John 4:1-26
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.
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.”
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.”
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. 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.” [1]
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What struck me about this familiar passage today is Jesus relentless invitation to this woman. He keeps inviting her and inviting her and drawing her in, until finally He reveals himself as the Messiah that she is longing for.
What’s striking about this is that this woman is a very unlikely candidate for Jesus to spend time discipling.
- For one thing she is a woman. Rabbi’s did not spend time discipling women. As we’ll see in tomorrow’s selection, the disciples are surprised to see Jesus talking to a woman. Jesus is taking a considerable risk to his own reputation in spending time alone with a woman.
- Another strike against her is that she is a Samaritan, whom the Jews looked down upon, as adherents of a defective faith.
- Furthermore, she seems to have had a questionable reputation, with five marriages in her past, and not being married to the man she’s currently living with.
But notice that she also seems intent on pushing Jesus away.
- She reminds Jesus that Jews don’t associate with Samaritans
- She puts Jesus down, almost mocks him, pointing out that he has nothing to draw water with and he can’t be as great as Jacob.
- She complains to Jesus about the Jewish insistence that the Samaritans are wrong to worship on Mt. Gerizim.
Something is drawing her in, but at the same time she is pushing Him away. With all these things going on, it would not have been surprising after her comment about the proper place to worship for Jesus to just say, “Well, have a nice day. I’ll get my drink and be on my way.”
But he doesn’t give up. It’s a picture of the heart of Christ to draw people into relationship with Him. He doesn’t just throw out the invitation and say, “Come if you have some free time.” He pursues. He pushes past obstacles, cultural obstacles and personal obstacles. And it leads to a chance to reveal himself which will lead to her coming to faith.
And so my prayer today is for my own witnessing, my own sharing the faith and seeking to draw people to consider Jesus. I pray for the missional zeal that Jesus displays here. And I pray for wisdom to know what to say, when to say it, when to push past obstacles and keep inviting.
[1] The New International Version. 2011 (Jn 4:1–26). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
