The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: (John 4:17)

While many are today single, many are married with no husband.

You’ve never known the earthly love of a man who loves you like Jesus.

Regardless of which place you rest Jesus is with you.

The Lord sees you sweet one. You have not been forgotten.

In the story of the Samaritan woman at the well we have missed the story completely. So let me have the honor of showing you what Christ revealed to me a few years ago.

Never was this woman mentioned to be in sin. (We have made an assumption.)

Christ merely says, “You have had five husbands and the man you are with now is not your husband.” (Please note its entirely possible the man she is with now is family. Women who were widowed often went back into their fathers or brothers house when we dig into jewish culture of those days.)

Upon a deeper study you will also find that women in most cases were not allowed to divorce their husbands (they didn’t even get to choose them don’t forget)…however the men could easily divorce their wives. Also there was a terrible habit in the society of men “putting away” their wives and taking another. Hence, polygamy.

In that society (and often in ours), not being attached to a man was a devastating thing. Women that were unmarried or without children were seen to have no value to society. This also was the same for widows.

But when we backup to the previous chapter, we see in context John the Baptist preparing the way for the “bridegroom.”

Please take this beauty in…Jesus goes out of His way, to a place He was forbidden to go, to a woman with NO husband. Perhaps her previous 5 husbands abandoned her, divorced her, abused her, or even died. Young women were often given in marriage to older men.

But…we simply do not know. We only know she currently has no husband.

While our society automatically thinks she’s in sin, the unseen moral of this story is more than a quick inflection of the voice that makes a quick judgement. It really is amazing how we can change the entire meaning of scripture with a little emphasis here and there.

Jesus, the bridegroom, is telling her that He will be her husband. The one who will never leave. The one who has seen every pain and loss. Every abuse and mocking.

He would have known that she was an outcast. Perhaps not because of why we are taught…that she was a “sinful woman.” But simply because she was husband-less.

Wherever you fall in this story. Christ will be your bridegroom. The faithful husband who tends carefully your heart. The one who nudges you to become all He designed you to be.

You may be single but in Christ you have a husbandman.

You may be married with no husband to speak of but you still have a heavenly husbandman who will always cherish you.

And He is trustworthy.