Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.[a]
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings 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 nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.[b] The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 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 now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 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 is seeking such people 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 (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
Personal Reflection and Discussion
1. Who knows you best?
2. When you were younger, what parts of the city were you told to stay away from? What types of people?
3. From the story of Jesus and the woman at the well we can draw a number of principles for relating with people who come from a different culture, background or life-orientation than we do. Brainstorm and list as many of these principles as you can that you find in these verses.
4. Which of these principles do you think the Christian community best tends to practice?
Which of these principles do you think the Christian community tends to forget or ignore? What about you? Your family? Your Church?
5. What do we learn about Jesus in all this?
6. What is the difference between learning about Jesus and personally encountering Jesus? Are there things we can do to help facilitate/assist people in having a personal encounter with Jesus?
7. The Greek word “agape” is found 104 times the writings of John:
43 times in the Gospel of John
46 times in 1 John
5 times in 2 John
4 times in 3 John;
6 times in Revelations
Agape Love = commitment, totally selfless, unconditional, sacrificial love – rooted in the will, not in feelings or emotion
Do you think that people personally encounter Jesus through an experience of agape love? Explain. (See 1 John 4:8-9; John 13:34-35)
Prayer
Jesus, this story regarding Your conversation with the woman at the well reveals a number of things about You and Your character, as well as Your valuing and acceptance of people. It can also expose some of our/my biases and prejudices. Already in these verses, in Your conversation with a Samaritan woman, You challenge the biases and prejudices of those who would discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion or gender. Help me to recognize when I am tempted to discriminate unfairly and to avoid doing so. Help me to value all people, even as You do. (Lev. 19:5, Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9, 1 Timothy 5:12; James 2:1,9)
Greek Word of the Day
English Word: Spring | Transliterated Word: Pege (pay-gay)
(through the idea of gushing plumply); a fount (literal or figurative), SOURCE or SUPPLY (of water, blood, enjoyment) flow, spring, well. Life-giving water.
Family Engagement Activity
Add one family service event to your calendar and set a date to go together and serve a group of people that you don’t often serve. As a family, make it a yearly tradition to do this and keep the same date. Consider calling a family or two from your kids’ school and ask if they would like to join you on this date.
AND
Take a cup, something you can poke holes through is best. If you don’t have a cup that you can poke holes through, use a cup that you can mark with a marker. On the side of the cup, write in small letters from the bottom to the top, “never”, “rarely”, “sometimes”, “usually”, and “always”. Ask each family member to take the cup. Have them mark on the cup how often they show love. Then, have them either poke a hole in (or make a mark on the side of the cup) to indicate how much they are willing to give the following people what they need: 1) Parent(s) 2) Grandparent(s) 3) Each neighbor 4)A Friend in class/work 5) Someone You Don’t Care For at class/work. Explain that where the water hits a hole or a marking, that is the extent of their love. Fill the cup with water slowly. Ask them what they think this says about their love. Ask how Christ’s cup would look. Talk about what things might get in the way of you giving certain people what they need, and why Jesus didn’t seem to concentrate on those things that hinder his desire to give.
AND/OR
Consider doing a steady drip from your faucet into a cup for a certain amount of time during the day to reflect upon Christ being the constant “life-giving” water.
Going Activities To Consider
Conduct a “MEET UP ASSESSMENT”. What types of people make up the 10 people you try to meet up with the most? Are there any commonalities? Are there some social, ethnic, or religious groups that are not included? What social, ethnic, or religious barriers are difficult for you to break through? How would Jesus relate to those that you find difficult? How is God asking you to expand your agape zone?
OR
We would love to hear the answers you have for Question 6 as we seek to become a Church who is loved by our community. Please email your answers to Brandon Grelle. Let us know if you would like to be a part of guiding our church to be agape love to all people.
OR
If you felt that Jesus was with you walking through a difficult life lesson, write THAT story down. Maybe even consider telling a close friend or mentor this testimony of how Christ transformed you through that experience.