Reading: John 4.1-42
The first several verses in our reading set the stage for the main story. Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee because the Pharisees (strict religious teachers of the Jewish law in that day) had learned of His success in making and baptizing disciples. For the journey, He chose the shortest route followed by travelers between Judea and Galilee, which went west of the Jordan through the region of Samaria. Jews who strictly followed Jewish law tried to stay away from Samaria and Samaritans, since they considered them half-breed cousins who had polluted the true Jewish religion. However, Jesus' path led Him straight through the Samaritan village of Sychar, close to land purchased by Jacob, one of the great ancestors of the Jewish (and Samaritan) people. Jacob's well, where Jesus rested at about noon in the hot Middle Eastern sun, is identified by ancient tradition but is mentioned nowhere else in Scripture.
Jesus encountered a local Samaritan woman and asks her for a drink of water. A discussion ensued, with the woman expressing surprise that Jesus had asked her for a drink. Jews in the first century thought it unseemly for a rabbi to talk to a woman, let alone a Samaritan one. In response to her surprise that He would ask her for a drink, Jesus offered the woman “living water.” He was speaking of water that gives eternal life, but she understood Him to be offering running water, which would have made Him greater even than Jacob, who provided a well rather than a spring; she was shocked. Of course, the author of John’s Gospel knows that Jesus was greater than Jacob, but not in the way she thought. Jesus then stated the issue plainly, but the woman still did not understand.
Jesus' change of subject led to the revelations that the woman was currently unmarried and that Jesus knew about her marital history. Impressed at His prophetic knowledge, she raised the main question that divided Jews and Samaritans: whether Jerusalem or Mount Gerazim (the holy place for Samaritans) was the right place to worship God. Once again Jesus deepened the discussion. If it were simply a matter of deciding between Jewish and Samaritan worship, the Jewish way is right. But even that is being superseded by a spiritual manner of worship in which God and humanity find their true union in Jesus. After this, there was only one thing left to say: Jesus is the Christ. The woman guessed it, and Jesus acknowledged it.
Jesus’ disciples returned and were surprised to find Him talking with a woman. The woman reported her conclusion about Jesus and His identity to the villagers and invited them to come see Him. When the disciples encouraged Jesus to get some physical nourishment, His response in terms of spiritual food confused them. They wondered if someone else might have fed Him. But He was referring to doing the will of God and was speaking of the work of evangelism that God had outlined for both Him and them.
The Samaritan woman actually became one of the first evangelists as a result of her encounter with Jesus. In Him she had found the living water that satisfied her unquenchable thirst. It flowed within her heart from Jesus and overflowed to others. Jesus redeemed her story and redeemed many others in her village through her. That is a portrait of connection…and salvation.
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