John 4 Verses 5-30 

John 4:5 “Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.  

11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 

16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. 19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. 27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?         

28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.” 

John 4:5  “Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.”  The names of Jacob and Joseph and of Jacob’s well suggest to us some of the history of this region.  As we said in a previous essay, at one time, this land was a part of the land inhabited by the children of Israel.  Now, however, it is possessed by some whose only relation to the children of Israel was their belief in a perverted form of the Law of Moses.   

We are given a glimpse of the humanity of Christ when the scripture said he was “wearied with his journey and sat on the well.”  The time this took place was the 6^th hour of the day, which would have been around noon.   

“There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”   

Jesus initiates the conversation with the woman by asking her to “Give me to drink.”  The woman was surprised for she said, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealing with the Samaritans.”  This teaches us that the Jews looked down upon the Samaritans and considered them to be illegitimate and their religion to be illegitimate.  In the woman’s experiences the Jews would not even talk to a Samaritan.  This tells us a lot about most Jews of Christ’s day.  The woman at this point had no idea with whom she was talking.  

“Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”  Jesus asked the woman for natural water from the well.  Then Jesus tells the woman that if she knew two things, then she would have asked of Him to give her to drink.  The two things that she needed to know were: 

1.  “The gift of God.”  The gift of God is eternal life.   She was unaware of the gift of God that had been given unto her. 

2.  “Who it is that saith unto thee, Give me drink?”  She did not know who was speaking unto her.  She was unaware that the Messiah was speaking to her.  It had not been revealed unto her.  Jesus would soon reveal this unto her.

If she had known the two things above, then she would have asked of him, and he would have given her living water.  Likewise, as the woman of Samaria, when we become aware of the gift of God that God has given us and we come aware that he has spoken unto us in the spiritual birth, then we are able to ask of him for that living water. 

“The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?”  The woman is still under the impression that Jesus is speaking of natural water and since he has nothing to draw with and the well is deep, she does not understand how that he can give her living water.  She then ask him “Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle.”  This teaches us that the woman had knowledge of Jacob and that the Samaritans considered him to be a great person in whom they looked upon with admiration.  She continues to show that she has no idea who is talking with her.

“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”  Drinking of natural water may quench our natural thirst for a little while, but sooner or later we get thirsty again.  Jesus told the woman that unlike the natural water, the water that he gives would be in her as a well of water springing up into everlasting life and that when she drank of that water she would never thirst again.   

“The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.”  Now the woman asked Jesus for the water, but we must remember she does not yet know the gift of God and who it is that is speaking unto her. 

“Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.”  When the Lord told the woman to “Go, call thy husband, and come hither,” he knew her marital status and used his knowledge of that to reveal something unto the woman that she had not known before.  When she answered, “I have no husband,” Jesus told her, “Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.”  With this revelation of the fact that Jesus knew these things of a woman who had just met him, she said, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.”  Her knowledge of Jesus had advanced from him just being a Jew sitting on a well, to knowing that he was a prophet. 

The woman said, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.”  Prior to the coming of Jesus, worship of the Father was designated to take place at some location.  The location for the Samaritans as they believed was in a particular mountain.  The location for the Jews was at Jerusalem.  Jesus revealed to the woman that the location of worship was about to change.  It would no longer be limited to a designated location.  Furthermore, the Lord revealed unto the woman that the Samaritans did not know what they worshipped, unlike the Jews who knew what they worshipped.  At this point, knowledge of salvation was limited to the Jews. 

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”  In this the Lord set forth the parameters of true worship.  True worship “must” be done in spirit and in truth. Without the spirit true worship cannot be accomplished.  Likewise, anything that is not the truth cannot be considered true worship.  God is a Spirit and the person who worships God must also have been born of the Spirit in order to worship God.  Anyone who does not have the spiritual birth cannot worship God.  Moreover, a person can have been born of the spirit, but if he does not have the truth, then he cannot worship God in spirit and in truth.  To have acceptable worship, a person must be spirit born and he must know the truth.  Moreover, the Father seeks such as are born of the Spirit to know the truth and to worship him in Spirit and in truth.  In this passage, the woman’s knowledge of the gift of God and who it is that is speaking unto her is being advanced. 

“The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.”  The Samaritan woman had knowledge of a coming Messiah, which is called Christ and that he would come and tell them all things.  At this point the Lord revealed himself unto her that he is the Messiah. 

“And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?”  The disciples marveled that Jesus talked with the Samaritan woman, but asked him no questions. 

“The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.”  One of the keys for being a witness is to speak that we know and to testify that which we have seen.  The Samaritan woman with the new found knowledge that had been revealed unto her and her encounter with Christ was anxious to go and tell others of that which she had seen and heard and learned.  The testimony of one person can change the lives of several people.  This is what will happen with the testimony of the Samaritan woman who had the brief encounter with the Lord.