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The Samaritan Woman: A Living Testimony

By: Christina Zimmerman

In John 4, on His journey to Galilee, Jesus ventured through Samaria, where He met a Samaritan woman. The Jews detested the mixed marriages and idol worship of their northern cousins, the Samaritans. The animosity was so great that Jews would bypass Samaria as they traveled between Galilee and Judea.

Jesus's compassion toward people superseded prejudice. It would have surprised the woman that Jesus talked to her simply because she was a woman and she was alone. This shouldn’t surprise the Gospel reader, though. Jesus’s compassion toward women was highlighted as He repeatedly interacted with them during a time when women were placed in a lower class than men.

Jesus’s request for a drink of water (v. 7) and the woman’s response (v. 9) led to a lengthy conversation. She did not ask Jesus for anything, but He offered her everything. He acknowledged that she did not know who He was, but He said if she knew that He was the Giver of life, she would ask for “living water” (v. 10).

The woman wanted answers to pointed questions and thoughts. In verse 13, Jesus responded to her questions with mercy and with blessing. He offered her living water for her dry and sin-sick soul. Jesus offered this woman the gift of eternal life and the presence of His Spirit.

As their conversation continued, Jesus opened the woman’s eyes to His divine nature by revealing just how much He already knew about her (vv. 15-17). The woman’s despair, her brokenness, and her deep need for salvation were exposed. Jesus first connected with her, then He offered her eternal life, and then He made a pathway for her to deal with her sin.

In verse 24, Jesus reminded the woman of the nature of God. He said, “God is spirit,” which means God cannot be contained in one place. God is everywhere, not just on a mountain or in Jerusalem. Therefore, God can be worshiped anywhere. All she needed to worship was a heart that loves God.

When Jesus pours out His living water—His Spirit—into our hearts, we find ourselves with a heart that loves and worships Him in Spirit and in truth. Jesus revealed Himself to the woman as the Messiah. With the hope and joy of salvation, she forgot about everything, including the water, and she ran back to the town to tell everyone about Jesus. Because of the testimony of this woman, many people in Sychar, Samaria, were saved and came to know Christ.

Read John 4:1-42 for the whole story of the Samaritan woman at the well.