Session 6 The Samaritan Woman Faith Worth Sharing
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Introduction
Introduction
Jesus had ben preaching, teaching, and healing in Judea which was making the Pharisees very uncomfortable. Jesus moves on to Galilee where He could continue His mission with less opposition. Here, we see a life-changing example for a Samaritan woman and recognize the importance of how one witness can lead many to salvation.
Introduction
Start with
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.”
What was the relationship between Jews and Samaritans?
The first request set the stage for this rejoinder, as Jesus turns the tables on the hospitality narrative and assumes the place of the host offering a new kind of water. The woman is shocked by who she perceives him to be, a Jewish male addressing a Samaritan woman. Yet he is so much more, and he moves her step by step in that direction, challenging in verse 10, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink.…” The “gift of God” means that God is extending to her through Jesus the gift of eternal life and of the Holy Spirit, as we will see below. She is not speaking just to a Jewish male or even a prophet, as she thinks, but to the One who extends the gift of salvation from God to her.
They were enemies of each other. The woman is shocked by who she perceives him to be, a Jewish male addressing a Samaritan woman.
What was the “gift of God” Jesus was referring to? Compare to
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
The “gift of God” means that God is extending to her through Jesus the gift of eternal life and of the Holy Spirit. She is not speaking just to a Jewish male or even a prophet, as she thinks, but to the One who extends the gift of salvation from God to her.
The Metaphor of “Living Water”
The Metaphor of “Living Water”
Refers to the “water of life” from God. In the Old Testament this term was often used of the Torah or wisdom or the Spirit of God, since God is the fountain of life and of knowledge (; ).
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.
It typifies the life-giving power of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit. This can only come from Jesus, God’s Son and the bestower of the Spirit, culminating in and the river of the water of life flowing to God’s people. We see here a trinitarian thrust, as every member of the Godhead is the source of this life.
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
A Claim to Deity
A Claim to Deity
Jesus gave the woman three conditions for gaining “living water”: she needed to
(1) know the free gift of eternal life that God gives;
(2) know the identity of Jesus, the One who gives this gift on behalf of God; and
(3) to ask Jesus for it (i.e., to believe in him).
That Jesus claims to be the source of living water indicates that he viewed Himself as the God of the OT and the Messiah (; ; ).
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.
13 for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth,
for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.
Verse 11 indicates she does not know who she is talking to. She is confused by a promise Jesus seemingly cannot keep as indicated in verse 12
Verse 11 indicates she does not know who she is talking to. She is confused by a promise Jesus seemingly cannot keep as indicated in verse 12
Refers to the “water of life” from God. In the Old Testament this term was often used of the Torah or wisdom or the Spirit of God, since God is the fountain of life and of knowledge (; ).
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.
8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.
On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.
It typifies the life-giving power of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit. This can only come from Jesus, God’s Son and the bestower of the Spirit, culminating in and the river of the water of life flowing to God’s people. We see here a trinitarian thrust, as every member of the Godhead is the source of this life.
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Verse 11 indicates she does not know who she is talking to. She is confused by a promise Jesus seemingly cannot keep as indicated in verse 12
Verse 11 indicates sheShe is confused by a promise Jesus seemingly cannot keep.
Jacob had originally dug the well, and it had been used ever since by his progeny. Did Jesus think himself better than one of the patriarchs? She might be thinking of the prophet like Moses who drew water from the rock surely he didn’t seem superior to that figure.
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him.
Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.
But Jesus does not have this water in mind. “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.” The well water had to be drawn up with a bucket, but the heavenly water Jesus is offering “will become … a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The Greek word behind “welling” or “bubbling” is a strong one, picturing a geyser leaping up, a picture often found in the Old Testament (Isa 49:10; 55:1–3). Those who partake of this water “never thirst” again, with the Greek meaning “never again for eternity,” for new life will literally explode out of this messianic spring. The result is not just a prolonged earthly life but “eternal life.”
