Drinking from the Living Water—Lectionary Reflection for Lent 3A (John 4)

John 4:5-42 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁵ So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸ (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying 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 no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹² Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” ¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’ ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you^[say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” ²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

²⁷ Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” ²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ²⁹ “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” ³⁰ They left the city and were on their way to him.

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. ³⁶ The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

³⁹ Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word. ⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

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                I’ve been known to say to recipients of the communion elements the words: Bread of Life and Cup of Salvation. The Eucharist is a central piece of the Christian experience. While the Gospel of John doesn’t provide words of institution at the Last Supper (John’s meal features the washing of feet), there are numerous references to food and drink in John’s Gospel. That is true here in John 4. Jesus speaks of receiving from him living water as well as a food source unknown to his disciples. Here in John 4, Jesus contrasts material food and drink with spiritual food and drink. Jesus reveals here that he is the source of this spiritual food and drink.

         This reading from the Gospel of John is rather lengthy, but there is much to contemplate. Contextually, Jesus and his disciples are heading north toward Galilee, after spending time in Judea. Jesus has chosen to travel through Samaritan territory, though Jews often bypassed Samaria to avoid encounters with their despised cousins. While on this journey Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman who has gone to the well to draw water. This encounter leads to a conversation that is rather theological in nature. The conversation will lead to an evangelistic moment in which the entire Samaritan village embraces Jesus as the “Savior of the World.”

                It is worth noting that this reading is paired with Genesis 17:1-7, a passage in which God provides the people of Israel water from a rock so they will not die from thirst while traveling through the desert to the Promised Land. The reading from Psalm 95 invites us to sing to the LORD, making a joyful noise to “the rock of our salvation!” (Ps. 95:1). That would suggest an invitation to drink from the living water that brings healing to our relationships with God and one another. That Psalm ends with a warning—don’t be like the people who hardened their hearts at Meribah and Masah, who tested God and ended up not entering God’s rest (Ps. 95:7-11). While the Psalm offers a warning, it also highlights the one who is the rock of salvation. Now, in this reading from John 4, we are invited to drink the water of life that brings eternal life.

                This is a passage of scripture that is rich in irony.  George Stroup offers a theological look at this passage, suggesting that John chooses to use irony to tell his story. By that, he points to how the Samaritan woman, who serves as Jesus’ conversation partner in what becomes a theological conversation, thinks that Jesus is the one who needs water when in reality she is the one who needs water. What we have here then is John’s “ironical Christ.” Consider the confession Christians make that Jesus is “fully human and fully God.”  That is, Jesus cannot be the Word of God without also being the son of Joseph.  Stroup writes: “From ‘the beginning’ the son of Joseph was the Word made flesh.  John tells his Gospel the way he does, not because he is fond of irony.  The story that he tells demands irony” [Feastingon the Word: Year A, Vol. 2, p. 96].

            So here in this reading, we find Jesus making his way through Samaria to Galilee. As many know, Jews and Samaritans, though closely related in many ways, despised each other. They had rival visions of how and where to worship God. They even have competing versions of the Scriptures. By taking this journey and engaging in conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus crosses boundaries that are theological, spiritual, ethnic (perhaps), and gender-based. Thus, Jesus engages with someone considered an outsider, thereby changing her status. 

                There are many questions about this woman that require our attention. The first thing that catches our attention is that this woman has come to the well in the middle of the day. She also comes to the well alone. This is at least suggestive that she is not considered welcome in polite society. Normally, the women of a village would come to gather water together as there is protection in numbers. Nevertheless, she is alone. We also learn that she’s been married five times and was living with another man to whom she’s not married. Why this is true is not revealed, but it suggests these elements of the story suggest that she is living on the moral margins of society. Interestingly, at no point in this story does Jesus offer a word of judgment. He accepts her as she is.

