The Samaritan Woman

[Updated 7/4/19] 

The Samaritan Woman is one of the more well-known chapters in the bible. If you haven't heard about her, grab your Bible and follow along in John 4. For those of you who read the end of a book first, I'll give you a quick recap before we start. 

The Samaritan woman is an outcast not only because of her race but because of her past and maybe even current lifestyle. When most women travel to the well in the morning and evening, she goes at noon to further avoid the crowd that you would expect to find her in.

While there she meets Jesus at the well and they have a very short discussion and she comes to believe in him. She then goes back to tell the people in the town about her experience. The simplicity of this chapter might make its truth too easy to overlook but I’d just like to point out a few things that I gleaned from it.

I'm just going to jump right into verse 6 where Jesus is already at the well when she arrives. In verse 7, the dialogue starts with him asking her for a drink. Whether or not she is socially unacceptable, she further changed her schedule to avoid dialogue with others. So I’m going to guess that she is startled by the conversation. Instead of granting his request, she replies by describing unworthiness.

“You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans).

Now stop right there- 

Women (self-included) are particularly guilty of this. We're either putting ourselves down or reminding others of our past, status or limitations. “I can’t do that because I don’t know how”. “You wouldn’t want me because I am no good at that…” 

The conversation seems a little cryptic. Jesus replies in verse 10 “If you knew the Gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 

I mean what does that have to do with the well? Didn't he just ask her for a drink?

But it’s not really cryptic at all. He’s responding to who she is in that moment. She's the one who pointed out her issues. I think what he’s really saying, is that if you knew the gift of God, you wouldn’t struggle with feeling less than and you wouldn’t worry about what you can’t do. You would be able to rely on me and have confidence about where you’re at.

I reflect, on how many times, even though we think we “know” God, we still don’t go to him or even trust him with our needs. We might ask ourselves what talking to God is going to do about our current situation. It sounds too simple. I need a solution!

Sometimes, we think we are giving our problems to God because we beat ourselves up with scripture or exhaust ourselves by trying to work it out with him and around others. …Like the Samaritan woman who was rearranging her own schedule, around her limitations. 

However, his word says don’t be afraid, just believe. You don’t have to argue or wrestle. If you can just focus on me, then your problems will not weigh you down. (Literally- STOP obsessing over your issues and just worship me.) If you can trust that I am who I say that I am, you will find yourself letting go of what you’re struggling with. It is so easy but at the same time, such a hard cycle to learn and put into practice. 

Even in saying all of that, he never mentions her Samaritanship or her gender or any of those specific things that she might be worried about.

In verse 11, she reminds him again of another limitation… “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” Then in verse 12 she asks him if he’s greater than Jacob, who built the well. He replies “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in them a spring of water, welling up to eternal life.”

Now I imagine for a moment what he might be saying between the lines of what he hasn't said. Would it sound like this? Yes, you do have a physical need for the water from this well to satisfy your fleshly thirst. But something else is parched... Is it your mind, because you stay up at night wrestling with thoughts? Is it your spirit because this life just seems too complicated and too hard. Is it your heart because it's too worn out from trying? If you can just come to me, the water [word] I will give you will become a spring of water bubbling up to eternal life. You might still have a physical thirst and you might still have problems but your spirit will be satisfied. You will get rest. You will feel refreshed. Not only that but my one word will be one that you will want to share many times to encourage others. …welling up, bubbling over…

Who doesn’t like the sound of that, right? So, in verse 15 she asks him where she can get that water but you can tell she’s not quite getting it because she is still thinking about how this well for the real water makes her keep coming back. 

Then he says in verse 16 “Go call your husband and come back”. To which she replies, “I have no husband.” 

He continues, you’re right when you say that you have no husband. The fact is that you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you said is quite true.”

Now you might read that and think, ooooh snap- he just called her out! And in a way he did. -But not to condemn her. If he was going to do that, he would’ve done it when she first questioned why he, a Jew, was talking to her if she was a Samaritan. He wanted her to know, he sees her. He knows her name. He knows who she is and her private thoughts. And all of this living water that he’s been talking about is for her too. He knows who he’s talking to. 

Of course you might wonder why he called the 6^th guy her husband if he wasn’t… Why would he do that if he knew her…?  Personally, I think he was trying to be courteous to her. --To give her dignity by not calling her out. He lets her confess it to him. THEN he lets her know that he already knew. 

And if God sees hearts, who’s to say she hadn’t already committed to marrying him in her heart. But either way, again, he is the gentlemen. He accepts her status and acknowledges her where she is right now.

And have you ever had one of those encounters, either before you have committed your life to Christ or in the early days of your faith, where you bump into someone that brings up church or God and it makes you squirm and or straighten up a little? You want to acknowledge your experience with it. Maybe you talk about your parent's faith. Maybe you talk about why the church doesn't work for you. Yet, you either don't know the details or you don't want to get too deep in the conversation, so you try to change the subject a little.

