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Sermon #959
Woman at the Well
Five decades after the historic speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the election of President Obama was an
undeniable sign of progress in race relations. Thankfully, my children will never see a white-only drinking
fountain, outside of a historical museum. Legislation can affect this kind of change, but sadly it cannot remove
hate from the heart.
Although it has been over a decade, the act that inspired hate crime legislation is so indelibly etched in many
minds. An article in the Texas Observer entitled “Justice in Jasper” by Faulkner Fox recounts the brutality
(http://web.archive.org/web/20051227000441/http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=275):
“The crime itself is unforgettable. Allegedly with the help of two friends, [24 year old Bill] King beat, stripped,
and chained Byrd to the back of a pick-up truck, and dragged him down a Jasper road, until his body was
ripped to pieces. The men deposited what was left of Byrd's body beside a black cemetery - apparently as a
message to the black community - then went for barbecue. Jasper County prosecuting attorney Pat Hardy
described the murder as a lynching: ‘.... Instead of a rope, they used a chain, and instead of horses, they had a
pick-up truck.’"
Nearly two thousand years before the American movement spearheaded by Doctor King, Jesus laid a
sledgehammer to racial animus in his interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well. This is one of the
lessons we will learn from the great story about the Woman at the Well in John 4, but first, enjoy our
song…
The Holy Spirit purposely presents Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus in John 3 right before his visit with the
Samaritan woman. Jesus did not resent the wealthy and influential, nor did he reject those that his
contemporaries viewed as beneath them. Jesus sought to connect with every segment of society. So, in John
3, exhausted from another very busy day, Jesus discussed the kingdom with Nicodemus at night. Nicodemus
was wealthy, powerful, prestigious, intelligent, educated, and religiously respected. Jesus spoke with him of the
beauties of God’s love and the new birth.
Then, in John 4 we meet a character who was everything that Nicodemus was not. He was a Jew; she was a
Samaritan. He was a person of influence; she was a nobody. He worshipped at the right place; she worshipped
at the wrong place. He belonged to the religious right; she was a religious outcast. He was morally pure; she
was spiritually destitute. Yet, they were both miles away from where they needed to be – albeit for different
reasons. Meanwhile, Jesus love and concern for both people was equally great. To Jesus, they were both
“sheep without a shepherd” that He longed to take into his fold. It is particularly fascinating how naturally he
connected with the Samaritan woman. Let’s see how the story from pen of the beloved disciple unfolds.
In this story, Jesus, the model soul winner, shows the people of God that barriers can be overcome in reaching
out to lost. Jesus overcame RACIAL barriers, GENDER barriers, NATIONAL barriers, RELIGIOUS barriers,
MORAL barriers and even PHYSICAL barriers (Jesus was exhausted!) to win this woman’s heart and soul.
How did he do it? Well, despite the differences between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, he found common
ground – water and thirst! The apostle Paul also used this approach, as he writes in 1 Corinthians 9:19-22:
“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the
Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might
win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward
God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak,
that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” Certainly,
Jesus deplored the spiritual state of the Samaritan woman, but his focus was not on reproaching her but
rescuing her.
Verse 3-4, “He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria.” The Holy
Spirit never wastes words, “ALL scripture is given by inspiration of God and IS profitable for doctrine…” At first
glance, these two verses seem rather trivial, but beneath the surface their significance swells. Could John have
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omitted verse 4, “But he needed to go through Samaria”? Here’s why he didn’t. The seventy mile journey to
Galilee through Samaria (MAP) took three days on foot, but most Jews took the long, hot desert road from
Jerusalem to Jericho, and up the Jordan valley – a SEVEN day trek - because their racial and religious disdain
for the Samaritans drove them that way. Since racial prejudice often cuts both ways, a secondary
consideration may have been personal safety. John tells us in verse 9, “For the Jews have no dealings with the
Samaritans," but the Samaritans didn’t care for the Jews either! Why was the Jewish/Samaritan animosity
comparable to that of modern day Jews/Palestinians?
The fast facts on Samaria: the children of Israel committed idolatry and worshipped gods of other nations. So,
in 721 BC, God sent the Assyrians (from modern day Iraq, Iran, and Syria) to take the Israelites in Samaria
captive (see also 2 Kings 17). Then the Assyrians settled in. After years of captivity, these Israelites returned to
Samaria wanting then to help rebuild the temple in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 36:22-23). When this offer was
refused (Ezra 4), they became bitter enemies, building their own temple in Mt. Gerizim during the 4th century
BC (Adam Clarke’s Commentary on John 4:20).
