John 4: 1-42; The Woman at the Well

I’ve always been fascinated by the story of the woman at the well. While at a Sunday service, the pastor led off by stating the woman at the well was the first person who Jesus clearly identified himself. This was astonishing to me! I only heard snippets of the remainder of the sermon as my mind went wild with the affirmation of what this event represented for all women.

For us to truly appreciate what happened between Jesus and the unnamed Samaritan woman, it is important for us to better understand her. The story begins with Jesus taking the shortcut to Galilee, via Samaria. Although the shortest route, it was the least desirable for a Jew, but Jesus had a plan.

To say Samaritans and Jews were enemies is an understatement; they detested each other. The Jews considered Samaritans something to be scraped off the bottom of their sandals. Some Samaritans were half Samaritan and half Jewish. The Samaritans had intermarried with a remnant of Jews left in the region, after most Jews had been exiled.

Samaritans embraced the first five books of the Torah which were called the books of Moses. These books are where we get the first five books of the Bible. Their religion was an awkward blend of those books and their leftover pagan worship. However, because of the Jewish influence, Samaritans understood the foretold coming of the Messiah and were eager for his arrival.

Few women were educated during this time, so it is doubtful our woman had much education. However, she along with other women, knew a Messiah was foretold. This Messiah would know everything, including all secrets. This background is essential so we can better understand how the conversation between the woman and Jesus made perfect sense to her, for the most part.

I imagine her as a stunningly beautiful woman. She had been married five times and was living with yet another man at the time. Surely they found her attractive. She went to the well at noon, in the heat of the day. My research puts forth differing theories as to why, but I tend to agree with the masses that she was probably avoiding the other women and their scorn.

Isn’t it interesting that our cultures and our base natures have not changed? I can recall other women’s snide remarks about women who were more attractive than themselves. If you layer on socially inappropriate behavior the whispers often run amuck. I apologize for the digression.

Off to the well she went where she encountered Jesus. He had sent all his disciples to Samaria for food. I can’t help but wonder why Jesus did not ask any of them to rest there with him. Perhaps he needed their potential interruptions out of the way for the conversation ahead. Unchaperoned, he began speaking to the woman. Scandalous behavior indeed. He told her to draw water for him as apparently buckets were not left lest someone steal water. Now he has put himself in a position where he was about to drink from a vessel provided by this harlot of a woman. The inappropriateness continues! She was trying to contain her puzzled surprise or as in today’s term: she was inwardly freaking out! The conversation progressed as he told her of water giving eternal life and he could provide her with this living water. The phrase living water is used in the Old and the New Testament to indicate God’s gift of salvation (Jeremiah 17:3, Zachariah 14:8-9, Psalm 36:9; Isaiah.55:1).

Jesus then told her to go get her husband. She decided to tell Jesus the truth; she had no husband. Here’s what sent her into a flurry. Jesus said yes she had spoken the truth. He continues by telling her he knew her history of five husbands, and she was now living with a man. She mentally begins to connect the dots; it was foretold the Messiah would know all. They exchange more words climaxing in verse 26, Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he” (the Messiah).

In the remaining verses, the disciples showed up with the food, the woman rushed to get other Samaritans so they could quiz Jesus. The Samaritans agreed he was the long-awaited Messiah, leading to the early converts of Samaria and salvation. Three years later, Christ died on the cross, then rose from the grave and was witnessed as alive by multitudes. The Samaritans were already believers in the deity of Jesus.

All of this is extraordinary; everything Jesus did was extraordinary. Our focus is on the message for women. Jesus could have chosen anyone to reveal his deity. He chose a woman. Not just any woman, but a woman shunned for her lifetime of sinful choices. I believe there is a message here showing the importance of all women to God.

The first message for us was his revelation of his deity to a woman. So, if we sometimes feel as if we are insignificant to the world around us, God whispers this to us: there has never been anyone and there will never be anyone, I loves more than I love you. Not Moses, not David (a man after God’s own heart), not Abraham. We all matter enormously to God.

Secondly, we are all the Woman at the well. We each bring our own trainload of sins to the altar. To think our sins are somehow less than hers is absurd to God. But we have a Savior in Jesus. He paid the sacrifice of death as a penalty for our sins so we can stand at the throne of God innocent and pure. This was necessary because God is pure and cannot be in the presence of sin. So, Jesus took our sins upon His shoulders to bear.

Thirdly, when we sometimes feel as if all we have done, all the things we left undone, or all the things done to us make us somehow unworthy. God never whispers this to us. That is Satan, the great liar. God whispers to us, you are my woman at the well, and I love you.

My prayer is to always remember I am the Woman at the Well.

Research taken from:

English Standard Version of the Holy Bible
Dr Constable’s Notes; Sonic Light
John Macarthur’s book: Twelve Extraordinary Women
Warren W Wiersbe: The Wiersbe Bible Commentary