Bible ReadingJohn 4:1–42 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 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 woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 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.)
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 nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 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.”
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 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 now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 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 worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
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.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and 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 labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there 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 indeed the Savior of the world.”
[56:34] [58:46] [01:00:35] [01:02:14]James 2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
[01:08:12]Revelation 12:11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
[01:06:17]Observation questions- What barriers would have made a Jewish rabbi unlikely to speak with this Samaritan woman at the well? [57:16]
- What does Jesus reveal about himself to the woman, and how is his answer clearer than the answers he often gave others?
- After speaking with Jesus, what does the woman leave behind, where does she go, and what message does she bring to the people in town? [01:05:39]
- What happens after the Samaritans first believe because of the woman’s testimony and then hear Jesus for themselves? [01:04:20]
Interpretation questions- Jesus knows the woman’s painful and complicated history, yet he offers her living water and speaks to her with dignity. How does this show the difference between godly conviction and shame that pushes a person away?
- Jesus breaks the accepted pattern of avoiding Samaritans. What kinds of traditions can seem normal or even religious while still teaching people to ignore, fear, or look down on their neighbors? [59:22]
- The woman’s testimony begins with a simple invitation: “Come, see.” Why might an honest account of being known, forgiven, and changed be more helpful than trying to have every answer about faith? [01:09:27]
- James says that believing facts about God is not enough. What might it look like for a person to move from simply believing in God to personally knowing, trusting, serving, and listening to God? [01:08:46]
Application questions- Is there a person or group that is easy to avoid because of discomfort, old hurt, social differences, politics, reputation, or fear? What would it look like to treat that person with the dignity Jesus gave the woman at the well? [01:11:11]
- The woman came to the well alone, likely because being around others had become painful. Who in your daily life may be carrying loneliness, shame, or rejection quietly? What is one simple way you could notice them this week?
- Jesus knows every part of a person’s past and still offers grace. Is there a part of your own story that you tend to hide because you fear being judged? How might remembering that Christ fully knows and loves you bring freedom?
- The woman’s water jar was not wrong, but meeting Jesus gave her a greater purpose. What “water jars”—goals, possessions, approval, comfort, or distractions—can take too much of your attention? What might it look like to put knowing Christ and loving people first? [01:06:51]
- A testimony does not need to be dramatic; it can simply tell how God has met someone in real life. What is one specific way you have experienced God’s grace, correction, provision, or comfort that you could share with another person?
- Loving God and loving neighbor belong together. Is there a grudge, old division, or inherited dislike that God may be asking you to release? What could beginning a new tradition of forgiveness or kindness look like? [01:15:46]
- When neighbors lack basic needs while others have plenty, compassion calls God’s people to respond. What need in your community—food, clean water, housing, loneliness, addiction recovery, or another burden—could this group learn about and support in a practical way? [01:17:39]
