The Woman at the Well (John 4: 5-26)
The story of the encounter between Jesus Christ and the Samaritan woman is recounted in the Gospel of John, and it is one of the most important and famous episodes of the New Testament. Jesus surprises the woman by teaching her a lesson, which pushes her to return to her village and and tell the villagers about how she met the Lord. But what did Jesus say to her for her to become such an evangelist? Let’s discover the richness and depth hidden behind the Word of Jesus.
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—
2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.
3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria.
5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me 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.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband.
18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.
20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,
29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
We Are All Called to Jesus
This episode teaches us that God loves all the people on earth.
This woman was surprised, because Jesus was considerate, and talked to her, even though people of Jewish faith did not associate with Samaritans because of tradition. Jesus did not come to save one nation, He came for everyone. There is no favoritism. It is written that: “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3: 16)
Let us dare to believe in God’s love for us, and to bring this love to all those we encounter.
Living Water for Those Who Love God
Do we still thirst for the Lord? Those who want to drink from His source and can admit it to Jesus will receive the living water. Once this water enters their body, it will become the source of their life with God, and help them accomplish many things. You can receive your strength, joy and peace directly from the Lord. The Samaritan woman had many relationships in the past, none of which satisfied her. She thirsted for eternal love, like we all do deep down. Jesus invites us to drink the living water and receive the love of God, which can be shared with the world.
