In Luke 19:44, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, because they have brought judgment on themselves "because [they] did not recognize the time of God's coming to [them]."
The woman begins by seeing and interacting with Jesus as any other Jewish man, but as Jesus reveals his true identity to her in a way that she can grasp, her eyes are open to who is really visiting with her there at the well.
Question: "How can you ask me for a drink?"
Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 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.) (John 4:4-9, NIV84)
One thing to notice here is that this encounter came "at the sixth hour," which is noon, the hottest part of the day and an unusual time to come and draw water. Nicodemus had come to Jesus at night, but this time of day was also a time when they were likely to be alone.
After Jesus asked her for water - notice that Jesus first approaches her not as someone with something to give but someone in need of her help - the woman was surprised. There were two reasons for them not to speak: first, Jesus was a man and she was a woman. Even now in traditional Middle Eastern cultures, unmarried women and men rarely speak to one another in public. Second, Jews did not associate with Samaritans*, especially a Jewish teacher, as Jesus was.
* Short history of the Samaritans: When Israel came to the Promised Land, the land was divided among the twelve tribes (the tribes associated with Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were treated as separate tribes and the Levites were spread out throughout the land as ministers and priests).In the North and east of the Jordan were ten of the tribes, while Judah (the largest tribe) and Benjamin (the smallest) were in the South, with Levites on both sides. The kingdom split after King Solomon's reign and the North made Samaria their capital. They practiced an apostate religion throughout their history before they were conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The Assyrians deported most of them but also emigrated many other conquered peoples into the land. The remaining Israelites intermarried with the immigrants and became what the Jews considered "half-breed" Samaritans. After Judah (the Southern kingdom) was conquered, brought into exile, and then returned to Jerusalem, the Samaritans were denied the rights of Jews to the rebuilt temple and they were adversarial to the whole rebuilding process, trying to get the imperial officials to shut down the Jews' rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. So the Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies, although they shared the common heritage and many common beliefs about Moses, the law, and the coming Messiah.
So when Jesus asked her for something, the question could really be something like, "How could you accept anything from me?"
Jesus gave an answer: "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. (John 4:10, NIV84) "
He is inviting her to discover who it really is that is speaking to her. If she would only realize the gift that God would give her if she would turn to him, if she only knew that at this very moment she was speaking with the Son of God, she would ask for the gift.*
* We pass up this opportunity all the time. If we would only realize what the gift of God really is and that we have access to the very throne of God in prayer, with God's Son as our intercessor, we would not be so sluggish in prayer.
So what is this "living water" that Jesus is talking about? In ancient times, there were two types of water sources: something that gathered rain water and wells or fountains brought by natural springs. The spring water was cooler, less contaminated, and did not depend so much on the weather. It was called "living water." But obviously Jesus is using this metaphor for a spiritual truth, which he defines later in the text.
One of the most important part of this answer might be the phrase "and he would have given you." Jesus is telling her that he cares enough about her to serve her. Here is Jesus, higher than any rabbi who would not stop to even spit at this woman, saying to her that he will not only stop and speak with her and let her serve him, he will give her the precious gift of God, if she will only ask!
Question: "How can you get this living water? Are you greater than Jacob?"
Then the woman asks another question: "'Sir,' the woman said, 'you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?'" (John 4:11-12, NIV84)
People often don't give her much credit for keeping up with what Jesus was telling her here, but I think this question shows that she is observing that he's not talking about getting water from the well. After all, he didn't even have a bucket to draw water! So her question really is, "Where is your source?" (and she may even be beginning to grasp that Jesus is pointing to himself as the source).
And so she wonders if Jesus thinks he is a greater source than Jacob, who dug this well. Jacob was important to the Samaritans - he was their link to the promises of Abraham. Could Jesus really be saying that his water is better than Jacob's, which had been their source of life for centuries?
Jesus gave his answer: "Jesus answered, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'" (John 4:13-14, NIV84)
Living water is better, because Jacob's water is only physical, stuck in a cycle of thirst and renewal. In this way, it is similar to the sacrifices of the old covenant, which were never finished, a constant cycle of sin-repentance-sacrifice. Jesus' water is spiritual and it is a permanent solution, like the new covenant he is bringing.
Jesus now defines living water. Living water forever quenches our thirst because the fountain (or spring) is permanently implanted within you. This language is another term for the spiritual rebirth he described to Nicodemus in chapter 3, which is "spirit-birth" or (as Paul called it) being sealed with the Holy Spirit for salvation.
The result is life that never dries up and dies. It is permanent.
She doesn't quite get it: "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.'" (John 4:15, NIV)
Two things are clear from her response: first, she is ready to accept the gift of God, and second, she doesn't really understand.
