John 4 NIV 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.
We know this story. And in fact, it is one of the most precious stories showing Jesus’ character as a man, as God. What may not be known is that Jesus was tired. Jesus was being hounded by not only followers, which is not a bad thing, but can be overwhelming for anyone – but the constant questioning and theatrics of the pharisees and their plans to ensnare and trap him. Remember, Jesus knew exactly where He was headed. Towards the cross. Each step takes Him nearer. I sometimes think about how the toll of that knowledge wore on Him. Ever had something coming up that you simply would rather not go through, and yet you know you must, and the weight of that? Jesus was tired. And He sat down.
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.”
Jesus knew the history of the Jews and the Samaritans. In fact, there is history even today, we see it in every news reel and every update from that region. This has not started recently; it has been waging for a thousand years and more. They didn’t even talk to each other.
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.”
There isn’t even a question of an explanation from the woman. See, this is why I have always said women are smarted then men! But she knows instantly that there is something different about this man, Jesus. She knows within her that He can give her this water, this changed life, that will never require her to thirst again for the missing things she seeks in her life. Those places that we try to fill with earthly things, she knows He can fill them with righteous spiritual things.
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.”
Jesus gives her a sign. A sign that He is truly of God. He tells her of herself, not to condemn her, but to show her that even though He knew all of that about her, He still would be in her life. As Savior and Lord. Not to condemn, but to save.
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.”
And what did this woman of sin do after that? She told everyone. A woman, who was scorned, ridiculed, even pushed to the lowest of society, told everyone about Jesus. That is how Jesus changes people. They become important, loved, chosen, and selected to be in His tribe. That is how Jesus changes people. They belong.
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
