John 4:1–26, part 1
Jesus and the Woman of Samaria
- Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
- Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
- Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
- Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
- Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
- Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
- Jesus, with His disciples, crosses through Samaria on their way to Galilee. About noon, they pause at the site of a well Jacob had left to his son Joseph. The Twelve go into Sychar, 0.7 miles away, for food. Jesus, wearied, stays to rest, sitting on the well (fountain in Greek), and is today about 100 feet deep.
- Samaria, the site of the “10 Lost Tribes” was overwhelmed by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. Many were enslaved in other lands and other captives, non-Jews, were brought in to live in that area. They intermingled, NS were considered half-breeds. They built a rival temple and accepted only the books of Moses as inspired. Their religion was a composite of biblical and pagan worship. It was destroyed a. 120 BCE.
- A woman of Samaria came to draw water about noon. Jesus spoke to her, asking her to draw water for him, which shocked her as Jewish men simply did not speak to Samaritan women.
- Jesus then says to the woman that if asked, He would give her “living water.” It is obvious that Jesus intends to give witness to this woman, and utterly against all norms.
- Jesus tells her the water she would receive would quench her thirst forever. And she wants this living water.
- Jesus calls the woman’s attention to her immoral, sinful life. She then suddenly realizes Jesus is very different. After listening to Him, she speaks of a Messiah who is to come.
- Jesus announces that He is that Messiah.