John 18 The Samaritan Woman At The Well
#18
THE SAMARITAN WOMAN AT THE WELL
Bible Reading
“1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, 2 (though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3 he left Judæa, and departed again into Galilee. 4 And he must needs go through Samaria. 5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. 19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? 28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. 36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. 40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
41 And many more believed because of his own word; 42 and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. (John 4:1-42).
Samaritans Were the Wrong Ethnic Group
Jesus is traveling north (or "down" in elevation) from Judea to Galilee, and apparently, "He had to pass through Samaria" (John 4:4). Why He had to is not stated. In fact, it may have been rather uncharacteristic for many Jews to pass through Samaria. While this would have been the direct route to Galilee from Judea (as Samaria was geographically in between the two), we know there were routes taken from Judea to Galilee that bypassed Samaria altogether.
It's impossible to know how common it was, but hostile attitudes towards the Samaritans and the increased likelihood of meeting attackers created a custom of avoiding Samaria as much as possible.
There is some evidence of Jews traveling east to the Jordan Valley, traveling along the river past Samaria, then turning west to enter Galilee or Judea. John, in fact, is clear to point out to his readers, "Jews have no dealings with Samaritans" (John 4:9). Yet Jesus doesn't do this. Perhaps He "had to" go that way because there was an appointment He just couldn't pass up.
Overshadowing this meeting is a long history of animosity between Jews and Samaritans. Once the capital city of Northern Israel, Samaria fell in 722 BC to the Assyrians. Many of the nobles and wealthy inhabitants were removed and exiled, while foreigners from other conquered lands, along with Assyrians, began to repopulate the land. The remaining Jews intermarried with these foreigners and Assyrians and came to be known as impure half-breeds. This racial prejudice remained in the days of Jesus.
Samaritans Were the Wrong Religion
There were also religious disagreements that contributed to the animosity. The Samaritans rejected Jerusalem and its temple as God's chosen place of worship, instead preferring the temple built around 400 BC on Mount Gerizim.
They only accepted the Pentateuch as Sacred Scripture (not the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures), and in various places, changes were made to suit their theology. Notice the unauthorized addition, as an example, to the last of the Ten Commandments in the Samaritan Pentateuch:
"It shall be when your God will bring you to the Canaanite land, which you are going to inherit, you shall set yourself up great stones, and plaster them with plaster, and you shall write on them all the words of this law. It shall be, when you are passed over the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in Mount Gerizim.
There shall you build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones: you shall lift up no iron tool on them. You shall build the altar of Yahweh your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer burnt offerings thereon to Yahweh your God: and you shall sacrifice peace-offerings, and shall eat there; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God" (Exodus 20:17). Needless to say, that's not quite the way our book of Exodus reads.
Samaritans Were the Wrong Nationality
If ethnic prejudice and religious disagreements weren't enough, Jews and Samaritans had a history of warfare and violence that kept the hatred running hot. I have an old Jewish coin in my office with the name and title of John Hyrcanus inscribed on the front (the Jews did not engrave faces on their coins, as they were not to make graven images) and a double cornucopia on the back:
John Hyrcanus was a Hasmonean ruler and high priest of the Jews during the 2nd century BC.
The Hasmonean dynasty was a short-lived attempt to reclaim an independent kingdom after the successful Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire. Hyrcanus led several military campaigns, one of which was into Samaria. After conquering, enslaving, and forcing Jewish customs on many of his defeated foes, Hyrcanus made his way to Gerizim and destroyed the Samaritan temple. Yahweh only had one temple, which was supposed to be in Jerusalem! Well, these types of accounts in the recent national past didn't endear Jews to Samaritans or Samaritans to Jews.
Samaritans Were Unclean
Their prejudiced disagreements and violent histories lead to statements like this one found in the Jewish Mishnah, Niddah 4.1, "The daughters of the Samaritans are [deemed unclean as] menstruants from the cradle; and the Samaritans convey uncleanness to what lies beneath them in like degree as [he that has a flux conveys uncleanness] to what lies above him, since they have connection with menstruants."
