The Woman at the Well

Jesus was in Jerusalem. He and the disciples bean to travel back to Galilee. To do that, they had to travel through Samaria.

Samaria had at one time been part of Israel. It was part of the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh. When the Kingdom was divided after the death of Solomon, it became part of Israel, which walked away from God, and followed other Gods. So, the inhabitants had varying degrees of Jewishness, and followed lots of religious practices. And the Jews generally looked down on them, and held them in contempt.

So, the disciples prepared to camp outside one of the cities. They went into a town to get food, and Jesus waited by a well outside the town.

A woman came out of the town to get water from the well. And Jesus asked her for a drink of water. Given the contempt the Jews held for the Samaritans, as well as the commonly held Jewish belief that he would be spiritually polluting himself by drinking from her jar, speaking to the woman was astounding.

So, she began a discussion of religious practices, comparing the Jews and the Samaritans. Like the Jews, she was waiting for the Messiah, who would deliver the people, and set all things right.

And Jesus told her three important things:

• Worship would change. It would not be associated with a building, or a place. It would be connected to truth, and a heart linkage with the Father.
• The Messiah would come and set things right. He did not tell that at this time, putting things right would involve a sacrifice for sin, and a creation of a new family for God.
• And he said he had water that would quench her thirst forever. I don’t know if she realized he was speaking figuratively, but when she asked for some of this water, he revealed he knew about her home life, and marital status. (That she was not married, but was living with her boyfriend. Which means she was also held in contempt by her neighbors.)

These three things stirred her heart, and she went back into town and told her neighbors. And that stirred up her neighbors, so that the whole town walked out to the well, to see and hear Jesus. And Scripture says the whole town believed Jesus, that he was the Messiah, that worship would change, and that people would receive something from God that would quench the thirst in their hearts.

And it was not just for the Jews. It was for all people.