Scripture: John 4:5–42
5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common 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 no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 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 have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 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 seeks such as these 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” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
Questions
- Why is Jesus’ encounter with this woman significant for John, why does he give it more space than the encounter with Nicodemus?
- What is the significance of the woman’s life story, why does Jesus bring it up?
Background
Related Scriptures: Romans 5:1–11; James 2:1-7
Augustine: It is pertinent to the image of the reality that this woman, who bore the type of the church, comes from strangers, for the church was to come from the Gentiles, an alien from the race of the Jews. In that woman, then, let us hear ourselves, and in her acknowledge ourselves and in her give thanks to God for ourselves[1]
Reflection
When you read the story of the woman at the well who do you see Jesus talking to? She is coming to the well alone and during the hottest part of the day, clearly, she is doing that to avoid other people. She has had multiple husbands and currently has a man that is not her husband. What is your first reaction to this woman’s situation, is she the cause of her problems or not? Obviously, her community thought she was the problem and seemed to have largely forgotten her. But that is where Jesus comes in. Jesus sits down with her and speaks to her. We might not understand this, but what Jesus did was taboo on multiple levels. This woman was a Samaritan, someone the Jews looked down on. The woman clearly was of little repute in her own community. If there was ever a person Jesus should not have talked with it is her. Further, for many in that day for a man to have such a familiar conversation with a woman was scandalous. On every level simply having this conversation was potentially scandalous for Jesus and yet he spoke to the woman.
Something that makes this passage even more remarkable is its location in the Gospel. This story follows immediately on Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus. Nicodemus is the ultimate insider, the Jewish leader who is supposed to know God intimately. The Samaritan woman is the ultimate outsider, even rejected by her own people. Jesus makes Nicodemus—the insider—come to him, but he goes to the outsider. Jesus is available to the one society finds important, but Jesus goes to the one society rejects. It’s not that Jesus loves the woman more, or is mor concerned with her believing, but he seems to recognize that if she is going to come to faith, he needs to go out of his way to find her. Further, though Jesus expected Nicodemus to know something of his mission, he did not expect that from the woman. Instead, he encouraged her and pushed her to think beyond what she was accustomed to. This level of respect coupled with Jesus’ clear authority gave him credibility to her.
Imagine being this woman, this man who should not be talking with you starts a conversation. Then when you fire jabs at him he responds in kindness. When you ask questions he patiently answers them. When he speaks to you he seems to know you and still shows concern instead of the disgust you are accustomed to. How would you respond? Obviously, this would be a profound experience, and it is easy to see why she would have been excited to tell anyone she knew about this stranger who did not marginalize her.
What I think is even better is Jesus was able to do this in a private conversation that did not embarrass the woman and yet in a way was witnessed by others. We get a glimpse of how Jesus is able to break down an individual’s walls in private and use that to also break through social barriers. Because not only did Jesus engage this woman, he engaged his disciples. Jesus demonstrated to his disciples that this woman, outcast by her neighbors, was welcome in his kingdom. And not only was this woman welcome, they should go out of their way to engage with such individuals and bring them into the kingdom. The disciples witnessed Jesus destroy social convention to reach a woman that no one thought much of, even in her hometown. This had to be a powerful lesson for them that not only was Jesus going to respect powerful leaders like Nicodemus, but he was also going to respect even those society rejects. And this respect involved lifting them up to be vital and loved members of society. We do not want to completely overlook the message Jesus gave the woman about the water of life. But what makes the message real is the way Jesus engaged with her. Would this woman had believed Jesus’ message if she had been just another face in the crowd while he was preaching, I doubt it. What I think she needed is exactly what many people need, someone to lift them up and help hem feel valued. Many people do not simply need to know that Living Water exists they need to know the person who is speaking to them has tasted the water and it has changed them.
[1] Joel C. Elowsky, ed., John 1–10, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture 146–147.
Squinting in the Light 
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