Or consider this lovely comparison, "Places of uncleanness that belong to Samaritans convey uncleanness by overshadowing since they bury abortions there. R. Judah says: ‘They did not bury them but only threw them away, and the wild animals dragged them off’" (Jewish Mishnah, Niddah. 7.4).
The idea is Samaritans, particularly women, are unclean, and anyone who comes into contact with them is unclean, like a woman constantly menstruating from birth (Leviticus 15:19-33). These sentiments provide a helpful backdrop to the conversation Jesus has with this Samaritan woman.
But Not Unclean to Jesus
This is why she is so aghast when Jesus, clearly a Jewish male, sits at a well in Samaria and begins to speak to her. He not only speaks, but asks her for a favor. He asks her to touch her water bucket, fill it, and hand it to Him so He can press His lips to it and drink.
The thought would be horrifying and disgusting to most Jewish men, especially considering not only that her national and religious life render her unclean, but failures in her personal life do as well. Her past and reputation, which Jesus mysteriously knows all about, would keep all men away except for the most unscrupulous, who may want to take advantage of a "loose" woman for their own gratification. She is living with a man to whom she is not married, and she has already had five husbands! Her reputation alone would repulse the honorable, pure, clean, holy men of the day. This highly inappropriate conversation should never take place. And she knows it.
All of this baggage lies behind her statements, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (John 4:9). Or "I have no husband" (with her thoughts probably being, and let's drop it). Or again, her mention of the irreconcilable theological dispute, "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain [Gerizim], and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship" (John 4:20). These are conversation stoppers, but they don't deter Jesus.
Jesus doesn't let her get away that easily. He doesn't let status, history, purity, clean or unclean, prejudice, sexism, ethnicity, nationalism or any other-ism, any ideology, or any cultural baggage get in the way of seeing a woman. A person. He treats her as a human with intrinsic value in need of something only He can provide. We haven't really even discussed their conversation yet, but the fact it took place tells us something about Jesus, something the world is still in desperate need of. Ethnic prejudice continues to divide and harm. It knocks people into the dust and holds them there with the ferocity of a lion. To give up the grip is to give up privilege. To loosen the grip is to loosen control. It is to let power and comfort slip through the fingers.
Prejudice is always met with resistance, sometimes with violence, murder, and warfare. But Jesus willingly treats this woman with dignity, compassion, and value. He gives her a platform and an opportunity to be heard, and as our example, He listens. This marvelous example would do wonders to facilitate ethnic peace and reconciliation in our modern world.
There are a million reasons to hate, but really only one reason to love, reach out, and be kind. It's because we were all created with God-given value. No matter who we are, where we're from, what we look like, or even what we have done, our failures do not define us. Our mistakes don't need to be the end of our story. Jesus is still there. He still reaches out. He still offers "living water" that leads to eternal life. He's still sitting at the well.
MEETING GOD AT THE WELL
Bible Reading
John 4:10-42
Jesus vs the Patriarchs
Is Jesus greater than Jacob? As a well-versed Christian, hopefully, you will answer "Yes." But hopefully, you also recognize how inconceivable or even scandalous this idea would have been to a Jew or Samaritan in the first century. Jacob is one of the great patriarchs. Jacob, a.k.a. Israel, is the patriarch from whom God's people are named.
The names Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob just roll off the tongue when you think of the fathers of Judaism. Even Samaritans revered Jacob. This question is asked by a Samaritan woman standing right by Jacob's Well (John 4:12).
Jesus didn't have a well. He wasn't a father of Judaism. He wasn't revered by the Samaritans. He was just a thirsty guy who met a woman at a well.
Yet, while there, He offered this woman something much more valuable than Jacob ever could. Jacob offered water for a day or two or however long it took for her water pot to run out. Jesus offered water from which she would never thirst again.
Wouldn't that be amazing? Working as a Christian, we get a lot of requests. We've given people water and food, filled their cars with gas, and provided places to stay. We've paid bills, provided transportation, and furnished homes. Then, after a short time, they are hungry and thirsty again. They run out of gas. Their nights at the hotel run out. The bill is due again next month. It's not that those things aren't important, but frustratingly, they do not last. Jesus is offering something Jacob cannot. Jesus offers life, living water.
