John 4:5-42
- Jason Buckwalter
- Jun 24, 2024
- 7 min read
Lesson Focus
Jesus offers living water to a Samaritan woman, highlighting the inclusiveness of God's salvation and challenging our preconceptions about who can receive it.
Lesson Outcomes
Through this lesson, students should:
Understand the significance of Jesus offering living water to the Samaritan woman.
Recognize the inclusiveness of Jesus' message and salvation.
Reflect on their own preconceptions about who can receive God's salvation.
Catching up on the Story
Jesus and his followers have been in Jerusalem during the Passover festival. During this time, Jesus entered the Temple and cleaned things out. It was also during this time that Jesus was approached at night by Nicodemus, who was a teacher of the Law. Remember that in John’s Gospel, the nighttime is often associated with disbelief and evil events. Nicodemus begins his exchange with Jesus with a question that comes from a place of presumed knowledge yet is curious. He declares, “We know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’’ (John 3:2). In response, Jesus agrees with Nicodemus but introduces some terminology that Nicodemus finds hard to understand. If we were to study this exchange in-depth, we would find that Nicodemus moves from a place of presumed knowledge to one of ignorance. The longer the conversation lasts, the more it is apparent that Nicodemus does not comprehend who Jesus is. The truth is lost to Nicodemus and those like him because they “loved darkness rather than light…” (John 3:19). In our text for this week, we will encounter another character. Only this time, the character’s movement goes from ignorance to a saving knowledge of Jesus as Messiah.
The Text
From the beginning, Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well is odd. Jesus and his disciples have been in Jerusalem, which is in the south, during the Passover festival. Sensing some resistance from the religious leaders because of the baptizing that Jesus’ disciples had been doing, Jesus decided it was time to move on from Jerusalem. His intended destination is the region of Galilee in the north. Between the region of Judea, where Jerusalem is, and Galilee, is Samaria. Now, there has been bad blood between Jews and Samaritans dating back to the time of the Exile and Judah’s return from Exile. Most Jews would have nothing to do with Samaritans, so much so that, when traveling, they would find an alternate route around Samaria. Jesus, however, chooses not to go around Samaria but to travel straight through it on his way to Galilee.
As the journey moves on, Jesus and his disciples come to the village of Sychar, which contains a well that had once belonged to Jacob and his son Joseph. In Samaria, Jacob was a much-revered figure. Tired from the morning’s journey, Jesus sits down by the well. Soon enough, a Samaritan woman comes to the well to draw water for the day. Normally, a man and a woman who were not married would not have contact. The fact that Jesus strikes up a conversation with this woman is remarkable. He is breaking social custom. Not only is it remarkable that Jesus is talking to a woman, it is even more remarkable that she is a Samaritan woman. Jesus calls to the woman and asks her to draw a drink from the well for him. The woman is shocked by Jesus’ request and answers Jesus’ question with one of her own, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (John 4:9). It is not just Jesus’ talking to the woman that was taboo, but using a drinking vessel that a Samaritan had used would have been unthinkable.
Jesus’ response guides the direction of the conversation to issues of belief and faith. If only the woman knew whom she was talking to, she would ask him for water, not just water, but living water! It’s important to note that water in John’s Gospel is often synonymous with cleansing, life, and salvation. The woman is sharp and keeps the conversation going. She is beginning to realize that there is more to Jesus than meets the eye. The woman wonders how Jesus will give her water when he has no bucket. Does Jesus think he is greater than Jacob, who discovered and drank from this well?
The enigmatic conversation continues as Jesus responds that anyone who drinks from the well they are gathered around will become thirsty again. But, the water that Jesus will give is a bubbling spring that gives eternal life. This bubbling will bring forth eternal life not just for the woman but also for the woman. As the woman accepts the gift that Jesus offers, she becomes a conduit for the life-giving gift of God’s grace and salvation (see vv. 29 and 39-42). The words of Jesus call to the woman as she longs for water that gives life, even if she doesn’t fully understand it. She begs Jesus to give her this water that brings forth eternal life. She does not fully grasp the significance of what she asks because she longs not to draw physical water either.
