“The Woman at the Well”
John 4: 1 – 26
Historical Background
By the time of Jesus, Samaritans and Jews had been enemies for centuries. But the most intense rivalry began at around 200 BC. The source of the conflict was a dispute over the correct location for the center of worship. The Samaritans had built a shrine on Mt. Gerizim and claimed that this was the proper place of worship. The Jews claimed that the Jerusalem Temple was the center of worship. In fact, the Samaritan shrine was destroyed by Jewish troops in 128 BC. So the division between Samaritans and Jews continued. To Jews, Samaritans were outcasts, ritually unclean (hence the comment about not using anything in common), and bitter enemies. They were heretics. Samaritans avoided Jews and Jews avoided Samaritans.
Crossing Borders and Breaking Barriers
At the outset of our story Jesus and his disciples are headed from Judea to Galilee, and our passage says that “he had to go through Samaria.” The ancient historian Josephus notes that the route through Samaria was the most efficient one. Even so, while Samaria stood between Judea and Galilee and going that way was perhaps most efficient, many Jews would have steered clear of Samaria even if it meant taking longer to get from one place to the next. And while it is true that a number of scholars and commentators see travelling through Samaria as geographically necessary, it is interesting to note that the word translated as “had to” (as in “he had to go through Samaria”) is usually associated in John’s Gospel with God’s plan.
One commentator puts it well: “Jesus’ itinerary may have been governed by geographical expediency, but his stay in Samaria was governed by the theological necessity of offering himself to those whom social convention deemed unacceptable.” In other words, while to get from point A to point B going through Samaria made the most sense, the words used in our passage suggest that it was God’s will that Jesus and his disciples stop in Samaria. So when Jesus and his disciples entered Samaria on their way to Galilee they were crossing a border in more ways than one.
I love what happens here. They get to the Samaritan village of Sychar. Jesus, tired from the journey, decides to rest by a well while the disciples go to get some food for lunch. I imagine Jesus is tired and hot, and his throat is dry. He feels thirsty. And as he waits for his disciples a woman comes to draw water from the well. Whether she notices him there or not isn’t clear. If she does, she ignores him. Perhaps she notices his Jewish prayer shawl. That tells her enough. “Keep quiet,” she thinks, “This man is a Jew.”
And then Jesus does the unthinkable. He speaks to her. He actually speaks to her. In doing so Jesus defies social convention and breaks barriers in two ways: first, he speaks to an unknown woman; and second, he talks to a Samaritan. Both were forbidden for Jewish men. To put it simply, here we see Jesus talking to an unknown woman of an enemy people. Commenting on this story, Eugene Peterson, in his new book Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, says that “Jesus risks his reputation by being seen with a Samaritan woman. There is a sense of ignoring conventions here on both sides, a crossing of the lines of caution, a willingness on both sides to risk misunderstanding.”
And so Jesus does what no self-respecting, pious Jewish male would do: he talks to a Samaritan woman. We see later on that when his disciples return with food (in v. 27) that they were astonished that he was speaking with this woman. But of course they didn’t say anything – this was Jesus after all! But we know what they were thinking, right? “What was he doing talking with her? Doesn’t he know that he shouldn’t be talking to her?” But Jesus does talk to her. He willingly crosses boundaries and breaks barriers.
Let me ask you this: have you ever known someone who was off limits? A group of people, perhaps, that no one else would socialize with? I know that sometimes when you’re a kid you know your friends will make fun of you if you play with that kid. No one plays with him! Lying beneath this attitude might even be a degree of prejudice: maybe that other kid is poor, socially awkward, of another race or religion, maybe he or she has special needs. It could be that prejudice toward another neighbourhood kid is based on what the adults in the community say. You’ve overheard your parents talking. Whatever the case, you know you’re supposed to stay away.
As sinful human beings we are much more capable of erecting walls and barriers than we are at breaking them down. We draw lines in the sand. We separate. We divide. We do so on the basis of economic status, social status, race, religion, geography, church denomination, and theology. It happens in and outside the church. And once these barriers are built, we reinforce them with time and stubbornness.
