John: Living Water

John 4:1-42

She was no longer young or beautiful. Worn down by life, she looked many years older than her actual age. Her life had been marked by rejection after rejection. She had been with many men, staying until they grew tired of her and threw her out onto the street. 

Without alimony or government help, she kept looking for a man who wanted a woman like her. After five failed marriages, she stopped saying, “I do.” Now, she was living with a man, offering sex in exchange for a place to stay. 

I picture her clothes torn and dirty, and she might have been missing a tooth or two from physical abuse. She was broken in both body and spirit. 

Think back to Nicodemus from John 3. He was the best Israel had to offer. This woman was on the other end of the spectrum. If each person had a personal label, “used” would be boldly tattooed on her forehead. 

Can you imagine her shock when Jesus asked her for a drink? Let’s understand this special encounter.

When Jesus learned that the Pharisees were concerned about his growing popularity, he left Judea for Galilee. Between Galilee in the north and Judea in the south was the region of Samaria. The Samaritans were a mixed-race group who followed the first five books of the Old Testament and worshiped at a temple on Mount Gerizim. 

Many times, Jewish travelers going from Judea to Galilee would take the long route around the eastern border of Samaria to avoid contact with this hated group. However, Jesus had a divine appointment: “He had to pass through Samaria” (John 4:4).

Around noon, Jesus and his disciples arrived at an Old Testament landmark, Jacob’s well (Gen. 48:22). Jesus sent his disciples to buy food and sat down by the well to rest and wait (John 4:6).

That’s when she arrived—the woman with worn-out clothes and a broken life. It was common for women to draw water in the cooler part of the morning, but she came at noon, in the heat of the day, to avoid the crowds and judgmental stares. 

Men generally didn't speak to women, and Jews didn't talk to Samaritans. So, she was naturally surprised when Jesus asked her for a drink.

John 4:9-10
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.”

Just as Nicodemus was confused about spiritual rebirth, this woman was confused about spiritual water. She pointed out the obvious: Jesus had nothing to draw water from the deep well. And besides, this was a special well—Jacob’s well.

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, the Samaritans traced their ancestry to Jacob, one of Israel's three patriarchs, and his son Joseph, who had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Therefore, this well was more than just a source of water; it held significant religious meaning. Their father, Jacob, dug the well, and he and his sons used it. Their religious system was centered around the patriarch for whom it was named, and she could not think of anyone greater than Jacob. 

She asks, “Are you greater than our father Jacob?” In Greek, this question expects a negative answer. She questions—I imagine with a bit of sarcasm—“Where do you get that living water?” (John 4:11-12). Jesus explains:

John 4:14-15
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 replies, “Fantastic! It’s hot out here, and the water jar is heavy! If you can work it out where I don’t have to come back here again, that would be awesome!” Jesus responded with a request:

John 4:16-18
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 Samaritan woman probably felt cornered when she said, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet” (John 4:19). Some interpret this as sarcasm, as if she were saying, “Oh, you’re such a smart religious man, let me ask you a question.” Others see it as her shifting the conversation because it became too personal, asking Jesus where the best place to worship God was—Jerusalem or on Mt. Gerizim, as her ancestors had taught her. 

John 4:21-26
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.” 

At this point, the disciples returned, and the woman took off, leaving her water jar behind. She invited everyone to “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (John 4:29). Many believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony. After staying two days in Samaria, many more believed that Jesus was “indeed the Savior of the world” (John 4:42).

The woman at the well is a story about the One who provides complete spiritual cleansing and a new life. Jesus offers forgiveness from the stale, putrid water of the old life. He offers living water that quenches our spiritual thirst. In him, we will never thirst again.

Let me leave you with this one question: Has Jesus quenched the deepest longing of your soul? 

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Time in the Word: Read and reflect on this powerful story of the woman at the well in John 4:1-42. Her encounter with Jesus transformed her life.

Talking to God:  Have you asked Jesus to quench the deepest longing of your soul? 

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