Woman at the Well

We all need to drink water. Our bodies require water, eight glasses a day. We can drink Coffee, cokes, or sodas, and we can drink juices and teas, but the best and most needed liquid nourishment is simply water. Sixty percent of the human body is water; our brain is 77%. Water covers most of our earth in lakes, streams and rivers, seas, and Oceans; 71% of our planet is water. We strive for clean water through filtration systems and even buy it bottled up in a store. Missionaries train to learn how to build wells in third-world countries so that even the poorest can access clean water. We don’t just need it to drink. We wash and clean ourselves with water. Our crops and our animals also drink water. If we have a drought or our water gets contaminated, people get sick, and we lose our food source. The depletion of water could be fatal for all of God’s creation. It is safe to say that water is a constant need for all of God’s creation in one way or another.

The Gospel of John, especially in these first few chapters, talks a lot about Water, and the giving of water, turning water into something more, turning it into something more spiritual and eternal. In chapter one, we meet John the Baptist, who baptized people in the Jordan River. In chapter two, read last week, Jesus turns water into wine. In chapter three, Jesus tells Nicodemus that the Water and the Spirit must baptize him, which we were blessed to hear about this past Wednesday if you could attend the Lenten Service downtown. In chapter four, Jesus asks an outsider for water from an important well.

Let us Pray and Read: John 4:4-26

At the beginning of the chapter, we hear that Jesus is at Jacob’s Well. This is where he met Rebekah for the first time. Jacob, being named Israel by God, was given all this land through the inheritance from his father, Isaac. The land of Abraham was much bigger than we know as Israel today. Samaria was once a part of Israel. However, during the time of the Kings, Samaria was lost. After the exile and through the time of Christ, the people of Samaria were considered outcasts or unholy due to conflicts that stemmed from centuries between them and the Jewish elitist.

It was about noon when Jesus came to the well. It was probably hot. Most of the women who would gather water had already come to the well early in the morning. However, this woman came long after the others had left. Her shame kept her from joining the others and arriving at a more reasonable time. I am sure the others did not want to associate with her anyways, so it was probably best that she came alone.

So, she sees Jesus sitting at the well. She might have been praying that he would ignore her; most everyone else would have. However, Jesus would not let this opportunity pass without giving her some redemption. When he asked her for some water and then proceeded to talk to her a little more, she was likely a little agitated. I believe she is talking with some sass, considering he is a Jewish man and she is a Samaritan woman.

Reread those words in John 4:13-15

John 4:13–15 NRSV

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

In verses 16-18, Jesus reveals to her that he knows her whole story. In verses 19-26, we see some conflicts between the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and those who live in Samaria. But Jesus promises that all will worship God. Not just in Jerusalem, nor only on Mount Sinai, but everywhere.

This woman has found herself at a crossroads. She could escape this crazy person, go with her gut instinct, reason, and logic, protect herself and live her mundane life. Or she could choose to believe everything this Jewish man is telling her, find out about this eternal water that could give her aid to abandon all shame and guilt from her life and be free. She could either leave and take her bucket of water for the day or stay and try to figure out how to get some of this living water.

So, what does she do? Read John 4:27-30

John 4:27–30 NRSV

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him.

The most significant and true gift of ministry is seeing those you minister find their way to make their relationship with Christ. I don’t want you to believe in Christ because I told you to. I don’t want you to read your Bibles, Pray, or come to church because I want you to. Please do these things because you want to. Because you want to hear from God. You want to know Christ for your own sake. The Samaritan woman just planted the seed for this new church of believers in Samaritan. The whole group of believers in Samaria will do mighty things in the name of the Messiah.

To many, the word evangelism is terrifying. Many of us fear “ evangelizing” because we fear being too open and rejected. Maybe we are convinced that our testimony should cause people to experience God in a big way and that evangelism is all about the immediate gratification of bringing people to Christ. Although that is wonderful when it happens, I hope we realize that transforming evangelism starts with an invitation, moving into a relationship, and continued invitation. It is more than knocking on doors to invite people to a relationship with Christ; but starts with an invitation to get to know our Messiah.

After all, as the Woman at the Well learned, transformation does not come from a testimony but with worshipping and learning from the One who gives Eternal Living Water!