John 4:5-16 "So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, note the plot of ground..."

So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 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.) 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.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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.” 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.”
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 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.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” (John 4:5-16)

Comment:

I think this beautiful, moving story is one of the most important we have in terms of understanding the full implications of Jesus’ message and ministry. No Jewish man of the time would think of speaking to a Samaritan woman, especially not in such a public place as the community well.  And she’s no ordinary Samaritan woman—the details of her life would have made her a scandal in the village. 

The point of the story is not that Jesus accuses her and judges her for having had five husbands and now, apparently, living with someone who is not her husband. The point is that Jesus knows all that about her—knows that her human choices have not always been perfect—and absolutely does not judge her at all. In fact, he gives her one of his most important teachings: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (4:24). What he sees in this Samaritan woman is not a sinner but the Christ.  He realizes that she is spiritually starved, living under limitations imposed by religious authorities. She is told that God can only be worshipped at the Temple in Jerusalem. And she is told that, as a Samaritan (and a woman to boot!), she is forbidden from entering that Temple. Jesus frees her from those limitations. God is spirit, so God cannot be limited within a Temple. God is everywhere, and what is needed to worship is simply a spiritual awareness of God’s Presence, and the energy of truth that allows that Presence to flow freely. We are told that many Samaritans came to believe in the ministry of Jesus through the witness of the Samaritan woman (4:39). She was one of the first true disciples, carrying the message so that others would believe, rather than just following along after Jesus and hearing his words. We’re not told whether her living situation changed or not. Jesus did not demand that she leave the man with whom she was living before he would empower her with the truth. He knew that if her life were aligned with the Presence of God as Spirit, then her life choices would express that truth. 

Blessings!

Rev. Ed