The Woman At The Well

Today, let’s talk about another woman who was saved by the power of Jesus Christ; a woman we have all referred to as “The Woman at the Well.” We find her story in the 4th chapter of the book of JOHN.

As we read the Gospels, we see that Jesus’ approach to proclaiming the Good News was decidedly different that the approach most churches have today. Whereas most churches wait until people walk into their church buildings at certain times to tell them about Jesus, Jesus and the disciples traveled the countryside on foot to take the Good News to the people.

In fact, we find Jesus constantly on the move, trying to reach more people for salvation. In today’s message, we find him in Judea where His cousin John the Baptist was.

The Pharisees were angry with Jesus because they heard Jesus was more popular than John the Baptist, and He was baptizing more people than John. So Jesus decided to leave Judea and go northward into Galilee, which was in Israel. But to get there, He had to go through Samaria, which was in-between the two.

Samaria was a place inhabited by 2 basic peoples. The original Canaanites, and those who were ½ Canaanites and ½ Jews. The Jews called them “half-breeds”, and considered them to be lower than dogs because of their mixed heritages. Any respectable Jew would never go into Samaria - much less a Rabbi!

Jesus chose to go through Samaria rather than go around it. There was a city in Samaria called Sychar. That is where Jacob had built a well long ago, and that well what where Jesus stopped on that day in this story.

In those days, the women carried the water, and most women went to the well in the morning hours to avoid the heat of the day. Jesus got there in the afternoon, and sent his disciples into town to get them some food. That is when he saw the Samaritan woman coming to the well for water.

Why would she be going so late in the day? Well, she was not only despised by the Jews, but also by her fellow Samaritans. She was one of ‘those kinds’ of people. She had been married 5 times, and was presently just living with a man out of wedlock. It seems that today’s worldly society, ‘is the only society that fully accepts ‘shacking up’ to be acceptable.

As a rabbi, Jesus should not have talked to her, but as we always see with Him, salvation always meant more than obeying mankind’s rules. Jesus always had a different way of striking up conversations with people. He didn’t ask her about the weather, but asked her for a favor; He asked her for a drink of water.

JOHN 4:7-9

“7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus began the conversation by asking her for some water. This drew a reply from her and now they were able to begin a conversation.

In JOHN 4:9, she reminded him that he should not be talking to her because of their differences.

In JOHN 4:10, Jesus responded to her -

“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

Jesus was speaking spiritually, but the woman could only think of the physical meaning, and it made no sense to her. How could He bring water to her, and what did He mean by “living water”? This woman was still focused on the worldly; on the differences between her and Jesus. And then, Jesus begins to explain to her.

JOHN 4:13-14

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus asked her for a favor. This started the conversation. She said he wasn’t supposed to be talking to her. He replied by offering her water. But this water was spiritual life, not water to quench an earthly thirst.

In JOHN 4:16, Jesus told her to do something – He told her to:

“Go, call your husband and come back.”

She responded and told him she had no husband. In JOHN 4:18, Jesus replied to her -

“You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”