Jesus will have none of this. He crosses a border, enters enemy territory and starts talking to a woman. He wants us to do the same. To paraphrase the U2 song, “Where the Streets Have No Name”, Jesus wants us to “tear down the walls that hold us inside.” These walls hold us inside ourselves – we are held by fear, prejudice, hatred, bitterness, self-superiority, pride, and pretension. And it’s so true. The walls we build are all inside of us – in our hearts. They prevent us from treating people like people. Like Jesus, we should have none of this.
As one scholar comments, Jesus “summons the church to stop shaping its life according to societal definitions of who is acceptable and to show the same openness to those who are different that Jesus did when he traveled in Samaria. The church is asked to cross boundaries as Jesus does instead of constructing them.” We have to ask ourselves again and again: who are the Samaritans in my life? Who are the ones that normally are unacceptable? Who are the ones that we don’t associate with because . . .?
Common Language
How many of you have seen a Greek NT? If you have, maybe you’ve thought, “It’s all Greek to me!” You might not know this but there are two types of ancient Greek language. The first type is called “attic” Greek and is a sophisticated form of the Greek language. This is sort of language you would use to write fancy and important documents. It’s a more official style of Greek that philosophers and politicians would use. The second type is “koine” Greek. This style of Greek language is the sort that you would use to write out a grocery list and a personal letter. It was the sort of Greek that was used in personal conversation. It’s what you might call common Greek. It is the language of common people: merchants, peasants, and fishermen. Guess which kind of Greek our NT was written in? If you say “koine” Greek, then you are right! Our NT was written in a common, less sophisticated style of Greek. It used a style that most everyday people could understand.
I want us to look at how Jesus engages the woman in our story. We know that he talks to her. We know that he crosses a border to enter enemy territory, but what does he do when he gets there? What does he say? That he speaks to her is one thing, but what he says is just as important. The first thing he says is this, “Give me a drink.” Give me a drink. Jesus begins with a simple request. He begins by asking her to fill a need of his – he’s been walking and he’s tired, hot, thirsty, and in need of a good drink of cool water. He begins, we might think, with something rather ordinary. He begins his conversation with the Samaritan woman where he finds her: at a well. Just like the Greek NT is written in a style that was accessible to the most ordinary of people, so Jesus made himself accessible to this woman by speaking about something she understood – water – something that was as ordinary as the Greek our story was written in.
And so certainly what Jesus says to her is significant. He doesn’t tell the woman that he is the Bread of life or the Light of the world – he tells her that he can give her living water. Here Jesus is the consummate teacher. He knows this woman perfectly and wants her to know who he is. He wants her to accept him as the Messiah and receive eternal life. They are at a well so he starts a conversation about water. Jesus begins the conversation with the woman’s situation. She was getting water from a well and that became his starting point for introducing her to her need for him as “living water.” Because everyone knows what water is, right?
God speaks salvation into our lives usually in the most ordinary of ways. Because of the incarnation we know that God decided to come to us, to where we are. God enters our situation so that we can experience grace right where we are. God doesn’t extract us from our circumstances when He saves us; instead, He saves right in the midst of our circumstances, usually leaving us there to work out our salvation in a place we already know. In Jesus, God speaks to us where we are in way we can understand. He uses words like “water” to draw us into realizing that only He can quench that thirst we have for eternal life, true life. There is hardly anything more common or ordinary to human experience than water.
If we as Christians are going to speak salvation into the lives of those around us, we do so in the same way. We go where those people are. We speak in ways that are common to us both. We treat their situation as important. By entering into conversation with this Samaritan woman, Jesus gave her a dignity and humanity that she wouldn’t otherwise have had. Jesus calls us to do the same with those in our homes, communities, neighbourhoods and workplaces. This is the slow work of love and salvation. It’s about being there. It’s about personal conversation, everyday encounters, and ordinary situations. This is the stuff God works through so that others will receive His gift of salvation.
But of course Jesus doesn’t just use common language here; he transforms it. There are many occasions in John’s Gospel where Jesus is speaking on more than one level. The words Jesus uses often have more than one meaning. The same is true here. The word we read and hear as “living water” can also be translated “fresh water” or “spring water.” What does the woman hear? Does she hear him say “living water” or “fresh spring” water?
