The Samaritan Woman

Jesus and His disciples were traveling from Jerusalem to Galilee and took the short route through Samaria. Unbeknownst to His disciples Jesus had a divine appointment in Samaria. He knew a certain woman would be coming to the town well. The disciples went to find food while Jesus sat by the well and rested. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well.  She was alone. It was unusual that she came to the well in the afternoon. Most women came in the early morning to get water for their cooking and bathing throughout the day. It was also unusual that she was alone as many of the women came to the well together talking and socializing as they drew their water. Perhaps she was alone because she was an outcast.

As the woman lowered her pot into the well Jesus asked her for a drink of water. She was surprised for several reasons: He was a stranger, and it was not the custom for a man to speak to women who was not his kin.  He was a Jew.  Although Jews and Samaritans shared some religious beliefs and the same bloodline as descendants of Abraham, Samaritans were of mixed Jewish and pagan ancestry and considered heathens by the Jews. Jews’ religious laws prohibited them from speaking to Samaritans.

The woman chided Jesus for coming to the well without a bucket.  Jesus told her “Whomever drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst…” (John 4:13-14). The woman asked Jesus to give her that water.  Jesus told her to bring her husband to the well.   She said she did not have a husband. Jesus said she had answered truthfully. She had five husbands and the man she was living with was not her husband.  Immediately the woman knew Jesus was a prophet.

Their conversation continued with the woman posing a theological issue saying the Samaritans worshiped in the mountains while Jews said true worship had to be in Jerusalem. Jesus told the time would come when people would worship God in spirit and in truth, the implication being where people worshiped did not matter, but what was important was the sincerity of their worship. The woman told Him she knew the Messiah would come and all questions would be answered, implying she would wait on Christ to clarify that point for her.  Jesus responded, “I that speak unto thee am he” (John 4:26).

The disciples returned and were amazed that Jesus and the woman were speaking with each other, but none of them spoke about it. The woman left them and went into the city telling whoever would listen that she met a man who told her all things about her life. She said He must be the Messiah. 

The Samaritans went to see Jesus and many of them believed he was the Christ, and at their request He stayed with them two more days. 

Biblical Principles:

• There was enmity between the Jews and Samaritans, but Jesus treated the Samaritan woman with respect (John 4: 6-26).
• Jesus broke two traditions when he spoke with the Samaritan woman (John 4:9).
• Jesus did not rebuke the woman because of her past and living with a man who was not her husband (John 4: 17-18).
• When the Samaritan woman realized Jesus was a prophet, she shifted their conversation to the theological difference between the Jews and Samaritans (John 4;20).
• The woman demonstrated her faith by saying she knew the Messiah would come (John 4: 25).
• Jesus revealed He was the Messiah (John 4:26).
• The Samaritan woman was an evangelist (John 4: 39).
• Her testimony that she had met the Messiah had a profound effect on the Samaritans she witnessed to (John 4:40-41).

For Women Today:

The circumstances of the Samaritan’s meeting with Jesus were unusual.  He was a Jew speaking to a Samaritan woman which was forbidden of Jews.  She could have ignored or been offended by His request for water, but instead she engaged Him in conversation. As they talked, she realized He was no ordinary man, and she wanted to know more.  Her desire for knowledge and her lack of fear in this uncertain situation emboldened her.  The Samaritan woman who came to the well as an outcast in her community, but she ended her day by bringing many people to Christ.  Her life changed when she met Jesus. A well was such an unusual place for them to meet.  Jesus can be in unusual places, but if we do as the Samaritan woman did and embrace Him, our lives are changed.  The woman may have been an adulterer, or each of her five husbands may have died, or she could have had had multiple husbands because as a widow she passed to each of her deceased husband’s brothers as was the Old Testament law.  Perhaps it was because of her unusual life that Jesus chose her. He went to Samaria to bring the woman to Him and use her to bring others to Him.