- Men and Women at wells
- Abrahams servant met Rebekah at a well (Genesis 24:10-27)
- Jacob meets Rachel at a well (Genesis 29:1-11)
- Moses meets Zipporah at a well (Exodus 2:15-22)
- Woman praised as a “well of living water” (Song of Solomon 4:15)
- God reveals the promise for Ishmael to Hagar (Genesis 16:6-14)
- God saves Hagar and Ishmael in wilderness (Genesis 21:19)
- History between Samaritans and Jews
- Assyria exiled Jews from Israel but a few remained. Those who remained married imported Assyrians
- When Ezra returns to rebuild the temple, they did not allow Samaritans to participate or worship there, so they built their own temple
- During Macabee revolution, they destroyed the Samaritan temple
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.
Oddity #1: He goes to the places outside Societal/Cultural Expectation
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.
- Understand who Jacob was to them…identity, heritage, rights, bears name Israel
- This is where Abram first came when he arrived into Canaan from Babylonia. (Genesis 12:6)
- This is where God first appeared to Abram in Canaan, and renewed the promise of giving the land to him and his descendants. (Genesis 12:7)
- This is where Abram built an altar and called upon the name of the Lord. (Genesis 12:8)
- This is where Jacob came safely when he returned with his wives and children from his sojourn with Laban. (Genesis 33:18)
- This is where Jacob bought a piece of land from a Canaanite named Hamor, for 100 pieces of sliver. (Genesis 33:19)
- This is where Jacob built an altar to the Lord, and called it El Elohe Israel (Genesis 33:20). This established the connection between Jacob and what became known as Jacob’s well there in Sychar.
- Sychar (Shechem) was also the place where Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was raped – and the sons of Jacob massacred the men of the city in retaliation. (Genesis 34)
- This was the plot of ground that Jacob gave his son Joseph, land Jacob had conquered from the Amorites with his sword and bow in an unrecorded battle. (Genesis 48:22)
- This is where the bones of Joseph were eventually buried when they were carried up from Egypt. (Joshua 24:32)
- This is where Joshua made a covenant with Israel, renewing their commitment to the God of Israel and proclaiming, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24)
- The shortest way to Galilee was through Samaria, BUT Jews refused to travel through their due to their hate and bias towards them and would not support or give them any economy.
Oddity #2: He spoke to people outside Societal/Cultural Expectation and Identity
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.)
- “Some think that Sychar, which means ‘drunken,’ was originally a contemptuous name applied by the Jews to Shechem.” (See Shadrak, Meshak, Abendigo = Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah)
*Notice how before Jesus taught her anything, He looked to see if she would be willing to serve!
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.[])
- Notice the identities
- Identity 1: Samaritan Woman X2
- Identity 2: You are a Jewish [man]
- Jew talking to Samaritan viewed as improper AND man talking to woman without male present considered improper
- There was a lot of racial tension here
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.”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?”
*Imagine being oppressed by a foreign power, and you show up to Independence Hall in Philadelphia yearning for freedom, and Jesus meets you and says, if you really wanted freedom, you would look to me. Then you respond, are you greater than Thomas Jefferson and George Washington?
- Two Questions:
- Her question, Are you greater?
- Modern version of question: Is Jesus better than….[fill in the blank]
- Jesus responsive question, Are you thirsty?
- Modern responsive question: Are you satisfied by the comparison?
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.”
- Jesus rarely answers the original question, rather He addresses and exposes the source of the question and true need
- Broken people ask broken questions. People in the wrong situations ask the wrong questions. Jesus tries to get people to ask the RIGHT questions!
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.”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.”19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.
- Jesus uses these allegories often, with Nicodemus he said you must be born again and He doesn’t get it, here she gets it
- The wrong wrap
- Narrative is that she has been divorced 5 times, living with another man, and outcast from society
- Cultural Problems:
- Time of water draw
- She has a testimony to others
- Amount of husbands (Divorce?)
- Living with another man
- Her Question
- The woman’s marital situation is meant to show more about Jesus than the her:
- Proved He is a prophet
- Exposed to her she is Thirsty for what ONLY Jesus can offer
20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
- The Jews refused to let the Samaritans help rebuild the temple (See book of Ezra) because they were mingled with gentiles, so they built their own temple on Mt. Gerazim.
- During Macabbee revolution, John Hycranus destroyed it, so they rebuilt it
- This was a HUGE issue between Jews and Samaritans at the time of Jesus
*Her very first question after learning He is a prophet, How do I worship properly!
Nature of True Worship
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.”
- Now, Jesus answers her question
- Often, we don’t hear Gods answer because we are not asking the right questions
- True Worship requires
*Worship is not a place or a specific election of people, but for all True Worshipers (vs. 23)
- The living water she is thirsty for?
- The Holy Spirit!
- You must thirst for the spirit – Vs. 14
- God is Spirit – Vs. 24
- We must worship in spirit – vs. 24
*True worshipers desire the Spirit so they can properly worship in Spirit because God is Spirit
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.”
- Notice the progression:
- 1: He is a man
- 2: He is a Jew
- 3: He becomes a Sir to her
- 4: He becomes a prophet to her
- 5: He is now Messiah to her
*Before Jesus could disciple her to truth, she first had to respect Him. He does this in very pragmatic ways….by breaking with the culture/societal/religious expectation…She had to see He was different (Example: Early Christians and Rome)
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
- There is another progression
- Vs. 7 and vs. 9- Jesus asks for water
- Vs. 10 – Jesus introduces Living Water
- Vs. 28- The text differentiates between a cistern, and true water
- Vs. 31-34- Jesus then demonstrates the sustainment of spiritual food with spiritual water
Communicating Truth #1: A Heart
Communicating Truth #2: Answering the Questions
Communicating Truth #3: Mutual
Questions for Guided Discussion
- Before this woman could be open to Jesus and His teaching, she first had to respect him. In what ways have we lost the respect of the world and closed their hearts to hearing our message and way of the gospel?
- Before truth can change a heart, you need a heart that is willing to receive truth. This woman showed a servants heart (and later a heart of worship) before she recieved the truth Jesus had to offer. How often do we force truth on people who are not ready or unwilling to receive it? How can you tell who is ready?
- The Jews possessed a lot of bias and racism towards the Samaritans. Much of this racism consisted in an improper understanding of election and worship. What biases and prejudices do modern believers possess that restrict us from being fully effective in the gospel?
- Jesus rarely responds to the original question, rather He responds to the cause or source of the question. If we try to answer broken or wrong questions, then we are ineffective. How can we lovingly and convincingly expose the real needs to reframe the questions in a productive way?
- The first question the woman asks after realizing Jesus is a prophet was about proper worship. What would be your question?
- True worship requires a thirst and need for God. True worship is also not a place or specific people group; and the only way that thirst can be satisfied is through the Spirit. In what ways do we pervert, or misapply worship today?