Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” (John 4:26)
One day during His ministry Jesus decided to go to Galilee from Judea. He had to pass through Samaria or go around it. The Samaritans and the Jews did not get along, and many travelers just went around it. Jesus was led by the Spirit to go through Samaria. In order to avoid the hated Samaritans the Jews would actually cross the Jordan River to the east side and travel through Perea and then cross back when they got opposite Jerusalem. (See map)
On this occasion Jesus would deliberately go through Samaria in order to have an encounter with a woman that would show not only His love and care about the other nations of the world but also for women. Jesus brought salvation to the whole world, not just Israel.
The disciples were with Jesus on this journey. After a long trek in a dry land they were tired and thirsty and stopped to rest at Jacob’s well near Sychar. It was about the “sixth hour” or around noon.
Jesus’ disciples went to the nearby town to get some food, and while they were gone a woman came to draw water. Our Lord opened up the conversation, “Give Me a drink.” This is an important point. We know that men were not allowed to speak to women in public. And besides, she was a Samaritan. And so, this woman was honestly surprised, “How is it that you ask me for a drink?”
But our Lord had a purpose in mind to bring this woman to belief in Him as Messiah and so He steers the conversation in the direction that He wants it to go. “If you knew the gift of God, and who was asking you, you would ask for living water.” The woman knows by His dress and speech who He is, that He is Jewish, but she really does not get His point yet. But Jesus has at least aroused curiosity in her, and she reacts as if she thinks He means the water in the well. “Sir, you don’t have anything to draw water with, and where will you get that living water?” The woman is still thinking on a physical level. After all, she has the water jug and the means to draw water. Jesus is the one who is thirsty and tired. Here He is by a well and He can’t get any water without her help. How is He supposed to help her?
At this point, Jesus gives her an unexpected answer, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” Jesus had asked her, “If you knew the gift of God,” Jesus is the gift of God. He is the One who offers us eternal life. The water in Jacob’s well can only satisfy a temporary thirst; the living water that He gives will last eternally.
The Samaritan woman is still thinking literally, and asks Jesus to give her that living water so that she, “will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” Again, Our Lord responds in an unexpected manner with, “Go call your husband, and come here.” She responds, “I have no husband.” Jesus commends her honesty, but proceeds to startle her by telling her something only a prophet, or the Son of God, could know. She has had five husbands, and the one she was living with was not her husband. We do not know exactly what her status was, but Jesus’ answer makes the woman realize that Jesus must be a prophet, and so she shifts the conversation to religion. She points up a major difference between the Jewish worship and Samaritan worship. Perhaps she points to Mount Gerizim, seen in the background from where they are sitting. “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain.”
Jesus refuses to be drawn into that discussion. He is the living and true Temple; He is the focus of worship, not a certain mountain. The Messiah does come from the Jews, but an hour is coming when worship will be, “in spirit and truth;” The woman recalls that Messiah will come and declare all things to them. Jesus very plainly tells her, “I who speak to you am He.”
She now knows that the man to whom she was speaking is indeed the Messiah! She left her water pot and ran to the town to tell everyone about Him. “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” They must have been amazed that she would approach them so openly with her story! They believed her because of her testimony and later many would come to belief in Jesus.
And so, on an ordinary day, an unremarkable, lowly, nameless woman came to meet her Savior. Not only that, but her courage, and the enthusiasm of her testimony led many others to belief in Jesus as Messiah. The woman left her water pot and ran to tell others of her new freedom in Christ. Many of the villagers went to see Jesus for themselves. Unlike the unbelieving Jewish leaders who wanted to get rid of Jesus, these grateful Samaritans begged Jesus to stay and teach them. Jesus did stay with them for two days.
The woman at the well was forgiven, cleansed, and moved to tell others of the goodness of her Savior. Jesus cared more about her than the false rules of the Pharisees. God never intended for women to be abused in Israel the way they were by the time of the first century. Jesus restored women to their original place as children of God. Jesus invited women to be His disciples. Jesus confirmed the worth and value of women when this woman from Samaria became one of the first evangelists! We can follow her example as we serve our Savior.
