A Meeting at the Well

So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plod of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." The woman said to Him, "Sir You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?...Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly." The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet....I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

John 4:5 - 26

Most anybody who has ever frequented a church service or a Sunday school class has heard the story of the woman at the well. What a familiar story it is indeed. The woman is just going about her daily task of drawing water to meet her needs and maybe the needs of those in her household. In those days people did not have indoor plumbing so there was no kitchen faucet or button on the front of the refrigerator (a machine that was also not yet heard of) to bring forth water. People had to carry a bucket and walk quite a distance from their home to a community well from which they would draw water to take care of their basic needs such as drinking, cooking, household chores, bathing, and laundering their clothing. But on this day this particular woman met a man at the well. I’m sure in her eyes he just looked like any other Jewish man. She found it strange that he would even talk to such a woman as herself. For in those days Jews had no dealings with Samaritans because they were considered sinners and Jews being the chosen of God had no dealings with sinners.

I imagine that the woman had heard of Jesus and His twelve followers, the disciples but never in a million years did she think that she would run into Him sitting at her forefather’s well. The Bible says that after a brief conversation with the man (Jesus), she looked at Him and said, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet." (John 4:19)Now the Samaritan woman almost sassed Jesus when she asked Him what He was doing hanging out at the well of her forefathers’ because that well was for the descendants of Jacob. Then she had the nerve to tell Him that He didn’t even have anything to draw water with. Scripture shows the woman kind of going back and forth with Jesus in their conversation. She would inquire about His living water then flash back to her traditions and carnality. No doubt she really didn’t know who she was messing with...she didn’t realize that He was the Messiah until He broke her down further. He had already brought her out when He asked her to bring her husband to meet Him. She responded that she had no husband. Then He really got in her business when He let her know that He knew full well that she had no husband and that He also knew that the five men with whom she had had intimate relations were not her husbands either, to include the very man that she was currently involved with. In other words, He told her about her fornicating and adulterous lifestyle. Then Jesus goes even further. He lets her know in verse 22 that she doesn’t even know what she is worshiping. The Samaritans of that day were gentiles, not the chosen people of God...they were not holy. Jesus told her that the Jews (Christian believers are a part of this group today) knew what they were worshiping because they believed in God and salvation had come for them. Then in verse 23 He tells her that the time will come when the true worshipers of God will worship the Him in spirit and truth because God is spirit and His word is truth. He rebukes her traditions and the traditions of her people. Boy, that’s bold! Most Christians today wouldn’t dare tell a sinner or fellow church members that the lifestyle he/she is living is sinful against God and/or the church traditions that he/she is practicing are wrong. But Jesus just dug all into her business, and by that she realized this man was not just another Jew, He was indeed the Messiah.