She wants the gift for herself, in order to solve her problems. She has heard the benefits, and she is eager to receive them. But she really doesn't understand the nature of the gift of God or how to really receive it.
Unfortunately, this is exactly where many Christian ministries over the years have stopped and declared victory with people. If Jesus offered her a prayer to pray at this point to receive living water, she no doubt would have prayed it. But she would still not be equipped to receive or live by the Holy Spirit.
But how many times have Christians taken someone hurting like this woman, explained how Jesus is the answer to all his or her problems, heard this person respond that they want Jesus to come in and forgive them and do all these things, and then prayed with the person to receive Christ and told them they have been saved? That's not what Jesus did here, because there was much more that the woman needed to understand to receive the living water of the Spirit.
This conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is rightly seen as a model for personal evangelism of "sinners" (whereas chapter 3's encounter with Nicodemus is an example of Jesus speaking to an educated person). This example demonstrates that "messed-up" people are often desperate to try just about anything, including "Jesus" or "religion." But we often don't see any fruitfulness from their decision, because we tell them to "pray the prayer" at their first positive response and tell them that they've done it: they're saved. But that's not what Jesus did. Here Jesus takes a turn toward what we are often too uncomfortable or afraid to confront.
"He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
'I have no husband,' she replied.
Jesus said to her, 'You are right when you say you have no husband.
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.'" (John 4:16-18, NIV84)
Jesus is pointing out her need to repent. She would have to reject her old way of seeking after "living water" to embrace the truth that he is offering. Water is associated with sexual sin elsewhere in Scripture:
"Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well.
Should your springs overflow in the
streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?
Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.
May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
A loving doe, a graceful deer—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be captivated by her love.
Why be captivated, my son, by an
adulteress?
Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife?"
(Proverbs 5:15-20, NIV)
Trying to quench her soul-thirst through sex and relationships would have to end. She cannot continue to seek life through sinful means and still accept the gift of God. The choice had to be made. Presenting this choice is vital. Unlike many hit-and-run evangelism attempts, Jesus does not leave her in her destructive patterns with false hope.
Question: "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain..."
The woman was not quite ready to talk about that choice yet, so she changed the subject to one of the religious controversies between Jews and Samaritans:
"'Sir,' the woman said, 'I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.'" (John 4:19-20, NIV)
There was nothing more to say about her love life... both she and Jesus knew that she was wrong. Jesus brought up the issue to bring it to light (and to show that he is a "prophet"), but he doesn't harp on it; he allows her to change the subject.
She might have brought up this question for a few different reasons. Maybe she was considering listening to Jesus (a Jew) and wanted to know all that she would have to change in her beliefs and her identity. She might have been again pointing out their differences: she was a Samaritan; what hope could a Jewish prophet have for her anyway?
Many unreligious people have heard of some religious questions and are confused. They might be genuinely interested in the answers, but speaking in the abstract keeps these conversations about hypothetical things instead of personal things.
But Jesus stays personal: "Jesus declared, 'Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.'
The woman said, 'I know that Messiah'
(called Christ) 'is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.'
Then Jesus declared, 'I who speak to you am
he.'" (John 4:21-26, NIV)
Jesus gently brings her back to the choice he has already presented. What matters is her response to God. She must worship God "in spirit and in truth."
"Spirit" answers her question: the time has come where the place of worship is irrelevant. Worship happens within.
"Truth" draws her away from her old way of life, from the apostasies of the Samaritans, from her sinful relationships, to a life that is true to God. A true worshipper is both true to God and knows him through the Holy Spirit.
Both "spirit" and "truth" point her back to the "fountain" of "living water" that God will place within, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who believe.
Verse 25 is one more stall tactic by the woman, but Jesus would not let her wait to respond. Now that she had a chance to understand, he made her aware that this moment was her moment of decision. He did not push her for a prayer or a particular religious response, but he made her fully aware that today was her "day of visitation" (Luke 19:44) that she must recognize.
So the woman's question was, "How can you give me living water?" Jesus' answer was that he is the Messiah that she has been waiting for, and she must embrace the opportunity to believe him and receive the gift of God, which is eternal life.
The rest of the story is told in verses 27-42. The disciples arrive and offer Jesus lunch, but he responds that he has been far more nourished by what he did over his lunch hour than what the food the disciples had could provide. He then reminds them that the time of harvest has come, even now if they would open their eyes. If we would realize the opportunity and work with urgency, we could reap the harvest that God has prepared.
We then see an example of a worker in the field: the Samaritan woman! She was no expert, but she was immediately ready to share what she knew and she led many to Christ by her testimony. She was uniquely equipped to reach her own community. Often we are hesitant to lead new converts immediately into ministry, when they are the very workers that Jesus told us to pray for God to send.
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