The account of the woman by Jacob’s well in Samaria is fascinating. It is a  demonstration of God’s love for broken humanity. An excursion into the narrative will be well worth your while. The Bible records that Jesus was on His way from Judea to Galilee. However, something interesting follows in verse 4, where it says, “He needed to go through Samaria.” Think about that for a moment. Infact the NIV’S rendition of that verse reads, “He had to go through Samaria.” The tone here reflects a sense of urgency. Why did He have to go through Samaria? A few reasons may be adduced. However, given what  had transpired in the course of His passage through Samaria, I am convinced that the most important of all possible reasons was the urgent need to attend to the desperate cry and quest of a human heart for freedom from the throes of agony caused by rejection, emptiness, confusion and helplessness. Oh! The matchless love of the Father.
   Our introduction to the woman in question does not include her name,  just that she had got to the well while Jesus was by it, thirsty and resting from a long walk. Surprisingly to the woman, Jesus requested for some water from her. You may wonder what the big deal about His having requested for water from her was. That is, until you understand the sociocultural situation between the Jews and the Samaritans of Jesus’s day. The woman’s shock at what, obviously, was a deviation from the norm are expressed in the Bible thus, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” The Bible then gives the reason as being that.”…. Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. “(John 4:9). The Jews viewed the Samaritans as  hybrids—a combination of Jewish and gentile ancestry—and as such abhorrent.
   However, Jesus ignored her reference to the longstanding quarrel between the Jews and the Samaritans, and proceeded to arouse her interest in the potential benefits she stood to enjoy, if she knew who it was that spoke with her. Had she known it was the gift of God that had asked her for a drink of water, she would have asked and received living water from Him. The woman  must have wondered at the brazen arrogance of the stranger before her, who did not even have something to draw water from the well, yet boasted of having living water to give. Was He greater than Jacob who had drunk from the well himself? To her enquiry, Jesus responded that whoever drank from that well would thirst again. But whoever drank the living water He was offering, would never thirst again but would enjoy a spring of water welling up in him /her.
   Then the woman indicated her interest in the living water which Jesus had to give. It was at that point that Jesus instructed her to go and call her husband. She responded that she had no husband. In turn, Jesus agreed with her, for, according to Him, she had had five husbands and the man she was living with was not her husband. What a revelation! The woman was amazed and said she perceived Jesus was a Prophet. 
  God’s love is beyond comprehension. Nothing about the woman’s sordid way of life was hidden from Him, yet He sent Jesus to ask her for a drink of water. Jesus was willing to put Himself in the debt of a woman with such loose morals. His request of water from the woman was not because of His ignorance of her sinfulness but in spite of it. This brings us to the nature of God’s love as expressed to the Samaritan woman and which, by extension, God offers to everyone who would receive it.
   The first quality of God’s love is that it is unconditional. This implies that God’s love for us is not based on our merits. He loves us in spite of our sinfulness. Ephesians 3:3-5, expresses this character of God’s love for us when it says, “among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)”. God loved the Samaritan woman unconditionally. He did not instruct her to go and clean herself up and then come. No, He accepted her just as she was. God loves you unconditionally too. Come as you are and receive His love.
   Secondly, God’s love is sacrificial. God’s love for us cost so much. He had to give up His only Son (John 3:16). God watched as His own Son was sentenced  to death by crucifixion—the kind of death reserved for criminals. The Father even had to look away from His Son, who had become a sin offering (2Cor 5:21).  Though God’s love for us is free, it is not cheap. It was that love that found the Samaritan woman.
   The Samaritan woman also encountered the unfailing nature of God’s love. This is the third quality of His love for us. God’s love never fails (1Cor 13:8). In fact the following quote from Kirstyn Mayden succinctly captures the essence of this aspect of God’s love :”God’s love is constant, consistent, and steadfast. Despite our continual flaws, sin, and tendency to become distant from God, God’s love draws us closer back to Him. In a world where giving and receiving love is often conditional and fleeting, God’s love is stable, healing, comforting, and a source of refuge”.
   Finally, God’s love is perfect: no one can improve on it. God’s love is definitive. His love for you, just as was the case of the Samaritan woman, does not ebb and flow, but remains constant. This is because God Himself is love (1Jn 4:8). The Samaritan woman’s story has a happy ending, as recorded in the following words of the Bible : The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him….  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard [Him] and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” (John 4:28-30, 40-42 ). She was transformed from a terrible sinner to an evangelist, just because she willingly and joyfully accepted God’s, unconditional, sacrificial, unfailing and perfect love. Therefore, embrace God’s love for you, and experience God’s transforming power. Shalom.