From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarrelled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The LORD said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

Exodus chapter 17, verses 1-7

Jesus 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, “| 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.” Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 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. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.” Many Samaritans from that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word. 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 Saviour of the world.”

John, chapter 4, verses 5 – 42

When we are looking at passages from the Bible, it often helps to put them back into context. At the beginning of this passage from the Gospel of John, Jesus is on His way back to Galilee from Jerusalem. His popularity is increasing, much to the annoyance of the religious leaders of the time, and a conflict is brewing. But it is not yet time for this to take place and so Jesus removes Himself and He takes the unpopular route through Samaria.

Most Jews travelling on similar journeys would take a different route to avoid Samaria. To say that Jews and Samaritans did not get on is an understatement. The city of Sychar was ancient Shechem, the capital city of the Samaritans and the location of Jacob’s well, as was a lot of Jewish history. For example, this is where Abram first came when he arrived into Canaan from Babylonia, where God first appeared to Abram in Canaan, and renewed the promise of giving the land to him and his descendants, where Abram built an altar and called upon the name of the Lord, where Jacob came safely when he returned with his wives and children from his sojourn with Laban, where Jacob bought a piece of land from a Canaanite named Hamor, for 100 pieces of silver, where Jacob built an altar to the Lord, this was the plot of ground that Jacob gave his son Joseph, and where the bones of Joseph were eventually buried when they were carried up from Egypt. This is where Joshua made a covenant with Israel, renewing their commitment to the God of Israel and proclaiming, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 

Jesus, as God in human form, experienced the same tiredness and thirstiness we all do after a very long walk; and He experienced the same relief at a chance to finally sit and drink. Even better, a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water and so He could ask her to draw water for Him to drink. By asking the woman for a drink enables the interaction that follows. Jesus drew upon the woman’s curiosity making her more curious about Him, more curious about God and more curious about what it is Jesus can give. Jesus often speaks to us as if we were more spiritual or understanding than we actually are. He does this on purpose in a manner similar to “If you knew more, you would pray more.”

Knowing that everyone in the local town or villages would use this well daily for the water they needed to drink; Jesus used being thirsty as a metaphor for spiritual need and longing and promised that the water He gives will become a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.  The effect of this water creates something good, something life-giving in the heart of the one who drinks it. 

The response of the Samaritan woman was logical, but not yet spiritual. She wanted to avoid the work of coming to the well every day. “Jesus, if you want to make my life easier and more convenient, then I’m all for it. Give it to me!”

The conversation moves on to the life of the Samaritan woman. Jesus wants her to confront and admit her sins. 

Having discussed the woman’s life, the conversation moves on to worship. Jesus states “You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship”. He sets Jews and Samaritans in sharp contrast. And He associates Himself quite definitely with the Jews. Like all faith that tries to combine elements of different religions, the Samaritans worship what they do not know. The Samaritans also only accepted the first five books of the Hebrew Scripture, taking the bits of scripture they wished to, and rejecting the rest.

Jesus pointed out that a time was coming when worship would no longer be focused on places. The greater work of Jesus would bring a greater, more spiritual worship. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth: With these words Jesus described the basis for true worship: it is not found in places and trappings, but in spirit and in truth.

Though this woman was a sinner, Jesus revealed Himself to her. Jesus reveals Himself to sinners. The Samaritan woman was so impressed by the love of Jesus that she now sought out her fellow villagers, even when they had treated her as an outcast before. Jesus displayed so much love that she felt safe with Him even when her sin was exposed. It’s important that people today likewise have a safe place to confess their sin, repent, and put their trust in Jesus.

The woman’s invitation was effective. The people came when she told them who Jesus was and how He had impacted her life with their brief conversation.

The disciples had gone into the Samaritan village to get food, and, having returned, wanted Jesus to eat what they brought to Him. Jesus wanted His disciples to know that, whilst food and rest is important, life was more than those things; that man does not eat by bread alone. Jesus found great satisfaction in doing the will of God even when He was weary. In fact, the conscious doing of God’s will refreshed the weary Jesus. 

Jesus then used the idea of food and harvest to communicate spiritual ideas. The idea of harvest meant that there were many people ready to be received into the Kingdom of God, and that the disciples should see themselves as workers – reapers – in that harvest. “As he was speaking, the Samaritans were leaving the town and coming across the fields toward him. The eagerness of the people the Jews regarded as alien and rejected showed that they were like grain ready for harvesting.” He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, hence both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 

Many of the Samaritans of that city came to believe in Jesus as the Messiah of God because of the word of the woman who testified. Jesus stayed there two days teaching and many more believed.

Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. “Not of the Jews only, but of the Samaritans, and of the whole Gentile world.”