Jesus and his disciples were travelling from Judea to Galilee. Normally, the Jews would take the long way to this destination, rather than go through Samaria. Jesus; however, went right through this area. They came to the city of Sychar and sat down at a well on the outskirts of town, while the rest of the group went into the city to buy food. This city had been build many years prior to the time of Jesus, by King Omri (1Kings_16:24). The well where Jesus sat happened to be one that Jacob had dug many years before, so it was called Jacob’s well.

At one time there had been a great ivory temple near here. It was built by King Ahab, the husband of Jezebel (1_Kings_22:39). Later, in Amos_3:15, the prophet spoke out against this luxury and the sins of Israel: “And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD.” By the time we read the story of Jesus and his encounter with the Samaritan woman, the great city was all but destroyed, along with the opulent ivory temple.

As the Lord was sitting there, a woman came to the well with her pitcher to draw water. Jesus asked her for a drink. She was shocked, and asked, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (John_4:9) It didn’t matter to Jesus that she was a woman. It didn’t matter to Jesus that she was a Samaritan. He saw her need.

To understand her question, and the attitude of the Jews toward the Samaritan people, let’s look at a little Bible History. After the Kingdom of the Jews divided and became the nations of Israel and Judah, Israel consistently disobeyed the Lord. As the Lord had prophesied to them, the nation of Assyria conquered the land and took the people away into bondage. (2Kings_17:23). However, not everyone in the land was taken from their homes. As was customary among nearly all conquering armies, they left the poor, the sick, the aged, and others they felt would not be of benefit to their purpose. Next, the Assyrian king brought people from five other lands he had conquered and placed them in Samaria. Over time, they intermarried with each other and became known simply as Samaritans.

The Jews, who took great stock in the pureness of their blood, developed a racial hatred of these people to an extreme. Jesus, by sitting down and speaking kindly to this woman was showing her, his disciples and the others from her city that this type of attitude is not pleasing to him or his father. Paul warned Timothy: “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality” (1Timothy_5:21). Again we read, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy” (James_3:17).

When this happened, the religion of the people was pretty much all idolatry. This displeased the Lord so much that he sent lions among the people to destroy them (2Kings_17:26-27). Realizing this was a punishment of the “God of the Jews” they requested that the king of Assyria send them a Hebrew priest to show them how to worship. Once he came, we are told that the people “Feared the LORD and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile” (2Kings_17:23). As always, there remained a remnant that continued to flee idolatry. Anyway, it is a woman from this background that Jesus encountered when he sat down to rest at the well.

All the water used in the city had to be transported from wells, and many times they were located (like this one) outside the city. In addition, they did not look like our modern wells, in which you just lower a bucket and pull it up full of water. The person getting the water had to walk down steps to get to the water level, fill their container, then climb back up – quite a chore, to say the least. Here is a photo I found on the Internet showing one of these wells that has survived (I failed to copy the source of the photo, so if anyone knows let me know so I can give credit for it).

When she asked Jesus why he was asking her for a drink, since his people openly hated hers, he gave her an unusual answer. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water"(John_4:10)

Of course, she totally missed the true meaning of what he said. What she saw was an opportunity not to have to come to the well, and go through the arduous process of getting a pitcher of water every single day. Jesus; however, had a deeper message in mind. She was thinking on a physical level, while the Lord was going to teach her a spiritual lesson.

He began by changing the subject and asked her to go call her husband. “I have no husband,” she replied. Then he said something that really stunned her. “You have correctly said, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly” (John_4:16-18). At this point she made a decision about Jesus. “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet” (v.19)

Now it was her turn to change the subject. Understanding he was a man of God, she asked him a spiritual question. “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people [Jews] say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” (v.20)

What she was referring to had been put into place immediately after Solomon’s death and the kingdom was divided. The tribes that pulled away and moved north to Samaria, realized there was a problem with going back to Jerusalem to worship. To solve their problem, King Jeroboam built two places of worship (the Bible calls them high places) … one in Bethel and one in Dan. (1Kings_12:26-29). This greatly displeased Jehovah. In verse 30 it says, “This became sin.”

All of her life she had been told to worship in Samaria, and not go to Jerusalem. She knew that the Jews felt this was wrong, and that you could only worship the Lord in the city where the temple was located. Confusion resulted, and here was an opportunity to solve the dilemma.

His answer was simple and to the point. He told her that very soon it would not matter in what city, or on what mountain a person worshipped. The Old Law that was based around many physical things (animal sacrifice, special feast days, etc.) was soon to be replaced by a new law. Under this law, he told her, “The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John_4:23-24).

This woman, obviously, knew the Old Testament Scriptures and the promise of the Lord’s coming. In the next verse she said, “I know that Messiah is coming He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.”

Jesus answered her with one short sentence. “I who speak to you am He.” (Verse 26)   

Upon hearing this, she left her water pot at the well and ran into the village. She went to the men of the city and said “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”

The fact that she left her water pot behind could be a parallel to one we read in Matthew_4:18-22. “Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

We may not have a fishing boat or nets that we need to leave behind to follow Jesus, but there are things we need to put away if we are going to be pleasing to him. 1Peter_2:1 Christians are told, “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” In Galatians_5:19-21 we read another list of things we must leave behind: “immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” In addition, Jesus tells us, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew_10:37).

 The men followed her outside the city to see the man she thought might be the Christ. Some believed on him simply because of the things she related to them that Jesus had told her. Others reserved judgment until they could decide for themselves. The asked him to stay with them for awhile and continue his teaching, so he remained there two days. During that time, he converted several. In verses 41 and 42 we read: “Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.’”

What have we learned from this passage?

Ø  Jesus used a cup of water to teach a great lesson.

o   A lesson about who He is

o   A lesson about treating all people the same

o   A lesson about loving all lost souls

Ø  When a woman learned about the Lord, she felt it was more urgent to share it with others, and put the task of drawing water lower on her list of priorities