1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." 11 The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." 15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." Questions to Consider:
| From the early beginnings of Jesus' public ministry the Pharisees were keeping track of Jesus' activities and location. Jesus was obviously aware of the unwanted scrutiny. Although the Pharisees were a religious sect they welded a lot of political clout in Israel. Their desire to hang on to power blinded them to the fact that Jesus was the Messiah. ("Their Messiah") The journey from Judea to Galilee meant a trip through Samaria. As a people group, the Samaritans were "looked down on" by the Jews. The Samaritans were a conquered group of people who had intermarried with the enemy. Jews marrying Gentiles was viewed with great prejudice. The Samaritan woman was shocked when she was addressed by a Jewish man. One of the effects of prejudice is that the object of disdain has been dehumanized. (In the capturing and selling of West-Africans into slavery, the slaves were viewed and treated as something less than human. The same is true in the abortion debate. An unborn baby is dehumanized so that killing might become a legal remedy) By a clear example of both acknowledging and caring for the Samaritan woman, Jesus demonstrated that such prejudice is not acceptable in His Kingdom. Jesus asked the woman for a drink from the nearby well. The woman replies to the request with some backbone, reminding Jesus of the prejudice of the Jews towards the Samaritans. Jesus plowed right through her defenses: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." Wow!!! Jesus is offering this Samaritan woman salvation. (If the Pharisees had been there, they would have been calling for a stoning of both Jesus and the woman in question) This plucky woman questions Jesus ability to give her living water. After-all, Jesus does not have a utensil to draw any water from the well. The woman is still thinking of physical water and Jesus is referring to a "water" that is spiritual in nature. Jesus begins to steer the conversation away from the mundane and into the spiritual realm. Jesus tells her that whoever (the whoever includes, Jews, Gentiles and Samaritans) drinks of the water that He administers, "Will Never Thirst!" Out of the person who drinks of what Jesus offers, the water will burst forth like a fountain of eternal life. The woman wants this. This is her chance at a better future. This is her chance to break free of her mundane life. "Sir, give me this water!" She still doesn't understand the full implication of what Jesus is offering. |
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