"You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You?"
This question gets at the heart of an important issue explored in the Gospel of John: is Jesus greater even than the Hebrew patriarchs? This question is asked again a few chapters later about Abraham: "Surely you are not greater than our father Abraham ...?" (John 8:53). Even if you don't know Greek, just look at these two sentences and compare what the words look like:
me su meizon ei tou patros emon Iakob (John 4:12)
me su meizon ei tou patros emon Abraam (John 8:53)
It's the exact same question, asked the exact same way, except the names Jacob and Abraham are switched, and the answer is the same for both. Jesus can offer life which the deceased Jacob and Abraham cannot (John 8:51-59).
A notable detail in John 4 is when the woman brings a water pot to Jacob's Well, but after meeting Jesus, she leaves her water pot behind (John 4:28-29). She came for the water Jacob offers but found greater value in the water Jesus offers. Yes, Jesus is greater than Jacob. Jesus' water leads to eternal life. Jesus is eternal life.
God, Women, and Wells
It's likely no accident this whole conversation takes place with a woman at Jacob's Well. A woman at a well is an ancient and important biblical image, especially as it relates to the patriarchs. It was at a well that Jacob met Rachel, the love of his life (Genesis 29:1-12). It was at a well that Jacob's mom, Rebekah, was found before she married Isaac (Genesis 24). Even after the patriarchs, it was at a well Moses met his wife Zipporah (Exodus 2).
Perhaps most relevant of all, however, it was at a well a desperate woman, mistreated and cast out of her master's household, met God.
In a fascinating and ironic twist, she gave God a name. Hagar, after being used by Abraham and Sarah, was discarded and found herself at a well. She was still pregnant, and the Angel of the Lord rescued her, promising her child would survive and even become a great nation. When everyone else had turned away from her, God looked directly at her. Hagar then "called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, 'You are a God who sees', for she said, 'Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?'" (Genesis 16:13). Hagar, the abused foreign slave, gave God the name El-Roi (You are a God who sees). Similarly, in John 4 it was a foreign woman at a well who was seen by God, saw God, and went and told others to "come and see" also (John 4:29).
Later, Hagar is cast away again when she already has her son. She knows they will die, abandoned and alone. This child with her master was her only shot at having value in her world. It was her only chance to matter, perhaps to be more than just a foreign servant to a beautiful, wealthy woman who seemed to have it all (Sarah). Hagar's only advantage over Sarah was she could bear a child. Once Sarah did the same, however, Hagar no longer had any use. She was sent away.
She carries her child out, alone in the heat, with no shelter, no hope, and soon no water. She recognizes her child, her only son, her only companion, her only love, is going to die. I cannot imagine what it felt like to be in this state, but she does the only thing she can bear. She lays her child down in the bushes to die, and she walks away, far enough so she can die without hearing his screams. There is no hope.
But the God who sees is also the God who hears. He hears the child's cries. God again meets Hagar and tells her to pick up the child. Then the God who sees opens her eyes so she can see also. She sees a fresh well of water, a place of hope, a place of life, a place of salvation where God gives exactly what she needs. She and her son are saved by God at a well.
Meeting God at the Well
These Genesis accounts provide some striking similarities to what the Samaritan woman experiences at Jacob's well: a desperate woman who needs water but also needs life and hope. Just like God saw Hagar when no one else did, Jesus saw this woman. Hagar and the Samaritan woman, both foreigners, both outsiders, both insignificant in the world's eyes, both mistreated and abused--both met God at a well. A God who sees. A God who hears. A God who gives life.
Is Jesus greater than Jacob? Jacob built a well of water, but Jesus gives living water, from which one will never thirst again. Jacob met a woman at a well and took her for a wife. Jesus meets a woman at a well and offers her eternal life. God in the person of Jesus is far greater than Jacob, Abraham, or anyone else you put Him up against. He is not too great, though, to see a desperate woman. A Samaritan. A sinner. A person. When God meets you at the well, salvation is near.