As Jesus and His disciples walked along they came to a city of Samaria where there was a very old well, dug long ago by Jacob.
In that hot country, water is very precious. there was usually only one well in the whole village. Every day the people brought their pitchers there and drew up as much water as they needed. The well of Jacob probably had a low stone railing around the top to keep people from falling in. This stone railing made a good seat. Very likely a few palm trees grew over it and made the spot shady.
Jesus was tired from his journey. He sat down by Jacob's well to rest. It was noon. The disciples went to the village to buy some food.
While Jesus was sitting there, a Samaritan woman came to the well to get water. Jesus was hot and thirsty, and he was tired. He asked the woman to give Him a drink of water.
The woman was very much surprised that Jesus, who was a Jew should ask for a drink from a Samaritan. The Jews hated the Samaritans and would have nothing to do with them, for many Samaritans had married people who did not believe in the one true God and though they believed in God there religion was a mixture of truth and idol worship.
The woman asked Jesus, "How is it that you are willing to ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?"
Jesus said, if you knew who I am you would ask me to give you living water."
The woman said, "Sir the well is deep and you have no pitcher to let down into it. How can you get that living water?"
"Whoever drinks of this water will be thirsty again," Jesus answered. "Whoever drinks of the water I give will never be thirsty again, for the water I give will be a well of water springing up inside her, into eternal life."
Jesus was not speaking of the water we drink. He meant that he would put His spirit in her heart, and that her soul would be refreshed by His spirit, just as her body was refreshed by the water.
The woman did not understand this. She said, "Sir, give me this water so that I will never be thirsty again, nor have to come here to get water."
To make this woman realize that he was not an ordinary man, Jesus told her many things about her past life. She was startled. How could this man know these things she had done long ago? He had never seen her before! She said to him, "Sir, I see you are a prophet."
Then she asked Jesus something which had often troubled her. "Our fathers," she said, "always have worshipped on this mountain. But you Jews saw Jerusalem is the place where people are to worship. Which is right?"
Jesus was always teaching people about His heavenly Father. When the Samaritan woman asked this question, Jesus answered it in such a way that he taught her more about God than she had ever known.
"God does not command us to worship him in any special place," He said. "It is in our hearts that we must worship Him. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. that is the kind of people God is looking for to worship him."
More than ever this woman realized that she was talking to a remarkable person. She said, "I know that the Saviour is coming and when he comes, he will tell us the truth about everything." For even the Samaritans knew about the promised Saviour and longed for his coming.
Jesus said to her, "I am the saviour!"
The woman was so excited by this news that she left her water pitcher by the well and hurried into the city. "Come with me and see a man who told me everything I did in my whole life," she said to everyone she met. "Don't you think he must be the Saviour."
Many of the people went with her to see for themselves. Some of them believed in Jesus because of the witness of the woman. They begged him to stay with them, so that they might hear his wonderful words.
Jesus stayed two days with the Samaritans. Many accepted him as the Saviour. No longer did they believed just because of what the woman had told them. After they heard him, they knew that this truly was the Christ, anointed by God to be the Saviour of the world."
John 4:5-32
Catherine F. Vos
The Child's Story Bible
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This story of the woman at the well is a familiar story to us and for as well known as it is I am always struck by how complex and layered it is.
We might know it like this:
As the woman is approaching the well for her daily water she notices a man sitting without a bucket and without companions. Jesus asks the woman for a drink of water. At the very least she is intruiged, "how come you are asking me for a drink?"
After all she is a woman and he is a man; she is a Samaritan and he is a Jew. They should have nothing to do with one another - this exchange is breaking social norms and codes. One might even say it is risky to have this conversation at all, let alone in broad daylight.
He responds back: "If you knew who I was you would be asking me for water, for the water I give would be fresh, living water." This is followed by a cryptic conversation on water and life. And a (cheeky?) request by the woman for this water that will never run out - imagine life without the daily hassle of getting water? Where does one sign up?
And then the conversation gets personal: Jesus goes on to reveal that he knows about her past life, which looks like it involves a lot of broken relationships and the pain and sadness that result. Who is this man speaking to her now? Something about the way he is with her is engaging her, instead of shaming her or making her fearful or causing her to feel condemned.
Something is stirring within her. They go back and forth on what it means to worship God and who is getting it right anyways? And then the big reveal - Jesus tells her he is the one she is waiting for - the Messiah.
The woman sees: He is indeed the Saviour, the promised one! She runs into town inviting her neighbours to "Come and See." I always think I know this story and then I read it in full and I am confronted with how big this it is - how full of irony, how laden with metaphor.
This is not a simple story and yet we can surely invite children into it!
It is important to think about this story on both of the levels to which it speaks. To the literal and practical: Jesus is thirsty and he would like a drink; the woman needs water for the day. We need water to live. And to the deeper meanings, the metaphors that we will think on and ponder throughout our whole lives as people of the Word.