She does not fully understand but cannot miss the basic nuance, so she responds in verse 15: “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” She understands that he has access to a supernatural supply of water, but she is still thinking of literal water. She asks him to fill her bucket with this new water. Still she exhibits no awareness of the spiritual reality Jesus is addressing. We cannot know whether she actually believes what he is saying at a basic level or is slightly mocking, but she wants a part in the action if there is any truth to it at all.
4:10 living water. An idiom for flowing water (Jer 17:13), which was superior to normal well water. But “living water” can also be a wordplay (see note on Jn 3:3) for the water of life.
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.”
4:10–12. Jesus cut right to the basics and offered living water. This confused the woman since she had no context for moving from physical to spiritual water. The expression gift of God appears only here in the Gospels, but it has become a vital part of modern Christian vocabulary. The gift of God is living water, the water of life, life itself through the Holy Spirit. Once again Morris helps our interpretation: “Jesus is speaking of the new life that He will give, a life connected with the activity of the Spirit. Notice that, although Jesus calls Himself ‘the Bread of Life’ (6:35), He does not refer to Himself as the living water. Living water rather, symbolizes the Spirit, whom He would send, than the Christ Himself. Oderberg shows that in a number of Jewish writings water symbolizes teaching or doctrine. It seems likely that the primary meaning here is the Holy Spirit. But, in the manner so typical of this Gospel, there may also be a reference to Jesus’ teaching. If so, it will be to His teaching as issuing forth in spiritual life” (Morris, pp. 260–61).
Boice provides an interesting comparison between Nicodemus of chapter 3 and the Samaritan woman of chapter 4. Here is an abbreviated look at those similarities:
• Both thought they were spiritually secure.
• Both were crudely literal or materialistic in their reaction to Jesus’ spiritual teaching.
What one word describes what Jesus is saying in verse 13?
What one word describes what Jesus is saying in verse 13?
• Both were spiritually empty and sensed the need for God.
• Both were spiritually lost, and that was the root of all their other problems (Boice, I, pp. 335–37).
4:11 deep. The well’s ancient depth is uncertain, but it may be similar to its modern depth of 100 feet (30 meters).
4:11–12. Nicodemus and the woman both confused spiritual truths with physical realities. How could this unknown Jewish man be greater than their patriarch Jacob (v. 12)? And how could the water-gift He gives be greater than the well Jacob gave that watered even his cattle? The woman’s questions reflect her skepticism (the Greek construction of the question You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you? anticipates a negative response). Like so many others, the woman did not recognize who Jesus was (1:10, 26, 31, 33).
4:12 our father Jacob. Jews denied Samaritans’ descent from Jacob, whereas Samaritans affirmed it. Judeans denied it because Assyrians had mixed other peoples with the descendants of the northern kingdom, and they had originally mixed conflicting beliefs (2Ki 17:24–34, 41). By this period, though, Samaritans were monotheists.
Believe.
The one who drinks just once of the water (i.e., believes) Jesus gives will never thirst again because it will become in him a perpetual well (pege, an active “spring”) of water springing up to eternal life. The Greek word, “springing up” (hallomai), is used of the lame “leaping” after being healed (; ).
8 And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.
Move to
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.”
The Samaritan woman is clearly thinking only of the earthly situation, so Jesus changes tack and addresses her past and present.
What do you think Jesus was doing in 16-18 and how does this relate to us?
What do you think Jesus was doing in 16-18 and how does this relate to us?
His purpose was to uncover her true spiritual condition. Before she could partake of the living water, she must come to grips with her moral condition, as should we everyday.
Her current living arrangement (with a man who was not her husband) would have added to her shame. She would have been considered immoral for her number of husbands as well as for her current living arrangement, and Jesus is confronting her with the problem that is keeping her from being able to partake of the living water.
This is why she was forced to get water by herself at noon; she was probably shunned by the other women.
What attribute of God is displayed here?
What attribute of God is displayed here?
Omniscience.
Needless to say, his omniscient response shocks her. As in 1:5, the light of Christ is shining in her dark places and confronting her with her true situation.
Like this woman, we must recognize our sin and understand that God sees us for what we are.
