Bible ReadingJohn 4:1-42Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
[08:31] [11:21] [13:43] [19:26] [25:58] [27:36]2 Corinthians 5:17-20Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
[04:04] [05:00] [28:33]Matthew 28:18-20Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
[04:50] [05:00] [09:26]Observation questions- What details in John 4 show that Jesus intentionally crossed barriers to meet the Samaritan woman, and what details suggest that she was trying to avoid other people? [11:21]
- How does Jesus begin His conversation with the woman, and how does He move from ordinary water to the promise of living water?
- What does the woman do immediately after Jesus reveals Himself as the Messiah, and what effect does her testimony have on the people of her town? [27:36]
- According to 2 Corinthians 5:17-20, what has God done for those who are in Christ, and what message has He entrusted to them? [04:04]
Interpretation questions- Jesus begins with a simple request for water before addressing the woman’s sin and spiritual need. What does this show about the place of genuine care, conversation, truth, and grace when a believer speaks about Jesus? [19:26]
- Jesus says the fields are ripe for harvest, while the Samaritan woman’s ordinary trip to the well becomes an encounter with the Messiah. What might it mean for a believer to “open their eyes” to people and opportunities already present in daily life? [13:43]
- The Samaritans first come to Jesus because of the woman’s words, but then they believe because they hear Jesus for themselves. What is the proper role of a believer’s testimony in helping another person come to know Christ? [27:36]
- Paul calls believers Christ’s ambassadors and says that God makes His appeal through them. How can a believer carry that responsibility without feeling that every conversation depends on having perfect answers? [24:03]
Application questions- Where does daily life regularly put you around people—at work, school, a store, a restaurant, in your neighborhood, or in your family? What might change if you began praying before those moments for open eyes and a willing heart? [17:40]
- Is there a person God may be placing on your heart right now? What would be a simple, genuine next step toward that person: a conversation, an invitation for coffee or a meal, an offer to help, or a question about how they are doing? [31:31]
- Fear and lack of confidence can make it easy to stay quiet about faith. Which concern is most real for you: fear of rejection, fear of not knowing enough, fear of conflict, or something else? How does trusting the Holy Spirit change the way you face that concern? [24:03]
- Jesus did not treat the Samaritan woman as someone to avoid. Is there someone in your life whom you may be tempted to overlook, avoid, or assume would not be open to Jesus? What would it look like to show that person Christlike care?
- What is one ordinary act of kindness you could offer this week that might communicate that people matter to God—holding a door, helping with a need, listening carefully, encouraging someone, or offering to pray? [31:07]
- If you had one hundred words to explain what Jesus has done in your life, what would you include about who you were, how Christ met you, and how He is changing you now? [32:24]
- The Samaritan woman’s response came from amazement at the grace she had received. As you think about Christ reconciling you to God through the cross, what helps gratitude become a reason to speak of Jesus instead of evangelism feeling like a task? [36:16]