The task of getting water for us is so simple, so effortless. We turn on the taps and fill up glasses of cold, refreshing water. We jump into the shower or take a nice long soak in the tub, we run water at least a couple times a day to brush our teeth and many more times to wash our hands. We do this all without thinking much about it. And yet for many people in our world today, women and girls most often, many hours will be spent on this one basic task that is necessary for life. For some it is a long and dangerous walk, others will draw their water from sources that aren't clean and they will risk disease and infection by drinking the only water they can find. Water is essential to life. And finding and retrieving it in many parts of our world today is fraught with anxiety and desperation. I think it is important to make this connection with children so that this story doesn't become about an ancient past but about our present realities. God cares that there are people in the world who are suffering under these conditions, he wants water for all people. How can we work with him in this important work?
And yet we know something deeper about water - it is a motif that runs all throughout scripture, it is about life and death, it is about springs that well up within us to eternal life. Creator God is praised as the one commands the waters at creation, the waters that covered the earth in flood waters, who held back the waters of the Red Sea so that Moses could lead the people through them. Remember that shortly after this the Israelites were in the wilderness of Shur; they were without water for three days and began to complain bitterly to Moses. And then when they arrived a Marah they could not drink the water because it was bitter. Have you ever been incredibly thirsty and been unable to drink the water that is available? It is a maddening experience. Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord told him to throw a piece of wood into the water. Moses did as he was commanded and the water was made sweet. There are many stories like this throughout the Bible - remember how reluctant and even angry Naman was to when he was told to wash in the Jordan river and yet when he did, he was cleansed. John the baptizer proclaimed a baptism of repentance and forgiveness and people trekked into the wilderness confessing their sins and were baptized in the Jordan river. And then Jesus walks into this same river and is baptized by water and by Spirit. These are the signs of God's saving work - water and the Spirit. The Spirit who Jesus is referring to in his conversation is the Spirit of God. The Spirit that gives life just as God breathed life into Adam and Eve. We need breath for life and we need the breath of God, the Spirit for new life. The Spirit is also like a flame showing us how to live the way God wants us to, leading us into LIFE!
This woman is not named in this story but she is a quick thinker. If Jesus is confusing her with his language and all of this talk about water. She is being a bit evasive and slippery herself. Jesus responds by saying in essence, I know who you are - you have had five husbands and the man you are with now you are not married to. She counters back, perhaps trying to quickly deflect from the pain of those words, the truth of who she has become, the reason he finds her at the well at the unusual time. Maybe she wants to pin him down or trip him up? Or maybe she just wants to ask a question that she has always wanted to know the answer to: who is getting worship of God right? The Samaritans who worship on the mountain? Or the Jews who worship in Jerusalem? He knows who she is but, she wants to know who he is. A prophet, she says. Or more? Jesus responds to her question about worship: true worship is in our hearts, it's how we live our lives honestly before God that matters to him. The categories and ways she has always had for thinking about God and what it means to worship are being challenged. She has many questions for all that she is hearing. But she knows the promised one, the Messiah is coming and she knows he will make all things clear. And then the veil lifts, in a moment it all becomes as clear and bright as the broad daylight they are sitting under. Jesus says: "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."
The woman meets Jesus, the living water, at three o'clock in the afternoon and not even the wary and disapproving looks on the faces of the disciples as they approached the well could deter her. No! She runs into her village and tells everyone about this man who knew all about her past life and loves her; this God who makes streams flow in the dessert and springs well up to new life within us. Just as Jesus invited his disciples with the words: Come and See, they are now coming from the mouth of this unlikely evangelist, "Come and see," she says to her neighbours. The kingdom of God is for all people - for Nicodemus and for this woman, for the leper and for the tax collector, for the fisherman and the doctor, for young and for old, for you and for me. Jesus goes through Samaria on his way to Nazareth and he shows the world the generous love of God. Love that caused this woman to leap up, leave her bucket at the well and run into the village with absolute abandon - freedom and joy coursing through her.
The story ends with these words:
"Many of the Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony... So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this truly is the Saviour of the world." (John 4:39-43)
May we hear the words of invitation from the Saviour, Jesus and this Woman too, "Come and See."
May we see that we can be who we are before God - we can tell the truth about our lives. He wants to take away our shame and guilt and give us new life!
May we see that we worship God when we are living honestly before him, loving him with our whole lives.
May we receive his love, his grace, and new life & share it with others!
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John 4:5-32
Narrator: So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her,
Jesus: Give me a drink. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)
Woman: How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria? (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)
Jesus: If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.
Woman: Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”
Jesus: Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.
Woman: Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.
Jesus: Go, call your husband, and come back.
Woman: I have no husband.
Jesus: You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!
Woman: Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.
Jesus: Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
Woman: I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.
Jesus: I am he, the one who is speaking to you.
Narrator: Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people,
Woman walks off and faces away from Jesus.
Woman: Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?
Narrator: They left the city and were on their way to him.Turning back toward Jesus. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them,
Jesus: I have food to eat that you do not know about.
Narrator: So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them,
Jesus: My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.
Narrator: Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”
From New Revised Standard Version
Carolyn Brown (worshippingwithchildren.blogspot.com)