4:15 have to keep coming here. The well could be nearly a mile (about 1.5 kilometers) from her village; she might carry the vessel back on her head.
4:15–16. The woman asked for this water, so that she would not be thirsty nor come all the way to the well to draw water again. The woman’s request was more to gain earthly contentment and convenience than eternal life (cf. 6:34). She had knowledge of the coming Messiah (vv. 25, 29). Jesus’ response (v. 16), Go, call your husband, is designed ultimately to lead her to identify Him as the Messiah (cf. v. 39).
4:16 call your husband. Like Jesus in v. 6, Moses sat down by a well before he met Zipporah (Ex 2:15; Jewish tradition claims that he sat there at noon). Isaac’s representative, Jacob, and Moses all met future wives at wells, and Jewish sources reveal that people still sometimes hoped to find mates at wells. That the woman is alone is conspicuous (see note on Jn 4:6); male strangers did not normally engage in extensive conversation with women unless they had ulterior motives (see note on v. 27). Possibly she lacked a head covering, which would signal her singleness (see the article “Head Coverings in Antiquity,” p. 2003). The woman, then, might interpret Jesus’ words as probing whether she was available, possibly infusing her denial of being married (v. 17) with another level of meaning.
4:16–18. Beginning with verse 16, Jesus pushed all metaphors aside and dealt in straight talk. Like this woman, we must recognize our sin and understand that God sees us for what we are. Surely the change in topic must have seemed abrupt, but again the woman did not miss a beat. What she said was true—she had no husband—at the moment. And the fact that she spoke the truth was the very point at which Jesus pinned down the reality.
Here was a woman who lived outside the boundaries of any religious or cultural standards of her day. A string of five husbands followed by a lover is certainly not unknown in the twenty-first century, but it is hardly common even in our permissive society with its twisted tolerance for evil. In first-century Samaria, such a domestic arrangement was unthinkable.
4:17–18. The woman’s reply I have no husband both revealed and concealed truth. Jesus complimented the woman for telling the truth, but at the same time uncovered her immorality. Over her adult life, she was married to and divorced from five different husbands (v. 18). Presently, she was committing adultery with a sixth man not her husband. Little more is made of her sin in the narrative.
4:18 had five husbands … not your husband. Nearly all ancient hearers would look negatively on her situation. Given their cultural beliefs, most would assume that she had done something wrong to be deprived of so many husbands; this was true if she was widowed (see note on Lk 20:29–31) and even more significant if she was divorced. That she was living with a man who was not her husband would be even more directly problematic for both Jews and Samaritans. Yet it is to her that Jesus reveals his identity (v. 26).
Finish with
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.
The disciples finally return with the food they purchased (see 4:8), and their return comes right at the conclusion of Jesus’ self-revelation, sending the drama to the next level—that of witness. There is a clear contrast between the woman’s excited sharing with the townspeople and the disciples’ surprise at Jesus’ speaking to her. What’s more, they are unwilling to enter the dialogue, reflecting their bias against speaking with both women and Samaritans. John tells us in verse 27 that “no one” was willing to address either the woman (to ask her, “What do you want?”) or Jesus (to ask him, “Why are you talking with her?”). The Mishnah, an ancient Jewish source, tells us that Jews generally thought that men should not talk publicly with a woman, and it was even worse for a rabbi to waste his time doing so (m. Abot 1:5). Jesus had none of those misogynistic tendencies, but clearly his disciples did.
What can we discern from this woman’s current state of mind here? Compare her words to Jesus in and Philip in
What can we discern from this woman’s current state of mind here? Compare her words to Jesus in and Philip in
Three things show her state of mind:
(1) Water jars are important utensils and would only be left if she was completely consumed by the task before her.
(2) As we saw just now, women did not speak publicly, especially to men. They could not be official witnesses of anything. If a robbery was witnessed just by several women, the thief could not be brought to justice, for none of the women could testify.
(3) She was vilified by the village as an immoral person and had to come to get water at noon so she wouldn’t have to face the other women. In her excitement and haste to tell the village the exciting news about Jesus, she ignored every one of these barriers.