Well, I think that's exactly what we see in verse 19 when she says, “I can see that you’re a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 

She's making a statement. She’s heard of him and had some family that “went to church”. But is she also asking a question? Where do I worship? I mean speed up to our time. Is it this church or that one? -This denomination or service or ritual? WHERE can we find this God and what are we supposed to do?

He responds to her by telling her that one day she won’t be in any of those places to worship. As for right now, none of that really matters. You’re going to a church and going through the motion but you’re really missing the whole point. You don’t know what you need to know. –or who you need to know rather. BECAUSE-

If you don’t know God (and his gift), you won’t really be able to fully worship him anywhere. And if you do know God and his gift then you can worship him everywhere! -On the mountain, in Jerusalem, and at the grocery store!

He goes on to say in verses 23-24 that we should worship in spirit and in truth. What does that even mean? 

Well, let me tell you that a one on one relationship with Jesus will free you where legalism and following the law will bind you. You need religion. You need the Bible. ‘The rules’ are there to show you the things that can cause you and others pain or harm. However, sometimes we can stick so close to ‘the law’ that we dismiss how it impacts the spirit of those involved, causing greater harm. 

We each were given a spirit for a reason- personal encounters with God and others! Your spiritual practice(s) (like meditating on the word, still meditation, journaling, prayer, talking to God/listening to God, listening to yourself, feeling your feelings- whatever you apply to develop your personal spirit) is JUST as important as knowing what the Word of God says.

And John 14:6 says that He is the way, the TRUTH, and the life. 

John 8:32 says that the TRUTH will set you free. Whether that is the truth of your confession or learning His truth. Both can set you free.

You must worship and practice your faith in both because what is born out of the center of those two, is the personal plan and will for your life. 

In verse 25 we see that she doesn't really have knowledge of either side. She's still talking about him. Not to him. when she says “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

She’s heard of him. She just doesn’t know him personally to be able to recognize or identify him. 

The devil will condemn you for that and you might be tempted to give it [this faith thing] up because it’s just too confusing. But even Mary –his own mother- had trouble recognizing Jesus after the resurrection because she was so consumed in her grief. See John 20. She didn’t expect to see him. 

What about us- do we expect to see God? Would we recognize him if we were at that well? Would we even give a little credit to that whisper in our heart and test it? 

So just when she starts thinking about God and what he might do, you know what happens…? See verse 26.

He makes himself known. 

Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Gosh, and there is such a timeliness to that. I mean consider it. If he announced that he was the Messiah when they first met at the well, she wouldn’t have given him the time of day. 

I mean, she’s avoiding everyone else because of her weakness. She would have run as fast as she could, either because he was a crazy man or because who wants to let God see all this bad stuff. 

So, he does as he always does. He meets us where we are. He acknowledges her “junk” first and then introduces himself. She won't have anything to be ashamed of after she finds out who he is. Because he already knows it!! But he doesn’t reveal himself until we start to give him a little possibility.  <3

So then in verse 27 the disciples come back and let’s read verse 28 together because there are a few more things that I want to point out. 

"Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

The first thing that I want to point out is that she left her water jar. I mean, did she even fill it up? What he had was so good; her other needs seemed less important ...kind of what like he promised, huh? 

Then she went back and told people that the man “told her everything that she ever did.” 

What struck me about this line was that he only told her about 6 relationships of hers. Something personal. Something that she was most likely ashamed of. Something that made her feel separate. Ponder that thought for a moment. 

I know part of me thought; Gosh we’re so dramatic at times. "that was everything...?" 

But look deeper. 

How many things do we let define us and be our everything? This can be good or bad. Is it past sin, failures as a parent or partner, accomplishments, what others say, being the one to fix everything, etc? God see’s everything about us but his gift goes to work, right where we need it most! In our heart. In what we hold and what others may or may not know. 

Second, let’s just talk about Transformation. Not only did she leave her jar at the well. –The thing she came after was suddenly not as important as telling others about him. But this is a woman who avoided people. And suddenly she couldn’t help herself from going back to tell others.

If you continue reading, in verse 39 the chapter says that many came to believe because of her testimony. All she said was “He told me everything that I ever did”. Don’t we worry that we have to have the right words or the correct answers or some crazy, profound experience in order to talk to someone else? We don't! We just get to talk about what he means to us and how, why, etc. No embellishments. No grand finales. Simplicity. The truth… He will do the rest.

But I do believe that God does want to be crazy profound with each of us! And isn't there a little bit of the Samaritan woman in each of us too? 

If you circle back to the very first verse; Their dialogue started when God asked her for the very thing that she was after… What is it that we're after? And how do we give it to God? 

Well, it starts by first letting it go. 

Not only does his gift work for whatever your 'it' is; his gift was made to replace our "everything…" He does it collectively and individually. He does it daily and he does it again and again. Every time, we are willing to put our pot down (tasks, desires, etc.) and just listen to him. He acknowledges us right where we are and refreshes our spirit and gives us the courage to do more than what we ever thought we could.

Will you stop today and offer him your truths, in exchange for a drink of his water? Will you let it replace what you are after?

Photo Credit: http://bizlocallistings.com/junytd/samaritan-woman-at-the-well-clipart/4