The Relationship of The Head and The Body 

    Nicodemus needed the new birth to enter the Kingdom of God. 
The Samaritan woman needed to know the reality of the Holy Spirit, 
for the satisfying life, and to worship God in the Spirit. 

Nicodemus' outward life was good, 
he was a ruler of the Jews, a teacher and a Pharisee. 
As far as anyone could see, there was nothing wrong in what he was doing. 
Although he was morally upright, 
he needed the new birth to enter into the Kingdom of God. 
 

    Jesus said
to Nicodemus,"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." 
Nicodemus took it literally and  thought that being born again was a physical process. 

Nicodemus said  "Can he enter into his mother's womb and be born"? 
Jesus spoke of the spiritual birth but Nicodemus took it literally (Joh. 3:3-4). 
 

Many today take it literally and think that the water in v. 5
speaks of our physical birth into 
this world as there is a breaking of the water bag. 
Others thik that it is a spiritual birth by something we do physically 
and that is to be baptized by or in water. 
Jesus was not speaking of physical birth nor of spiritual birth done physically. 

    The water in John 3:5 speaks of being washed, 
and regenerated by the blood of Jesus Christ
that was shed on the Cross of Calvary. 

Eph. 5:26 says: 

 "That He might sanctify and cleanse it 
with the washing of water by the Word." 

     Believing in Jesus as Lord and Saviour,
cleanses you from your sins and you are born again. 
Jesus is called the Word of God. 

Titus 3:5 says: 

    "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, 
but according to His mercy He saved us, 
by the washing of regeneration, 
and renewing of the Holy Spirit." 

Pet. 1:23 says: 

     "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, 
by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth  forever." 

    The woman at the well also misunderstood what Jesus said 
about the living water and took it literally.  She said: 

     "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep:
from whence then hast thou that living water?"
(Joh. 4:11). 
 

     We will not understand the true meaning of the Scriptures
if we only take things literally. 
We must look for the spiritual meaning. 
Many things that we do are literal but the meaning is spiritual. 
We baptize literally but the meaning is spiritual. 
We partake of the Lord's Supper literally but the meaning is spiritual.
 Although we do things literally, 
the spiritual meaning is what is important 
(1Cor. 2:13-14).
 
 

    On the other hand, the Samaritan woman was morally bankrupt. 
She was an adulteress who was ashamed to be seen by others 
She came to the well at the very heat of the day (the sixth hour, noon). 
Unlike most of the women 
who would gather their water in the morning when it is cool, 
because of her adulteress life, she avoided others as much as possible,
for their leery eyes and ridicules. 
   Jesus told her to call her five husbands. 

This is recorded here to teach us a spiritual lesson. 
The woman, unable to find happiness and satisfaction, 
was married to five husbands and now she was living with a man
that was not her husband. 
 

    This woman represents 
the Samaritan nation in the Old Testament 
(2 Ki. 17:24-33). 
She also represents a christian,
you and I if we are not living our life as the body of Christ. 

Her five husbands represent the five nations
and their idols that they brought to Samaria. 

The Samaritan nation worshipped the idols,
but at the same time, they feared God. 

The God that the Samaritan nation feared 
is represented by the man she was now living with. 
The Samaritan nation was not faithful to God, 
expressed by worshipping the other idols. 
(There is an interesting study of the idols in 2 Kings
which represents wealth, power, etc.) 
 
 

    If we are not grounded in our relationship with Jesus Christ,
we too will portray the adulteress life like the Samaritan woman. 
We will become materialistic and seek money, power, fame, etc. 
and  the world will see us as this Samaritan woman, as an adulteress. 
These things have become idols in our lives, we are never satisfied, 
we are portraying infidelity. 
We live  our lives as though married to these things (our gods) 
but because we fear the Lord (knowing the true God), 
we do live with Christ as one whom we love
but are not married (obedient) to Him. 
 
