Learning Evangelism From Jesus: Don’t Avoid Samaria

John 4:1–30 ESV

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered 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.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling 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.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.

Introduction

▸ Have you ever spotted someone in Walmart you did not feel like talking to, so you suddenly became very interested in the ingredients on a can of green beans? You turn down another aisle, check your phone, or take the long way around the store—all to avoid one conversation.

▸ We laugh, but sometimes we do the same thing in life. We avoid people who make us uncomfortable, whose lives are different from ours, or whom we simply do not understand.

▸ Most Jewish people did that with Samaria. But Jesus intentionally walked into Samaria, sat beside a well, and began an ordinary conversation with a woman most religious people would have passed by. That conversation transformed her life and eventually reached an entire community.

▸ If we are going to reach people as Jesus did, we must stop avoiding the people Jesus is calling us to love.

1. Jesus Crossed the Barriers to Reach Her

▸ John says that Jesus “had to go through Samaria.” What others saw as a place to avoid, Jesus saw as a place of opportunity.

This woman was not attending a church service or religious event. She was simply completing an everyday task. Jesus did not become so focused on where He was going that He missed the person in front of Him.

▸ Several barriers stood between them. She was a Samaritan; He was a Jew. She was a woman, and Jewish men normally did not speak publicly with women they did not know. Their people were divided by generations of hatred and religious disagreement.

Others may have seen her gender, religion, or sin, but Jesus saw a person created in God’s image who needed living water. He knew her past, yet He never treated her as though her failures placed her beyond grace.

I am guilty of not always seeing people this way. When I hear someone openly rejecting God or cursing His name, part of me can feel that they have disqualified themselves from Christ. But God has convicted me: these are the very people who need living water and whom we are called to reach.

▸ Jesus also set aside human customs that kept people apart. He did not compromise God’s truth; He removed unnecessary barriers so this woman could encounter it.

The church can create unwritten rules about how people should dress, speak, behave, or look before they are welcomed. We must never set aside biblical truth, but we must release any preference or tradition that keeps us from the people Jesus came to save.

Main thought: No barrier can place someone beyond the reach of Jesus.

2. Jesus Offered Her Living Water and True Worship

▸ Jesus began by saying, “Give me a drink.” Instead of beginning with what He could do for her, He acknowledged that she could do something for Him. By allowing her to see His need, Jesus dignified her and received something good from a person His culture told Him to avoid.

Sometimes we approach evangelism as though Christians have everything to give and unbelievers have nothing to offer. But unbelievers are not projects; they are people created in God's image. Jesus' vulnerability helped build a relationship and opened the door to a deeper spiritual conversation.

When He addressed her past, He did so truthfully but gently. He did not ignore her sin, but neither did He use it to shame or condemn her. He spoke truth to lead her toward freedom.

▸ Then she raised the religious disagreement between Jews and Samaritans: Should people worship on Mount Gerizim or in Jerusalem?

Jesus did not avoid the disagreement, but He also did not turn it into a fight. He told her plainly, “Salvation is from the Jews.” Respectful discussion does not require us to give up our convictions or compromise the truth.

We live in a time when disagreement quickly turns into anger and division. But followers of Jesus should be different. We can hold firmly to truth without condemning people or treating them as enemies.

Evangelism is not about winning an argument. We can win the argument and lose the person. Our goal is to lovingly point people to Jesus.

▸ Jesus said, “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth.”

She was focused on the place of worship, but Jesus pointed her toward the heart of worship.

To worship in spirit means that true worship comes from a heart made alive by God's Spirit. Religion can change what we do on the outside, but only the Holy Spirit can make us alive on the inside.

To worship in truth means our worship is centered upon Jesus, the One who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” This woman knew about Jacob, worship, and the Messiah, but she needed to encounter the One who is the Truth.

Spirit and truth belong together. We worship the Father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And don't miss this: Jesus was seeking her. She didn't go to the well looking for the Messiah. The Messiah was there looking for her.

Then Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” Imagine her reaction as she realized she was standing face-to-face with the Messiah. What she did next was remarkable—and it is an example we should follow in our own lives.

Main thought: Jesus did not come merely to improve our lives; He came to make us alive and bring us to the Father.

3. Jesus Turned the Woman He Reached into a Witness

▸ The woman came to the well carrying her past, but she left carrying a testimony.

She left her water jar, returned to town, and said, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”

She had no formal training or religious position. She simply told people what Jesus had done and invited them to meet Him.

That's why I'm challenging you to develop and practice your testimony in two and a half minutes. We can do the same thing right here in Alva, Oklahoma: “Look what God has done in my life.” I believe the same Holy Spirit who worked through her testimony can work through ours.

▸ Jesus told His disciples, “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” The disciples had gone into town and returned with food. The woman went into town and returned with people.

Jesus did not only save her from something; He gave her something to do. Those who receive living water are called to help others find it.

Main thought: Jesus turns the people He reaches into people who reach others.

Application: Learning Evangelism From Jesus

▸ What can we learn from Jesus?

Live intentionally. Look for the people God places in front of you.

Cross barriers. Don't let preferences, politics, reputation, religion, or someone's past keep you from loving them.

Build genuine relationships. Listen, be vulnerable, and speak truth with gentleness and grace.

Share what Jesus has done. You don't have to know everything. Availability matters more than ability.

Takeaway for the Week: See people as Jesus sees them, love them as Jesus loves them, and point them toward the living water only He can give.

Conclusion

▸ Jesus crossed every barrier to reach this woman. One ordinary conversation changed her life, and through her testimony, God reached an entire community.

▸ Now Jesus calls us to follow His example. There are people all around us who need living water. Maybe all it takes is for us to stop avoiding them, see them as Jesus sees them, and begin a conversation.

▸ See people as Jesus sees them, love them as Jesus loves them, and point them toward the living water only He can give.