               Interestingly, Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman takes place after his conversation with Nicodemus. Unlike this woman, Nicodemus is a religious leader, a man of means, and education. While Jesus encounters the woman in the light of day, Nicodemus comes under the cover of darkness. While Nicodemus has much to lose by coming to Jesus, the Samaritan woman has nothing to lose, so she engages him in a theological conversation. So, even though she is a nobody in the eyes of the writer of this gospel who doesn’t choose to give her a name, whose gender, religion, and social standing all put her at a distance from Jesus, she seems more responsive to Jesus than Nicodemus, the religious insider.

           When we come to the conversation that takes place at the well, it begins with a simple request. Jesus approaches the well, sees the woman, and asks her to provide him with a drink. She responds to this request with a question. Why are you, a Jew, asking me, a Samaritan, for a drink? Don’t you know that we’re not supposed to talk with each other? She has a point. Jews and Samaritans in the first century didn’t mix, yet here is this stranger asking her for water.

                Jesus responded to her question by revealing something about himself. He tells her that if she knew who he was then she would be asking him for living water. Now, this intrigued the woman, but she was skeptical. She tells Jesus that he doesn’t have a bucket and the well is deep, so where is this water and how is he going to give her this living water? It’s a good question. Like Nicodemus before her, she’s thinking in earthly terms. Then comes a question about Jesus’ identity. She tells him that this is Jacob’s well, so she wants to know whether he’s greater than Jacob. While this is unlikely to be the same well, it’s worth noting that Jacob met Rachel at a well in the middle of the day (Gen. 29:1-11). What this declaration does remind the reader is that this is the land inhabited by the Patriarchs of old and that both Jews and Samaritans claim descent from these important figures.  

                It is at this point that Jesus takes the conversation deeper into the spiritual/theological dimension. The woman is focused on the well from which she draws water, and from which Jesus had sought to have a drink to quench his physical thirst, but Jesus has something else in mind. So he tells her that if she drinks from this well, whether it belonged to Jacob or not, this water might quench her thirst for a moment, but then she would get thirsty once again. In other words, he offers her something different from what could be drawn out of this well. If she drinks the water he offers, she will never thirst again. That is because “the water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (Jn. 4:14). She still hasn’t caught what Jesus is offering because she asks him to give her this water so she won’t have to come back to this well every again. You can understand why. Carrying water is hard work. For some reason, she is doing this during the middle of the day when it’s the hottest. So not having to draw water from a well would be a blessing.  Of course, this is not what Jesus means. She’s thinking earthly, but he’s speaking heavenly/spiritually. Thus, she didn’t hear the words “eternal life.”

                At this point, Jesus decides to change the subject to the woman’s identity. So, Jesus tells her to get her husband. At first glance, this seems to be a rather patriarchal request. After all, men didn’t talk to women like this. So, get the husband, the person this kind of discussion should involve. But, as the woman reveals, she’s not married. That leads to Jesus letting her know that he knows things about her, including that she’s had five husbands and the one she’s living with at the moment isn’t her husband. Now, this leads to a lot of questions, which John doesn’t choose to answer. As for the woman, she doesn’t bat an eyelash. She discerns that Jesus must be a prophet if he knows these things about her. So, let’s get back to theology. This time the woman wants to debate the proper location for worship.

                In this next phase of the conversation, the woman tells Jesus that her ancestors had worshipped on this mountain, while the Jews worship in Jerusalem. So, who’s correct? But Jesus doesn’t take the bait. He wants to keep the conversation focused on the spiritual rather than the earthly. So, according to Jesus God isn’t concerned about whether people worship on Mount Gerazim as the Samaritans did or in Jerusalem as the Jews did. But, Jesus isn’t ready to level things out so that Jews and Samaritans are on the same level. He tells her that they worship what they don’t know, but the Jews worship what they know to be true about God. What is true here is that salvation is from the Jews. Nevertheless, Jesus tells her that the time is coming when “the true worshippers will worship in Spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him” That is because God is Spirit, so if they are to worship they’ll worship in Spirit and Truth (Jn. 4:23-24).

