The Woman At The Well

John 4:1-29, 39-42

With ministry picking up for both Jesus and John, the Pharisees began to oppose them publicly. Knowing this, Jesus decides to return to the country outside to avoid unnecessary conflict. Finding it necessary to go through Samaria, Jesus instead engages in a different sort of historical tension; the rivalry between the Samaritans and the Jews. Jesus does this though through unprecedented means: a Jewish man brings the news of salvation (Himself being the true Messiah) to a sinful Samaritan woman and social outcast.

To set the stage for us, between Jesus and the woman at the well, a lot is happening historically and consequently culturally as well. In short, the tension between the Israelites and the Samaritans goes back to the time of the prophets. In Kings, the Samaritans (or Nothern tribes) chose not to honor God in their worship but taint their worship by engaging in detestable practices. They forsook the covenant with David by worshiping other gods. Still believing themselves to be in line with the rest of Judaism, and the Jews in upright disagreement, Jesus Himself comments on this by telling the woman at the well “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation comes from the Jews” (John 4:22).

Bitterness between the two is such that the woman is shocked at this Jewish man asking anything of her, let alone drinking out of the same jar. Though salvation does come from the Jews, Jesus is taking it far past an ethnic people and cultural context. In His coming, and displayed in this woman, He is making a spiritual body of people. The woman’s context for religion is this historical and cultural tension, yet Jesus addresses the tension within her and in all of us; the sin she’s committed and currently living into. She has a pressing need for a savior, for Jesus. He goes on to describe God’s worshippers specifically under this new covenant in Him, that God’s people would worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). Sure, the Jews had the truth, but neither of them worshipped in Spirit, as multiple commentators suggest both had fallen into deep superficiality.

The Jews, Samaritans, and ourselves alongside this woman all are in desperate need of the living water Jesus graciously provides. Praise God! External practices were essential in the old covenant, and hotly debated as time went on and wicked man couldn’t fulfill or uphold its demands. Yet in Christ, we have the only one to have lived a perfect life, fulfilling everything the law demanded. By His blood, we have the salvific streams of living water flowing outward to all those who repent and believe in His name. God has created for Himself a new people who are spotless in His sight because of Christ. This is the turning point of the narrative and redemptive story God is writing into humanity.

For more information on the fascinating divide between the Samaritans and the Israelites go here: Uncovering the Bible's Buried Civilizations: The Samaritans | ArmstrongInstitute.org