39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
Her invitation is salvific in intent and in fact leads to faith-decision on the part of many of the townspeople.
Three things show her state of mind:
(1) Water jars are important utensils and would only be left if she was completely consumed by the task before her.
(2) As we saw just now, women did not speak publicly, especially to men. They could not be official witnesses of anything. If a robbery was witnessed just by several women, the thief could not be brought to justice, for none of the women could testify.
(3) She was vilified by the village as an immoral person and had to come to get water at noon so she wouldn’t have to face the other women. In her excitement and haste to tell the village the exciting news about Jesus, she ignored every one of these barriers.
Her invitation to “Come see” (v. 29) reflects the invitation of Jesus in 1:39 and of Philip in 1:46. Like those, her invitation is salvific in intent and in fact leads to faith-decision on the part of many of the townspeople. Her testimony that he had told her “everything I ever did” stems from 4:17–18 and would be seen as the vision and insight of a prophet. Her concluding question shows that she too is near conversion, with “could” (Greek: mēti) indicating the tentative nature of it: “Could this be the Messiah?”
The whole village is asking this with her, and we move directly into the mission of Jesus to the world; she, like Andrew and Philip in 1:35–50, takes the messianic invitation to others. The villagers’ response is immediate.
4:27–30. The disciples had been in town buying groceries during Jesus’ conversation with the woman, but now they returned. Since it was midday, they urged Jesus to have some lunch. The conversion of the woman described in verses 27–30 and the personal concern for Jesus’ nourishment expressed by the disciples was followed by personal control that Jesus asserted over the disciples’ confusion regarding their mission that day. We’ve already noted why the disciples would naturally be surprised to find him talking with a woman. But spiritual sensitivity and a sense of courtesy overcome their natural Jewish revulsion at this predicament. We can only imagine what Judas thought on this occasion.
She had come down the hill a child of Adam’s race, thinking only of the life she had known and of her very mundane need for more water. Instead she had met the second Adam, Jesus, who had filled her with a desire for a quality of life that she had never dreamed of and who had revealed Himself to her as the One through whom that life is imparted to men and women.
• She had come to draw water, but she was so excited that she abandoned her water jar.
• She rushed back into town and exclaimed the revelations of her personal life when, just a short time ago, she had come to the well alone, quite likely as a social outcast.
• On the basis of Jesus’ omniscience, she raised the question of whether the Messiah had come.
Boice calls her report “the cry of a new life” and somewhat dogmatically draws his conclusion: “What had happened was that the woman had been born again. She is the first clear example in the Gospel. She had come down the hill a child of Adam’s race, thinking only of the life she had known and of her very mundane need for more water. Instead she had met the second Adam, Jesus, who had filled her with a desire for a quality of life that she had never dreamed of and who had revealed Himself to her as the One through whom that life is imparted to men and women. As a result of Christ’s words the woman believed on Him and became His witness” (Boice, I, p. 380).
The NIV has done a nice job of rendering the woman’s question since the original text shows it to be tentative, not rhetorical.
4:28–30. In the joy of her discovery, she left her waterpot to go into the city. That Jesus told her all the things that she had done (v. 29) was for the Samaritans the supernatural knowledge of the coming Messiah (v. 25). Her hesitancy (this is not the Christ, is it?) was because she needed to be cautious as a woman “teaching” men. By her testimony, the Samaritans started coming to Him (v. 30), both physically and spiritually.
4:29 Come, see. Most of ancient Mediterranean culture minimized the value of women’s testimony (Josephus, e.g., rejected it as unstable); the woman’s reputation (cf. note on v. 18) would make her testimony even more problematic. Her witness, however, is parallel to Philip’s (1:46). Like ones impressed with women’s testimony in Ge 24:28–32; 29:11–13, Samaritans come out to meet Jesus (v. 30).
Takeaways
Takeaways
Jesus provides for our temporal needs of happiness as well as our eternal needs of joy in His everlasting presence.
An awareness of sin prepares us for confession and repentance.
Even the simplest witness can be powerful in its effect.