 
 

    A marriage is a relationship of giving oneself to the other. 
The wife should be obedient to the husband. 
However, in a  relationship of living with a man that is not your husband,
there is no total commitment of the heart. 

One does not, and cannot, 
take the name of a man that she is not married to. 
Therefore, her name is not mentioned. 
Also she represents the body. 
Likewise, we are called Christians,
but if we live a worldly life, 
we will be ashamed to tell others our name (our spiritual name:
Christian, meaning Christ-like). 

A husband is one who is the head of the wife,
but a common-law man does not really have any authority in the woman's life. 
We tell others that we are Christians, 
but because of our worldly lifestyle, 
we do not portray Jesus Christ as our husband (LORDSHIP) 
but only as someone whom we are living with. 
Therefore we are not obedient to Christ who is our head. 

    The woman came for water but left her water pot (v.28) 
when she realized that Jesus was the Christ. 
The disciples went into the city to bring back provisions
to satisfy their own physical needs;
she went into the city to bring back others to Christ,
to fulfill their spiritual needs. 

    We know Jesus as our Saviour, (Nicodemus) 
but must also know Him as the Christ (Samaritan woman), our Lord. 

Only through the fountain of Living Water, the revelation of the Holy Spirit, 
can we know this and be truly and fully satisfied. 

    Can you imagine how difficult it was for both of them to testify for the Lord. 
Nicodemus, to leave his group of Pharisees,
and the woman to call all the men of the city who regarded her as an adulterer. 
 

    In John 7:50, Nicodemus is mentioned with the phrase,
"he that came to Jesus by night, being of them." 
This phrase is to indicate he is the same man, 

and he still belongs to the Pharisee sect. 
But in Joh. 19:39, Nicodemus, 
who came to Jesus by night, left his sect as the phrase 
"being one of them" is not mentioned. 

    Would we be able to do what Nicodemus did, 
if we held a high position in a large company,
and made lots of money? 
If the company was involved in underhanded practices, 
would we be willing to give it all up 
if we came to know Jesus Christ as our Saviour? 
 

    The Samaritan woman went into the city and told all the men what had happened (v.28, 29). 
After having five husbands 
(not to mention perhaps many more men in her life) 
and now living with a man who was not her husband, 
who would listen to her? 
Notice what she said 
(and what is not recorded but perhaps said): 

"come and see a man, who told me all things that ever I did." v.29 

   Let us speculate what they might have said to her: 
"What do you mean He told you all that you did; 
why, we know all about you and what you are doing. 
You had five husbands and now you are living in adultery." 
Her reply, "No! 
There are some things even all of you do not know, 
for I have not told anyone about it, but He knew." 
   Therefore "Is not this the Christ?"
(v.29) 

    Then they went out of the city, and came unto Him (v.30)
and many of the Samaritans of that city 
believed in Him for the woman had said, 

    "He told me all that ever I did." 
(v.39). 

And many more believed because of His own word, 
and said unto the woman, 

    "Now we believe, not because of thy saying; 
for we have heard him ourselves"
(v. 42).

    What did they hear? 
He revealed the truth about all of us. Isn't this what happened to us? 
When we came face to face with Jesus, 
He revealed everything about our true selves to our deceiving selves. 
We have come to see ourselves in the true light
for in the holiness of God we see our sinfulness. 
   Psa. 36:9 says,
"in the light shall we see light." 

Yes, 
if we look into the light we shall see the truth, and in that light, 
we shall see the source of that truth which is Christ, 
who is the source of all truth. 

 "...and the truth shall make you free"
(Joh. 8:32)

    She did not think about her past, 
for she was freed of it when she met the Christ, who is truth. 
Her life began anew. 
Paul says in Philippians 10:13,

"but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, 
and reaching for the things which are before."

As far as her past was concerned, 
it was forgotten, not in her memory perhaps, but in living.

She had a new meaning to her life, a satisfied life, 
a life of worshipping God, 
in spirit and in truth. 
 
 
 

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