The Samaritans were guilty of open religious apostasy, rejecting all Old Testament books except the Torah as
part of their arrogance (Adam Clarke’s Commentary on John 4:22) all the while protesting that those in Judah
were the ones who digressed. Lest you get the wrong impression, the Jews in Judah were not as pure as the
driven snow either! They, too, were disobedient and rebellious, but they did, at least, worship at the right place.
Over time the Samaritans further alienated selves from the Jews by intermingling and intermarrying with the
Assyrians (Easton Bible Dictionary). This historical background helps us see why the Jews and Samaritans
were such bitter enemies. It also helps us see what an insult it was when the Jews told Jesus in Jn. 8:48, “Do
we not rightly say that You are a ‘Samaritan’ and have a demon.” This was as bad as any racial slur thrown
around today.
So, WHY DID Jesus “need” to go to Samaria anyway? Was it because it was a shorter journey and He just
didn’t want to waste time travelling around Samaria? That thought likely entered into Jesus’ thinking. Was it to
show that He did not share the general Jewish hatred for Samaritans? That seems to be part of it, although the
Lord deals with that more directly in the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. I am convinced, however, that
Jesus wanted to spend those extra days he saved going the shorter route to “turn Samaria upside-down” beginning with an immoral woman who was carrying around a chip on her shoulder.
Verses 5-6, “So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave
to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by
the well. It was about the sixth hour.”
Sychar was right on a line about halfway from Jerusalem to Galilee. So, Jesus had been traveling about a day
and a half (it was noon now) and he was worn out. He stopped at historic Jacob’s well which had been in
existence for over 1800 years at that time.
Remarkably, I understand, you can still visit Jacob’s well two thousand years later. Noted Bible scholar, J. W.
McGarvey, wrote after visiting the well: “Jacob's well is… about 100 feet from Mt Gerizim, which rises high
above it to west. The well is a perfect cylinder, 7.5 ft in diameter, walled with stones of good size, smoothly
dressed, and nicely fitted together, an excellent piece of masonry…In 1839, it was found to be 75 feet deep
with 10-12 feet of water. All visitors of more recent date have found it dry and gradually filling up from the habit
of throwing stones into it to hear the reverberation when they strike bottom.” (The Fourfold Gospel)
Think about the fact that the work of Jacob’s servants in digging this well was a blessing to the Messiah 1800
years later. There is no telling who or how many may benefit from your good works over time. There is
certainly no way Jacob’s servants could have imagined they were digging a well from which the Messiah would
one day quench His thirst. And so it is, your random acts of kindness, your words of encouragement may one
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day bless others you never even meet. Remember, in issuing His report card to the seven churches of Asia
Minor in Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus repeatedly reminds them, “I know your works!”
Our story reminds us that we take a lot for granted with our drinking fountains and water bottles. This
Samaritan woman had to walk all the way out to this well with her water pot and seventy feet of rope just to
satisfy her thirst. No doubt, this made so appealing the “living water” of which Jesus spoke.
Notice also that even Jesus needed rest. We learn in 2 Thessalonians 3:10-15 that the man who does not work
should not eat AND that other Christians should not associate with him. In 1 Timothy 5:8, Paul says this kind of
man is worse than an infidel or unbeliever. While slothfulness is a serious sin, good and godly men and women
have put themselves in an early grave because they did not give their body, the temple of the Holy Spirit,
sufficient rest.
This is also one of many occasions in which Jesus taught us by example how to evangelize. Verses 7-9, “A
woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink.’ For His disciples had gone away
into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, ‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink
from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”
So, Jesus was resting at Jacob’s well while the disciples went to town for food. Notice Jesus spoke first; Jesus
asked her for a drink of water. Jesus initiated the contact. Jesus did teach in the synagogue and His public
teaching was important, but Jesus was more than a Sabbath morning teacher. Jesus, just like Paul and other
first cent teachers, preachers and elders, taught “publicly and from house to house (Acts20:20).” We must
teach the lost publicly and privately. Jesus modeled this and so did the first century church. This is the only
way the Lord’s church will grow to its full potential. And, the only way that we are going to teach the lost in
private is if we, like Jesus, initiate conversations with those in the world. Notice Jesus started the conversation
with a mundane topic, “Give me a drink,” and progressed eventually to discuss salvation, worship and morality.