                The woman isn’t finished. You would think that Jesus has gotten the upper hand in this theological debate, but the woman is holding her own. She does this by again changing the subject to the coming of the Messiah (the Christ). Assuming that the Messiah will come to and from the Samaritan people, she tells Jesus that when the Messiah comes then the truth will be revealed. This time Jesus has the answer that will give him the theological upper hand. She’s waiting for the Messiah, and Jesus tells her that “I am he, the one who is speaking to you” (Jn. 4:25). I’m the one you’ve been waiting for, so become my disciple because I’m the one who offers living water and salvation.

                With the theological discussion concluded, the Disciples return from their sojourn in the neighborhood looking for food. They’re surprised to find Jesus talking to a woman, especially a Samaritan. Despite their surprise, John reports that they didn’t say anything. For, if Jesus wants to talk to Samaritan women, who were they to question him? Upon their arrival, the woman walks back to the village leaving behind her water jar. That piece of information lets us know that something has changed for the woman. She has a new calling and it doesn’t involve carrying water back to the village. This woman who debated theology with Jesus has now become an evangelist, so upon her return to the village she tells everyone about Jesus. She tells the rest of the city that he had revealed her entire life, so surely this has to be the Messiah. How could anyone do this unless they were the Messiah? With this report, the people in the city went looking for Jesus. She planted a seed and they had to see for themselves this person whom the woman told them about.

                The next section of this very long reading records a conversation between Jesus and the disciples. They want him to eat something, but even as he did with the woman at the well, he moves the conversation from the earthly to the heavenly. He tells them that he has food they don’t know about, a revelation that confuses the disciples. After all, they’d been out gathering food so how did he find food? In line with the spiritual conversation he’s already had with the woman at the well, Jesus tells the disciples that “my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete this work.” This leads to a parable of sorts about harvest time. He tells them that fields are ripe for harvesting. The one who reaps has already received payment and is gathering the fruit of eternal life so the reaper and sower might rejoice together. He tells the disciples that he sent them out to reap the harvest that they didn’t sow.

                At this point, with the disciples probably confused by this message about the harvest, the Samaritans show up. We’re told that many believed in him because of the woman’s testimony. They asked him to stay with them for a few days, which he did. Many more believed as a result. So, it was no longer her witness that convinced them, but they’ve seen for themselves that here is the one who is “truly the Savior of the world.” (Jn. 4:42). Now, they may believe because they’ve seen for themselves, but the seed had been planted by the woman who became the evangelist. As Jesus will tell Thomas after the resurrection, “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (Jn. 20:29). In other words, John reminds those who read this account that while they may not have seen Jesus in the flesh, they can receive the Samaritan woman’s testimony as sufficient. While she sowed others reaped. Both should rejoice.

                As we ponder this passage, we might take from it a word of encouragement to engage in evangelism. As we read this passage, the Samaritan woman simply shares with the other townsfolk about her encounter with Jesus. She doesn’t do any hard sell evangelism, she just tells her story and asks whether this might be the Messiah they had been awaiting. She gave an invitation, and the people followed her to Jesus. Not only that, but this story reminds us that Jesus is known to cross boundaries and invite the outsider to become part of the community. This understanding of Jesus and his ministry is captured by Deborah Kapp’s commentary on this passage.  Kapp notes that this is the story of dramatic transformation. 

She begins the story as an outsider and becomes a witness; from her status as a beginner in faith she becomes an apostle sent by Jesus himself to testify on his behalf. As such she is a model for other women, for people who feel like nobodies, for newcomers to the faith, and for people with a past. Jesus encounters and welcomes many into the household of faith—even the least likely and maybe, even, you and me.    [Feasting on the Word: Year A, Vol. 2, p. 96]

In this, he is the Savior of the World. As Marianne Meye Thompson writes: “The designation of Jesus as ‘Savior of the world’ expresses the Johannine conviction that Jesus delivers ‘all people’ from the peril of death” [Thompson, John: A Commentary (New Testament Library) (Kindle, p. 110)]. That is indeed good news. Therefore, may we also drink from this living water Jesus offers us. 

Siemiradzki, Henryk, 1843-1902. Christ and the Samaritan Woman, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54747 [retrieved March 7, 2023]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Siemiradzki-Chrystus_i_Samarytanka.jpg.