The Woman at the Well

There’s a wonderful story of our Lord Jesus with a Samaritan woman that he met at the well

The Woman of Samaria – John chapter four

Verse 7 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 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.” 11 She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” 16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” 27 At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?” 28 So the woman left her water pot, and went into the city and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.

I love the story of Jesus with the woman at the well. It’s another one of those wonderful occasions when God treats women with respect and as intellectual equals. It is a beautiful thing that he spoke with this Samaritan woman with whom all the Pharisees would have had nothing but contempt and shared the truth of his calling with her.

He spoke of living water of which she would never thirst and she said that if he gave that to her then she would have no reason to come all that way to draw water any longer. Then she spoke of her people worshipping at their mountain and the and the Jews saying Jerusalem was the only place where they should worship. In doing so she showed her understanding of the theology that Jesus was sharing with her. She was very astute. Then he spoke of his purpose and that the time would come and now is that men would worship in the Spirit and in truth.

Jesus asked her to get her husband and she said that she didn’t have a husband. He commended her honesty because she had had five husbands and the man she was now with was not her husband. Always he showed his Lord ship and yet always he encouraged and uplifted those he talked to and always the women he spoke with turned out to be the stars of the occasion and this was no exception.

The disciples arrived and true to the nature of Pharisees asked him why he was talking to the woman. While they were doing this she ran to the city and got the folk of her community saying quick come and see. Could this be the Christ? The folk came to see.

The Samaritans – Chapter Four

Verses 39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Saviour of the world.”

Wow. What a wonderful result. Jesus converted that sweet Samaritan lady and because of her word that she testified, many believed. What’s more Jesus stayed with them two more days and they believed because they heard for themselves. While the Pharisees were planning how to put an end to the Messiah, Lord and Saviour that they should have been believing. Of course that is how we got to have our Saviour, Jesus Christ, crucified for our sins and that we might believe as the Samaritan woman did. What a wonderful loving God we have.

Key Points

1. Why did Jesus come by way of Samaria? No self respecting Jew would have gone near the place

• As on all of these occasions he came to find that which was lost.
• He came to prepare the way for the gospel to go wider than just Israel.

2. Why did he speak with the Samaritan woman? As good Jews we wouldn’t speak to a Samaritan as they are of a lesser social and spiritual standing than ourselves. We wouldn’t trouble ourselves with a woman at the best of times. Women had no rights and derived social standing through their husbands. So speak to a Samaritan woman. Really, why would you?

• The implied story is that through the Spirit Jesus knew of this woman. That she knew the law. That she had had a hard life and was now living out of covenant. He came today for her out of love and to set her back on the path.
• He came to reach this Samaritan community to start a work among them.
• They were Samaritan Jews who knew the law and were waiting for the Messiah and here he was.
• He came to share the illustration of the everlasting well pouring forth the living water.
• To us as Christians this might seem rather odd. To the Samaritan woman and these folk who knew the law. They would have known of the rock that Moses struck in the desert out of anger and that God caused water to pour forth from it. I understand the Israelite's carried the rock with them as they sojourned in the desert. Jesus called himself a rock and the water of living water pours out of him. To the Christian this calls to mind the river of Living Water pouring from the throne of the Lamb of God in Heaven (Revelation 21 1-2)

3. Why did he say what he did to the Samaritan woman?

• To show her that she may have fallen on hard times but she was a person of value.
• She had a good knowledge of the law and her history.
• She perceived that Jesus was a prophet. She was astute.
• She had righteous heart even though she was out of covenant at the moment.
• Because he loved this child of God and wanted to place her back on the road.
• To show her how God (He), viewed her. In love, part of a royal priesthood and possession belonging to God
• To show us (Christians), how he views us in the same way. In love, part of a royal priesthood and possession belonging to God. Regardless of how we see ourselves.

Finally just to round this up. In reaching this very special lady that Christians have been reading about for two thousand years. Jesus made and important disciple who immediately reached the people in her city. This caused them to seek God and to find out for themselves that Jesus was the Messiah and that men and women will worship in Spirit and in Truth. Something we are used too but that would have been a paradigm shift for people in following the Law.

So never underestimate the worth of a person based on what you perceive that you know about them. If the Spirit leads then follow his voice and in obedience approach that person. You never know what you may begin and how much of God’s blessing may be poured out through the work you were instrumental in beginning.