Here is something else we learn from Jesus. He listened! The Samaritan woman was shocked. If his clothes
didn’t give it away, His accent did. She knew somehow that Jesus was a Jew. Watch how her knowledge of
Jesus and respect for Jesus grows. She speaks of Him less than favorably in verse 7 as "A Jew;" by verse 11
she is calling him "Sir," "prophet" in verse 19 and finally "the Christ" in verse 29 (Burton Coffman on John 4:9).
She must have been thinking at first, “What a strange man!” She says in effect, “WHO do you think you are
and WHAT do you think you’re doing?” Another element of Jesus’ wisdom is that Jesus listened to her. Most of
us would do well to listen when we would prefer to speak. That is the message from God in James 1:19, “slow
to speak, swift to hear.”
You may be hesitant to count listening as a personal evangelism trait. After all, YOU are the one who knows
the gospel; YOU are the one who knows the truth! But think about it, if Jesus was going to limit the
conversation proportionally to who was right and who knew what they were talking about, he would have
insisted (shhh!) that the Samaritan woman keep her mouth shut and let Him do all the talking. Even though
Jesus initiated the conversation, interestingly, from verses 7-20, each spoke one hundred and fourteen words.
When she said, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" she seems to be
scolding Jesus for violating protocol. But Jesus was not deterred by the insult or brush off. Jesus loved the
harlots as well as the holy, Samaritans as well as Jews, women as much as men.
People unacquainted with the times have slandered the New Testament, saying Jesus and Paul were against
women. Not so! No man has ever done MORE for women than Jesus! He highly esteemed His mother, the six
Mary’s, Martha, Joanna, Susanna, Salome and Dorcas without advocating that they become apostles. This
can still be done graciously today. We see the same treatment from the apostle Paul. While He limits the
woman’s role in 1 Timothy 2:11-15: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man…” the
apostle Paul commends a series of godly women in Romans 16 for their work in the Lord: Phoebe, Priscilla,
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Tryphena and Tryphosa and Persis. Then, Paul gives Lois and Eunice a glowing commendation in 2 Timothy
1:5. Understand, this was in a day when Jewish men often lived in harmony with rabbi’s who taught “One
should not talk with a woman on a street, not even with his own wife, and certainly not with somebody else’s
wife, because of the gossip of men…It is forbidden to give a woman any greeting.” In fact, some synagogues
were segregated with women sitting behind a veil. Some rabbis even taught that women should not even hear
the law. Women were treated little better than slaves. (Bruce Milne, The Bible Speaks Today Commentary) But
not Jesus!
Verse 10, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give
Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’" Jesus says in effect in
verse 10, “You need to figure out with whom you are speaking. Jesus did not let her criticism throw him off
track. How was He able to keep his cool? Jesus remained focused on her welfare not on her words. He lost
HIMSELF about where we would have lost our composure. She had no clue about living water, but His patient
persistence enabled Him to arouse her curiosity.
Bruce Milne in The Bible Speaks Today Commentary emphasizes Jesus’ compassion and sensitivity as
evangelistic traits. He writes, “Through the entire conversation Jesus deals with her as a person in her own
right, with her unique history and special longings. She emerges in the account as a character with personal
dignity – because Jesus treats her as such. Simply put, Jesus loved her (without saying ‘I love you’) and was
prepared to breach age old conventions to reach her. Our failures in evangelism are so often failures in love.
Nothing is so guaranteed to draw others to share our living water than an awareness that we genuinely care
about them. ‘People wanna know that we care before they care about what we know.’”
Her curiosity led her next to challenge His ability and identity in verse 11 and 12: “The woman said to Him, ‘Sir,
You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater
than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"
She said “our father Jacob,” because like the Pharisees, the Samaritans were banking on their Jewish
heritage. She asks in effect, “Can YOU do more than Jacob?” Yes! “Are YOU greater than Jacob?” Yes! “Are
YOU greater than Moses, Elijah, David?” The answer to all of them is an emphatic, “Yes!” She had found the
Messiah. In a moment, I’ll tell you how to get a free copy of today’s lesson. First, enjoy our song…
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