In verse 16, there seems to be an abrupt shift in the conversation. Jesus’ response to the woman’s request is for her to go and bring her husband back to the well. The woman has no husband. Indeed, as Jesus will tell us, she has had five husbands, and the man she is with is not her husband. Many interpreters of this passage have often declared the woman to be a prostitute and have turned the passage into a morality tale concerning sexual ethics. However, this does not seem to be the primary focus of this passage. If it were, there would be some mention of Jesus forgiving the woman of her sins. Jesus’ comments about the woman’s marital status serve to highlight that he knows this woman and her situation. It is a way to help the woman realize that she is dealing with no ordinary person. The woman’s response is not one of shame but of wonder, and she begins to recognize that there is something special in Jesus.
The woman declares, “I see that you are a prophet…” Seeing in John’s Gospel is often associated with belief. Unlike Nicodemus in chapter 3, who, as the conversation wears on, becomes increasingly unaware of who Jesus is, the Samaritan woman is gradually getting it. Once again, the woman offers another question. She wants to know where true worship happens. Part of the dispute between Jews and Samaritans concerned the temple’s location. The Jews understood Jerusalem as the right place for worship, while the Samaritans thought Mount Gerizim was the proper place. The question was intended not as a trap but as a way to determine if Jesus is the one for whom the Samaritans have waited.
Remarkably, Jesus declares that neither place is the true location for worship. Rather, the time is near, and indeed has come, when true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth apart from any temple. The woman declares that she knows that the Messiah is coming who will make all things clear. Jesus responds that he is this Messiah. It has finally clicked for the woman. She now understands that the man she has been conversing with is the one the Samaritans have been waiting for.
So What?
Like Nicodemus in chapter three and the Samaritan woman in chapter 4, we are ill-suited to understand and recognize the free gift of salvation that Jesus brings. Either we approach Jesus from a place of supposed knowledge (arrogance) about matters of faith and life, or we approach Jesus in complete ignorance. Either way, the truth is plain and simple. Jesus has come to offer living water (eternal life) for all. Once we receive this living water, it begins to gush forth from us. It compels us to return to our places of origin, proclaiming, with the Samaritan woman, that the giver of living water is here.
The fact that this episode takes place in Samaria with a Samaritan woman is significant for us. As we have already said, the Jews hated the Samaritans. God’s salvation could not be for the Samaritans in their assessment. But here, Jesus offers salvation and living water to a Samaritan woman. As Christians, sometimes we tend to believe that salvation cannot possibly be for certain segments of humanity. We deem that some are just too far gone to receive God’s gift of salvation (we may never say this, but sometimes we think it!). This passage destroys those ideas. God’s salvation through Jesus Christ is for all people.
As we go about our lives this week, let’s seek to do the following:
Pray that you might become aware of how you are ignorant of who Jesus really is. Pray that you might let go of your preconceived notions about who Jesus is and what he came to do so that you might freshly perceive Jesus. Consider not drinking any water between two meals this week. During that time, reflect on what you thirst for in life and how Jesus alone can satisfy your deepest thirst.
Additionally, try the following practices:
As you study your bible this week, ask Jesus questions based on what you have read. Then, set aside time to be quiet so that you might be available to hear a response. Begin each day this week praying that the living water that Jesus gives might bubble forth from you today. At least once this week, attempt to do as the Samaritan woman did: share Christ’s living water with others (in word and/or deed).
Discussion Questions
Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.
Why would it have been odd for Jesus to ask a Samaritan woman for a drink of water?
In verse 10, what is the “gift of God” to which Jesus is referring?
What are some things that you or people in our culture thirst for? Describe how the living water given by Jesus satisfies the deepest thirsts of human beings.
Why does Jesus abruptly tell the Samaritan woman to go and get her husband?
What are some of the changes in the town that might have occurred after the woman’s testimony and Jesus’ two-day stay there?
The Samaritan Woman is a person who sits on the margins of society. Yet, she finds salvation through Jesus as does many other Samaritans. Who are our modern-day Samaritan Women, people we believe should not be among those who are capable of receiving God’s salvation?
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