The Woman at the Well

(ESV)

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

4 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 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.

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 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.) 10 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.” 11 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? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.” 15 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.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

27 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?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

43 After the two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

VIDEO

I would like to spend some time this morning just setting this story for us.

Usually this happens before the story, but not this morning

First of all, I would like to notice where this event happens in the story of the life of Jesus

This story falls hard on the heels of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus

It is the second in depth conversation recorded by John that Jesus has with a person. But the differences between the two conversations couldn’t be more striking.

Place:

Nicodemus conversation happened in Jerusalem

The center of Jewish culture and religion

A “safe” and comfortable place for a Jew to be

The woman at the well

Happened in Samaria—a region, not a separate province

A place that Jews tried to avoid.

Some commentators say that some Jews would even cross the Jordan River and travel north on the east side to get to Galilee

Person:

Nicodemus

A man—speaking to another man as respected “equals”

We know his name

A Pharisee—respected in the whole land, a member of the leading religious organization of the day

A member of the Sanhedrin—the supreme court. Knowledgeable of the law and no doubt well-versed on many subjects

The Woman

A woman (obviously). Significant because I suspect that it wasn’t exactly “proper” for a man to sit and talk with a woman who wasn’t his wife. This is emphasized by the disciples returning and being amazed that he was talking with a woman.

An immoral woman at that. Two indications

She apparently came to the well by herself—it was the sixth hour or noon time. Usually women came first thing in the morning to get their water for the day

The obvious one—she had had 5 husbands and she was on her sixth relationship. Living with someone who wasn’t her husband

We don’t know her name

A Samaritan--

If you remember, the Samaritans claimed Jewish ancestry. The claimed to be descendents of the lost tribes of Israel. The ones that remained during the captivity and married pagan people who the conquerors brought in the repatriate the land

Because of their “mixed” history, the Jews avoided the Samaritans at all cost.

An immoral woman

The Conversation:

Nicodemus—relatively short

The woman—one of the longest, if not THE longest recorded conversation between Jesus and any one person in the Gospels

(in chapter 8, we will find him in a very long discussion, but it is with a group of Jews)

I find this to be significant because of whom he is talking to. You would think that the longer conversation would be with the wise, learned, Nicodemus. Instead, it is with an immoral, presumably uneducated Samaritan woman

This story contains a multitude of lessons for us. But I want to highlight a few of them for us to think about as we go deeper into this story next Sunday. And they all have to do with the heart of Jesus

Jesus’ route—He had to go through Samaria.

Was it the most direct route? Certainly!

Did He have to go through Samaria? Not if He didn’t want to.

Knowing what we do about the story, we know that Jesus had a reason to go through Samaria—it was deeper than just needing to get to Galilee. He had a divine appointment

When we go about our day, what is our route? Are there people whom we try to ignore or avoid? How do we structure our day?

Jesus’ purpose—There was someone in Sychar who needed to hear some good news

What is our purpose when we begin our day?

Is it to get done what is on our list, or is it to touch the hearts of people?

Jesus’ heart—The heart of Jesus is for those who are “the least among us”.

Jesus mission was not just to the wealthy, influential Jews. It wasn’t just to His own social class. But it was also to those with whom people had very little to do.

These were people literally right next door that people tried to avoid.

We have people like that. Right here in this community