannot truly know what the work of the Holy Spirit is. The God we find or establish through our own research is merely a fake. A god created by human reason is nothing more than Baal or Asherah—a fabricated idol. From the beginning, the Bible painstakingly explains how the true God is different from the idols we create ourselves.

 

The conversation between the Samaritan woman and Jesus is consistent with the persistent love God showed while leading the Israelites to Canaan. Just as He gave the Law and taught worship at Mount Sinai, the woman will soon move toward the fundamental question: “Where is the right place to worship?” Just as the redeemed people faced the reality of sin immediately after solving the water problem, the journey of Israel is reflected in the Samaritan woman's dialogue and in our lives today.

 

We have come before the Lord with physical thirst, life’s exhaustion, and problems we cannot solve ourselves. And we hoped for answers as we spread out those burdens. We believed that if we went to Jesus, holding onto the words “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” we would find peace and joy. But at that moment, the Lord stops and asks us: “Go, call your husband.” It is not just about having the pain of life removed and problems solved. True faith begins at that moment when we stand before the Lord’s fundamental question: “Who are you?”

 

God’s Persistent Love and the Fundamental Question of Life

Is it not a truly persistent love? Yet we finally call this "love." Because God rescued the Israelites from Egypt, He intervenes in their lives and confronts them one by one. Do not think of this merely as 'Israel’s history' or 'the Samaritan woman's anecdote.' This dialogue may be a record of a brief moment, but it is an event that penetrates your entire life and mine. Just as God constantly threw questions at the Israelites until they reached Canaan to awaken their identity, and made them realize through history that they were sinners who could not live without God’s help, the Lord is still asking the same question to your life today.

 

We often respond to the words “What is the problem? I will give you living water that springs up to eternal life” by saying, “Thank you, give me that water.” We rejoice, immersed only in the fact that our prayer was answered. But the Lord does not stop there and inevitably asks again: “Who are you, who are now hanging onto Me to solve the thirst of this earth and seeking that living water? Who are you, crying out that you will find God, and who are you, wanting to know who God is? What is your true self that claims to live by depending on God in this land?” In this way, the Lord demands that we honestly reveal the reality of our lives.

 

God’s Grace Visiting a Broken Life

The life spread out before the woman was a fragmented one, represented by five marriages and her current relationship. This was a sin against the Law, but the more fundamental problem was that she did not love God or her neighbor. Of course, she might have tried to love. Like the excuse we all love to use: “I tried my best in my own way.” But can the "best" done within our fragility truly satisfy God? And could it lead us to true peace? The woman may have struggled to love, but her life proved that it was not enough. Now, two paths lie before her: the path of resignation, thinking ‘humans are all like that anyway,’ or the path of asking ‘how can this fundamental problem ever be solved?’

 

Notice the process of the woman’s titles for Jesus changing. she confesses to Jesus, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.” Unlike at first, when she expected only the prestige of Jacob, she begins to recognize Him as a prophet who pierces through her hidden life. “Who are You? How do You know my life so well?” But her realization did not stop there. Was it because she was particularly brilliant, or because she diligently attended Sunday services and listened to sermons? Absolutely not. It is only because Jesus did not give up on her. When she did not understand when He first asked for water, He did not dismiss her, saying, “You don’t understand; come back next time.” When He asked “Go, call your husband” and she made an excuse saying “I have no husband” instead of immediately repenting, the Lord did not cast her away.

 

The Persistent Love of God Who Never Gives Up

Do you also feel a sense of rejection upon hearing the word ‘sinner’ and find yourself looking for excuses like “I’m not that much of a sinner”? Or perhaps you want to hide in a shell of your own making, denying your reality. But the Lord did not give up there. He eventually draws out and hears the confession she must make. It was not because the woman clung to the Lord, but because the Lord Himself clung to the woman. We call this love and grace. This is the reason why you and I can be thankful and rejoice even after hearing such painful points.

 

The church is perhaps a place where we face the most harsh truths. It is natural to feel hurt when you come expecting comfort but hear, “You are a sinner no different from this woman. You are failing to see the things of heaven because you are blinded by the desires of the world.” Nevertheless, why do we surrender and come forward, saying, “Yes, Lord. Although I speak of holiness with my lips, my hands, feet, and eyes are still sinners heading toward greed and the world”?

 

The Lord sees right through our excuses and the cowardice of hiding in our shells. He knows that while we confess with our lips that He is the Almighty God, in actual life, we have never relied on His power—that, in truth, we have never sincerely trusted Him. Yet, it is because of the God who never withdraws His hand and persistent love for His children. Because of Him, we stand firm in this place where we can never give up. Dearly beloved, if you are receiving such a persistent and tenacious love, how will you respond before that Lord today?

 

We will face the conclusion of this conversation together next week. At that time, I hope that you and I will also stay in the place where the Samaritan woman stood, pass through the wilderness journey that the Israelites experienced, and fully enjoy the blessings of Canaan, the glory of God, and the joy of entering true spiritual depth.

 

Prayer

Dear Lord, how can we know the high, the existing, and the precious without having been in the low, in death, and in nothingness? How can we know the glory of the resurrection without dying?

 

Lord, the Samaritan woman is dying before You right now. Her stubborn common sense and reason are drying up and dying, and her past is dying. Lord, I desire to be there as well. We want our shameful traces, the wounds we wanted to forget, or the past we wanted to boast of in vain to be completely broken before the Lord. We want all the pride that judged and measured You with our shallow common sense and knowledge to fade away one by one in astonishment, just like this Samaritan woman.

 

Sometimes, we may not fully trust the Lord until the very last moment, unable to take a step of faith and just watching from afar. But let us remember that the Lord already dwells among us, holds us, and never gives up. Dear Lord, have mercy on our lack of faith and help us. In doing so, let this be a blessed week where we realize with all our hearts what God's love and grace truly are.

 

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.