A Samaritan woman living in adultery approaches
Jacob’s well to draw her daily supply of
water.
She comes at noon in the heat of the day,
unlike other women who typically come in the
cool morning and evening hours.
As she approaches, she sees a man sitting
at the well.
He’s a Jew, those who despise Samaritans.
She will soon learn this is no ordinary Jew.
He is the Messiah, and what he has to offer
will change her life forever.
Gathering water was primarily a woman’s
responsibility.
Most women chose to come to the well at the
same time to socialize and share the latest
news.
Weighing at least 40 pounds, a family’s
daily supply of water required great strength
to carry.
Such an arduous task would be avoided at noon
when the sun is high.
As someone who had previously had five husbands
and was now living with a man unmarried, she
chooses this unpopular time most likely because
she has been ostracized by others and the
subject of their gossip.
At the hottest time of the day, she can gather
her daily supply of water alone and unnoticed.
As this woman is making her way to the well,
Jesus and his disciples have left the well-travelled
path to take a shortcut through Samaria.
Jews typically would use a longer route between
Galilee and Jerusalem.
They did this to avoid Samaritans whom they
considered to be unclean and of mixed blood.
According to the Pharisees, touching a Samaritan,
someone living with another unmarried to them,
or even just a woman, could render a Jew unclean.
The woman who finds Jesus alone at the well
is all three.
As the woman quietly prepares to fill her
waterpot with her daily supply of water, Jesus
makes a simple request.
“Give me to drink” (John 4:7) This must
have surprised her for she responds, “How
is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink
of me, which am a woman of Samaria?
For the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”
(John 4:9)
If Jesus were to touch even the cup the adulteress
Samaritan woman used to get him a drink, he
would then be considered by some to be ritually
unclean.
This would require a need to become ritually
clean once more.
In Biblical times, water was not just considered
essential for one’s physical sustenance
but for spiritual survival as well.
In order to become ritually clean, one would
wash in what is known as a mikvah filled with
living water.
Living water came from a natural source of
moving water such as a spring, rainwater,
or a stream.
If even just a small amount of living water
was added to water that was stagnant or not
moving, all of it would then be considered
living water and thus able to be used for
purification.
When Jesus mentions living water to the Samaritan
woman, she seems to understand the spiritual
significance of Christ’s words.
Samaritans still had many of the truths of
the law of Moses and practiced them during
the time of Christ.
As a woman living in sin, she would want to
experience the purification that living water
could provide.
However she is confused by his offering.
The well is deep and Christ does not have
a way to access this living water.
He then offers a profound promise: “Whosoever
drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
but whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst;” (John
4:13-14)
After being taught from the Savior, she is
then offered a rare gift, one that few have
received up to this point, including Christ’s
own disciples.
She receives a clear witness that Jesus is
in fact the Messiah she seeks.
He simply states, “I Am the Messiah!”
(John 4:26 NLT).
As we read the story in John, we see that
the Samaritan woman has progressed towards
a deeper understanding of the man she initially
met at Jacob’s well.
First she calls him a Jew (v.9), then Sir
(v.11), then prophet (v.19) and finally Christ
(v.29).
The purification received from grace now begins
to work within her.
She realizes she has met her Savior.
She leaves behind the waterpot she had brought
to collect her daily water and runs to testify
to the very ones she had hoped to avoid by
coming to the well at noon.
She proclaims to them, “Come, see… is
not this the Christ?”
(John 4:29) Because many people believed her
testimony, Jesus was welcomed into her village.
There he stayed for two days as people came
to see the man she has witnessed is the Christ.
While this story stands alone as a witness
to the divinity of the Savior, it has an even
more powerful message when one considers that
John has placed it next to the story of Nicodemus.
John frequently used this technique to allow
readers to gain poignant insights with a side-by-side
comparison of opposite characters.
Nicodemus was a Jew and a ruler in the Sanhedrin,
she was a Samaritan and an adulterer.
Nicodemus would have studied the law, as a
woman she would not have been formally taught
the law.
Nicodemus comes to Christ when it is fully
dark, the woman comes to the well in full
light.
He does not ask to be spiritually born, she
asks for the living water.
Nicodemus does not appear to tell others immediately
what he has learned, this woman runs to tell
others what she now knows.
Even today Nicodemus would seem like the one
Christ would select as a witness.
His wealth, education, and powerful influence
should make him the obvious choice.
Yet Jesus chooses the one who is none of these.
He chooses the adulteress Samaritan woman.
God knows best who will be his most effective
servants.
We should not doubt God’s ability to give
us through grace the power we need, even when
we feel weak.
As we contemplate the events that occurred
with Jesus and the woman at the well, both
men and women alike can see themselves in
this powerful story.
In the modern world we do not socialize at
wells, but we do find places to gather to
connect with others.
At times we may not feel worthy or accepted
by others, and thus withdraw or exclude ourselves
from the group.
Fortunately, Christ is willing to leave the
well-worn path and come to where we are.
Just as the woman was surprised that Christ
would ask her for something to drink, we too
may feel that what we have to offer is not
acceptable.
Christ is willing to receive whatever we freely
give no matter how meager it might be.
Each of us comes to our own Jacob’s well.
We seek to quench our thirst only to have
to return later.
We try to be fulfilled by what the world has
to offer, and yet it always leaves us wanting
for more.
When we come to Christ, he offers us the refreshing,
purifying living water.
It washes over us leaving us clean and whole.
It nourishes and strengthens us so that we
can leave behind our earthly cares and rush
to testify of Jesus the Christ.