I don’t think it’s completely clear. Initially, it seems like she doesn’t get it. When Jesus says, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” Her response, “How are you going to get this water? This well is deep and you have no bucket.” She’s still thinking about well water. Jesus then tells her that whoever receives the water he has to give will spring up to eternal life – this water is the gift of eternal life! But she still doesn’t really get it. She still associates the water Jesus is talking about with water that you can get from a well – she says to him: “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Does she think that Jesus is a miracle worker who can give her miraculous water?
So Jesus changes the direction of the conversation by asking her to go and get her husband. We need to realize here that Jesus already knows her situation. He didn’t need to ask. But he wanted her to be honest before him. And Jesus does not judge her, nor does he show interest in her marital history other than as a means of demonstrating to her that he knows her.
Encountering Jesus
Several times in John’s Gospel Jesus shows his divine knowledge of individuals – with Philip, Peter and now the Samaritan woman. Encountering Jesus means having to confront ourselves. When we are confronted by Jesus, we are confronted with who we really are. We realize that Jesus knows us completely whether or not we decide to confess all that we are to him. He already knew the Samaritan woman. She didn’t have to tell him. He wasn’t really looking for information. He already knows us. Jesus knows us inside and out. This means that encountering Jesus involves facing ourselves in the mirror and no longer hiding. Before God everything is as though it is out in the open. There is no hiding place from God. Psalm 139 says, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me.”
When we encounter Jesus we are also confronted with who he really is. Look at the progression of his conversation with the Samaritan woman. Gradually it leads to his revealing to her that he is the Messiah that she and her people have long been waiting for. In fact, perhaps that is why he asks to see her husband. His knowledge of her life is what leads her to see him as a prophet and what prompts her to bring up the subject of worship, the very thing that was the source of conflict between Jews and Samaritans. Jesus’ explanation of true worship then leads her to bring up the topic of the Messiah, which gives Jesus the opportunity to reveal himself as that very Messiah.
This should teach us that in reaching out to others with the good news we should know something of their situation. Jesus knew perfectly and immediately everything about this woman. We don’t share such knowledge of people. For us it takes more time to get to know people. But get to know them we must. To introduce people to Jesus, we must begin where people are. To introduce a particular person to Jesus, we must understand who they are, where they are coming from and explain the gospel in a way that makes sense to them. Helping others encounter Jesus means using the day to day to illustrate and explain that which is eternal; it means using the ordinary to illustrate and explain the extraordinary.
Conclusion
And why is all of this important? Where does this leave us? What is the significance for us that Jesus engages the Samaritan woman the way he does?
It is significant and important precisely because Jesus is the source of living water, the source for eternal life. He is the One who can ultimately quench our thirst – anyone’s thirst – for true life, full life, eternal and lasting life. There is no other way. Jesus himself says elsewhere in John’s Gospel, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
It is significant and important precisely because God has made each one of us to desire and need this eternal life even if we don’t realize it. He created us for relationship with Himself. Some don’t recognize their thirst. They’re too busy drinking from other wells. Others sense their need acutely, but don’t know where to get what they’re looking for. They try everything, but nothing satisfies. Nothing quenches the thirst. But we know where the well is. We know what does quench that thirst. Jesus is the way to the truth that God is the source of our life and our only hope for eternal life. Jesus can end the thirst.
It is significant and important and precisely because Jesus calls us to share this truth with all others – everyone else – who is thirsty. We know that Jesus is the source of living water that gushes up to eternal life. And so we share this truth, this good news. How we share this news is just how Jesus did: through ordinary conversation, seemingly chance encounters, personal relationships.
To share the good news of this living water we need to remember, too, that we always have to be aware of our own need for this water, this living water. Only as people see in us that our thirst has been quenched will they seek to drink from the same well. When the Samaritan woman responds to Jesus’ initial request for a drink, Jesus tells her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” So many are thirsty, and they need to know the gift of God. Right now they don’t. And they can only know this gift as we tell them about it when we take the time to enter their territory and sit down next to their well.
