Not So Little Women: Week 6
The Samaritan Woman

Today we’re looking at Jesus’ remarkable encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in John 4. It’s the longest conversation recorded in the Bible that Jesus has with anyone—man or woman. He disrupts the status quo by speaking with her, crossing cultural and gender boundaries. In this encounter, we witness the boundless nature of God’s grace and love. Jesus challenges us to break down our own prejudices and expectations and to see the worth of every soul.

Like several other women in the Bible, many details are left out of this woman’s story, including her name. Historically, she has been depicted as an example of sin and sexual immorality due to her marital/relationship history. Many consider her an adulterer at best, and for some, even a prostitute. While her circumstances may strike our western minds as strange, Jesus never says anything about sin or forgiveness in relation to her history. Because Jesus is shown as doing this elsewhere in Scripture, its absence here is remarkable and important to the story.

The Samaritan woman’s life and transformation is an example of discipleship that should empower all women and men for God’s kingdom. Looking at her story without the lens of sexual sin, we see that she expresses wisdom, thoughtfulness, and awareness throughout her conversation with Jesus.

While the story takes place at a physical well, we soon realize there’s a more profound thirst at play – a spiritual thirst. This woman’s life story represents the spiritual longing that transcends cultural boundaries and backgrounds. It’s a thirst that we all experience at different points in our lives – a deep yearning for something more than what the world can offer. This living water, which is the gift of God, represents the transformative power of God’s grace that can renew even the most broken lives.

The main ideas that we discover about the gift of God is that it is: 1) surprising, 2) ultimate satisfaction, 3) personal, 4) intellectual, 5) comes in stages, and 6) is for anyone and everyone.

Jesus starts His conversation with the woman by saying He’s thirsty, but that’s not last time that He said He thirsts. On the cross, Jesus expressed a thirst like no other. Nah 1:6 ESV says, “Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire...” The wrath of God, His eternal justice greater than a million suns, came down directly to Jesus. He died in torment so that we could have the cool water of the favor of God. That’s the reason why the gift is for anyone and everyone. Jesus died of thirst so that you and I can have an everlasting spring of living water welling up to eternal life.