What Happens With Women at Wells

John 4:1–42 NET

Now when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was winning and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were),he left Judea and set out once more for Galilee. But he had to pass through Samaria.Now he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.)So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you—a Jew—ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”“Sir,” the woman said to him, “you have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this living water?Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.” Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”He said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.”The woman replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “Right you are when you said, ‘I have no husband,’for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.But a time is coming—and now is here—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers.God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ); “whenever he comes, he will tell us everything.”Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.” Now at that very moment his disciples came back. They were shocked because he was speaking with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar, went off into the town and said to the people,“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah, can he?”So they left the town and began coming to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.”But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” So the disciples began to say to one another, “No one brought him anything to eat, did they?”Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work.Don’t you say, ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up and see that the fields are already white for harvest! The one who reaps receives pay and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. For in this instance the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.” Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the report of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking him to stay with them. He stayed there two days, and because of his word many more believed. They said to the woman, “No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one really is the Savior of the world.”

John 4:4–30 NET

But he had to pass through Samaria.Now he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.)So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you—a Jew—ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”“Sir,” the woman said to him, “you have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this living water?Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.” Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”He said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.”The woman replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “Right you are when you said, ‘I have no husband,’for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.But a time is coming—and now is here—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers.God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ); “whenever he comes, he will tell us everything.”Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.” Now at that very moment his disciples came back. They were shocked because he was speaking with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar, went off into the town and said to the people,“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah, can he?”So they left the town and began coming to him.

John 4:4–26 NET

But he had to pass through Samaria.Now he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.)So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you—a Jew—ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”“Sir,” the woman said to him, “you have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this living water?Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.” Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”He said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.”The woman replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “Right you are when you said, ‘I have no husband,’for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.But a time is coming—and now is here—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers.God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ); “whenever he comes, he will tell us everything.”Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”

You know how sometimes two people can be talking to each other, and their words all seem to fit, but they are really having two very different conversations?

There’s this great scene in Fiddler on the Roof where Tevye meets with the butcher, Lazar Wolf. As far as Tevye knows, they are meeting because Lazar wants to buy his new milk cow. Lazar is actually there to ask Tevye for his eldest daughter’s hand in marriage.

And so the conversation begins.

[Maybe find someone to do scene with?]

LAZAR: Tevye, I suppose you know why I wanted to see you.

TEVYE Yes, I do, Reb Lazar, but there is no use talking about it.

LAZAR (Upset) Why not?

TEVYE Why yes? Why should I get rid of her?

LAZAR Well, you have a few more without her.

TEVYE I see! Today you want one. Tomorrow you may want two.

LAZAR (Startled) Two? What would I do with two?

TEVYE The same as you do with one!

LAZAR (Shocked) Tevye! This is very important to me.

TEVYE Why is it so important to you?

LAZAR Frankly, because I am lonesome.

TEVYE (Startled) Lonesome? What are you talking about?

LAZAR You don't know?

Eventually, the two of them get it straightened out, and… well, I won’t say more. You should really see the show if you haven’t already.

A similar interaction - with about the same degree of innuendo and confusion - is what starts Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman. Jesus asks her for something she shouldn’t give him… by which I mean, Jesus asks her for something. The two of them shouldn’t be talking at all. Any request he might make of her is already a serious breach of protocol. It’s evident to her on first meeting him that this man is a little too forward. A little too impolite. A little too disrespectful of society’s rules. So she calls him on it: How can you ask me such a thing?

And he responds by explaining who he is. He’s not just some Jew asking some Samaritan woman for help. He is the one sent from God to both the Jews and the Samaritans. Except, that’s not what he says. Not yet, anyway. Instead, he speaks to her in riddles. “If you knew who I was, you’d be asking me for my special living water.” Living water, by the way, just means any water that flows continuously, like a river or a stream.

The Samaritan woman is confused. Jesus doesn’t have a bucket. The well is deep. He literally just asked for her help getting at the water. And now he has water to offer? This makes no sense. Is he some kind of magic person?

Jesus continues “If you drink the water from this well, you’ll be thirsty again. But the living water I offer will satisfy you forever.”

Now the woman thinks she gets it. She concludes this strange man who does not understand social boundaries is probably trying to indicate he’s attracted to her. And it’s not just his words. It’s the setting. The Samaritans and the Israelites have the first 5 books of the Bible in common, so she knows the stories about this place. This is the very location where a foreign prince saw one of the daughters of Israel, and decided he had to have her, with disastrous consequences. Not only that, but there’s a well here now. Three times in those first five books of the Bible, a man and a woman met alone by a well. Three times, one of them drew water for the other. And three times, she ends up married as a result. That’s what happens between men and women when they meet each other at a well.

So, she concludes, this strange man who does not understand social boundaries is probably trying to indicate he’s attracted to her. And it’s not just his words. It’s the setting. The Samaritans and the Israelites have the first 5 books of the Bible in common, so she knows the stories about this place. This is the very location where a foreign prince saw one of the daughters of Israel, and decided he had to have her, with disastrous consequences. Not only that, but there’s a well here now. Three times in those first five books of the Bible, a man and a woman met alone by a well. Three times, one of them drew water for the other. And three times, she ends up married as a result.

She decides to play along. “Can you show me this magic water, please?” And his response seals the deal for her. “Go and get your husband.” Real subtle, she’s got to be thinking. In this moment, Jesus is everyone who tried to find out if a person is single by asking about their significant other. You know, the old “I’ll bet your boyfriend loves that dress.” “I don’t have a boyfriend.” “Oh, really? Wanna dance?” And she keeps the conversation going. “I don’t have a husband.” Wink, wink. She’s available.

And that’s when she finds out they’ve been having two different conversations this whole time. Jesus does not respond with a proposition of marriage. Instead, he tells her more about her than he has any reason to know. And as he does so, her eyes are opened to the deeper truth. Here before her is not the man she’s been waiting for, who will love her and treat her right. No, this is the other man she’s been waiting for. The man they’ve all been waiting for. The one who will restore their relationship with God.

She has so many questions. He’s a Jew - does that mean the Jews have been right and the Samaritans wrong this whole time? That she will have to go to the temple of Israel? No, he has come to do away with these petty divisions. He’s going to show the people how they can all worship God without any one piece of real estate being better than the other.

This is exciting news! And just like those first Judean disciples in chapter 1, the first Samaritan disciple here in chapter four responds with all appropriate excitement. She rushes into the village and says “Come and see!” Come see a man who knew my whole story. Come see the one we’ve all been waiting for!”

Certainly the people will be startled at the message, as is everyone who hears the news about Jesus for the first time. But in this case, they’ll be even more surprised by the messenger.

This woman is an outcast in her own village. We know this, because she comes to the town well alone, in the middle of the day. All of the accepted women of the village would have gone to draw water together, in the morning, while the weather was still cool. But she was rejected - probably because of her marital status - and so she had to do it alone and in the heat. And of all the people Jesus could have chosen to carry his message into Samaria, he picks her. A Samaritan. A Samaritan woman. A Samaritan woman who has been shunned by her people. There could be no one lowlier in the eyes of a Jewish rabbi. And there was no one better suited to tell others about Jesus.

That’s how God deals with us. We think we’re having one conversation, but if we will listen, we find God is having another. We wait for God’s message to come to us with pomp and circumstance, and instead God sends the lowly, the outcast, and the unassuming to tell us what’s what. How is God speaking to us today? Through whom does God continue to speak? Are we listening? Are we paying attention?