Well Water- John 4:7-15

Bible Odyssey says, “Almost every aspect of daily life in ancient Israel involved water: agriculture, animal husbandry, cooking,  personal hygiene, and of course drinking. People would have collected water from natural sources such as free-running streams, fountains, or springs or from artificial sources such as wells, water systems, reservoirs, and cisterns. Though the Bible lacks specific descriptions of wells, they seem often to have been placed in centralized locations, especially in rural areas. They had some sort of cover (Gen 29:1-3) and may have had stone troughs nearby to provide water for animals (Gen 24:20, Gen 30:38). Well water was likely consumed by both humans and livestock, whereas water collected from cisterns was used for agricultural activities.  Young women typically had the daily chore of drawing water from wells to supply the family household.”  The well becomes a place of opportunity for a woman to meet Jesus.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, “Give me some to drink.”  The disciples had gone into town to buy food.  The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask me to give you some to drink?  Jews don’t have any dealings with Samaritans.”  Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who was asking you, ‘Give me some to drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”  She said, “Sir, you don’t have anything to draw water with and the well is deep.  How then do you have living water?  Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it, as did his sons and livestock?”  Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again, but the one who drinks the water I give him will never thirst again, because the water I give him will produce in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life.”  The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t thirst or have to come here to draw water.”  (John 4:7-15)

It is odd for this woman to be here by herself and at this time of day.  It is odd for a Jewish man to speak to a lone woman in public, especially a Samaritan.  And it is odd for him to ask her to do something for him.  But Jesus is overturning cultural norms because the Spirit is leading him to reach out to her and he has compassion for her as a lost soul.  To her surprised question Jesus takes the occasion of asking for water and turns it in to an obtuse statement about how he could give her living water, looking to see if she is curious about spiritual things or not.  She rightly perceives he can’t be talking about good well water and asks if he is greater than Jacob, since he has implied that he is someone special.  Jesus takes her spiritual curiosity one step further by explaining that he is offering water that would slake your thirst forever and give eternal life.  She acts eager to have such water.

Our chance conversations with unbelievers should probe in this way their openness to investigate spiritual things.  Someone has documented that unbelievers who become believers cross several thresholds: (1) they trust a believer (Jesus established trust by his counter-cultural interaction), (2) they must become curious about the gospel, (3) they must count the cost of becoming a believer, (4) they must become genuine seekers of the truth, and (5) they must actually believe.  This woman has expressed curiosity but next she must count the cost and determine whether she really wants to know the truth for herself and her salvation.

Discussion Questions

1. What is the thirstiest you have ever been?  What is the best drink of water you’ve ever had?
2. How does Jesus asking the woman for water establish trust, or does it?
3. Why does Jesus test the woman for spiritual curiosity?
4. Have you had conversations with people who had no spiritual curiosity?  What was that like?
5. How should this example of Jesus guide you in the way you share the gospel?
6. Who could you share with?