Meeting at a Well
TRANSLATION
(1) Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John (2) (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but only his disciples), (3) he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. (4) And he had to pass through Samaria. (5) So they came to the town in Samaria called Sychar, near the field which Jacob had given to his son, Joseph. (6) Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, tired as he was with his journey, sat down next to the well. It was about noon.
(7) Along came a woman from Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Would you give me a drink?” (8) (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) (9) The Samaritan woman said to him, “Why would you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) (10) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
OBSERVATIONS
John’s introduction to Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in Sychar contained a number of repetitions that help us discern its message. “Jesus” was mentioned six times (twice in vs. 1 and then once each in vss. 2, 6, 7, & 10) along with three uses of “disciples” (vss. 1, 2, & 7). We find “baptizing” twice (vss. 1 & 2), “Jacob/Jacob’s” twice (vss. 5 & 6), “Samaria/Samaritan” five times (once each in vss. 4, 5, & 7 and three times in vs. 9) along with “Jew/Jews” (twice in vs. 9). Finally, we should note three uses of “woman” (once in vs. 7 and twice in vs. 9) along with two occurrences of “water” (vss. 7 & 10) and three occurrences of “drink” (vss. 7, 9, & 10).
At least two surprises should arrest our attention in these verses. First, while Jews normally avoided traveling through Samaria on their way from Judea to Galilee, John recorded that Jesus did the unexpected. He “had to pass through Samaria.” Then, Jesus meeting and having an extended discussion with a Samaritan woman at a public well in the middle of the day when no one else would come to draw water because of the heat was highly unusual behavior as indicated by her first question.
OUTLINE
I. Jesus and his disciples, passing through Samaria, stopped to rest at Jacob’s well in Sychar. (1-6)
II. Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink. (7-10)
IDEA STATEMENT
Jesus offers to meet the deepest needs of our aching hearts if we simply ask him to do so.
APPLICATION
In summarizing his encounter with Zacchaeus, Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Lk. 19:10). What held true for a despised tax collector considered unworthy of social contact also held true for the Samaritan woman Jesus met at the well in Sychar. Jesus frequently sought out and welcomed such social pariahs into a personal relationship with himself. Here, Jesus took time to interact with someone possibly even more despised than Zacchaeus, a disreputable Samaritan woman.
Many have considered Jesus’ approach to the woman to serve as a model for those involved in personal evangelism. Whether or not we are capable of patterning our behavior after his, we have to marvel at the way he aroused her interest and drew her into a conversation that would transform her life. He started by asking her for a favor, and then, when she wondered why he would even bother to ask for a drink of water from a woman like herself, he gave her an answer filled with intrigue and spiritual significance.
We should take time to reflect on the rather long sentence recorded for us in verse 10. Jesus’ first words, “If you knew the gift of God…,” immediately pointed the woman to the gracious nature of the One who always stands ready to meet us at the point of need with undeserved favor. His words, “…who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’” led the women to consider the related issue of his identity, as yet undisclosed, but certainly worthy of discovery. “You would have asked him” turned the situation around from Jesus asking the woman for a small favor to inviting her to ask him for something of far greater value. The final part of this amazing sentence, “he would have given you living water,” brought everything into focus. How could she not have wanted to pursue this conversation? She was in desperate need of God’s grace, urgently wanting to know the identity of the one who would lower himself to speak with her, yearning to receive his gift of “living water” whatever that was. With her thirst and interest aroused to fever pitch, she would without hesitation make the request which would soon lead to her salvation.