Well of Living Water

Most women came to draw their water in the cool of the early morning, and as they waited their turn they caught up on the local gossip. This woman was alone, and she had come in the heat of the day. When she reached the well she was surprised that the man resting in the shade even spoke to her. She knew he was a Jew. She had been passed by his friends as they approached Sychar, and a few remarks made it obvious that they despised her and her race. She was even more surprised when he asked her a favour.

'Would you give me a drink of water when you have drawn some?' he asked in such a friendly voice that she was deeply touched. However, she reminded herself that he probably despised her as everyone else did; it was only his thirst that made him speak civilly to her. Men were all the same in her estimation. They used you for what they could get out of you.

'Fancy you, a Jew, asking me, a Samaritan, for anything!' she retorted. His reply surprised her.

'If you only knew who I am, and what a wonderful gift God is longing to give you, I know you would ask me for living water,' he said gently.

She wasn't going to be taken in by his manner. She knew men only too well. She taunted him.

'I can see why you're asking me,' she replied. 'You have neither rope nor water pot, so you can't get any yourself because the well is so deep. Anyway, what do you mean by "living water"? Are you saying you are greater than our ancestor Jacob who built the well? If this water was good enough for him and his family, it's good enough for me!'

Having made her point, the woman let down her jar and drew some water. She offered the jar to Jesus who drank deeply to refresh his parched body.

'There,' she commented, 'I can see you've enjoyed your drink. It's good water, isn't it?'

Jesus smiled. 'The trouble with this water is,' he explained, 'it only quenches your thirst for a while. The water I give people becomes a bubbling spring within them, welling up forever with eternal life.'

The thought of never having to make this tiring journey ever again brought an immediate response from her.

'Then, sir, would you give me some of your special water. Then I'll never have to draw from this well!'

'Go and fetch your husband,' this stranger asked her.

Immediately there came over the Samaritan woman a deep feeling of shame. She had known many men, but none of them had ever become her husband. They had used her – and left her. She was well known in Sychar for her 'easy virtue' and all the married women shunned her. That was why she made her solitary journey to the well. She couldn't stand the whispers, the giggles, the gestures. How could she explain all this to the man standing by her? She looked at him defiantly, trying to conjure up a reply like – he's away, or he's in bed sick. She dropped her eyes.

'I haven't got a husband,' she said lamely, hoping the matter would rest there. It didn't.

'Well, you've spoken the truth,' commented Jesus. 'You've had five "husbands" and the man you are living with now is no better than the rest.'

Deep within her was an excitement she had never before experienced, yet humanly she was still defiant. She wanted to come out of this encounter having won the argument!

'Sir, you must be a prophet!' she exclaimed. 'Now tell me, since you seem to know so much, why is it that you Jews insist that the only place to worship God is in Jerusalem? We in Samaria are believers too, you know. Long ago our ancestors worshipped God on Mount Gerizim.' She pointed to a distant hill. 'Is it wrong to do so? We need to have a special place to worship, and no Samaritan is allowed in the temple in Jerusalem.'

Jesus looked at her with such joy that she felt tears welling up inside her.

'The time is coming,' he replied, 'when it won't matter WHERE we worship. You see, God our Heavenly Father isn't interested so much in WHERE we worship, but HOW we worship. God is longing to give everyone His Holy Spirit so that they will always know the truth. It is so sad that you Samaritans worship – how can I explain it – blindly. We Jews know the truth,