John 4:5-26 ● March 8, 2026 ● Lent Series ● Print Version ● Listen to audio
She came seeking water. She was of a proud people but not one those Jews. She was of the race that claimed to have descended from Joseph, Jacob’s favored son. But she had more on her mind than the strife between her people and the snobby Jews. The village of Sychar was a fairly dry place. It lay not far from the northern slopes of Mount Gerizim in Samaria. She came only seeking water. But she would leave filled with water that flowed up past every barrier and filled up every need.
Some say this was during the heat of the day. The sixth hour would mean noon according to the Jewish reckoning. But John elsewhere references the Roman hour system, and it likely means 6:00pm. Either way Jesus was tired from his travel from Judea. He sat alone by a well. His disciples had gone to the nearby village to purchase food.
And then she showed up. It was a bit unusual for a woman to be out alone drawing water. Did she not have any friends? It doesn’t seem like she was quick to look for new ones. Jesus asks, “Give me some water to drink.” But he didn’t get his drink. He got a startled response. “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan. How is it that you ask me to give you something to drink?” The Jews so despised the Samaritans that they would rather go to bed thirsty than drink from the same vessel as an unclean Samaritan. The Samaritans were a mixed race. Centuries earlier Assyria imported people groups to subdue Israel’s national spirit and further assimilate them into the Assyrian Empire. The Samaritans worshipped the Lord but mixed in their own false ideas. They had a blended theology. Jews despised them; it was a mutual animosity.
But there is no room for cultural division when water is needed. Tired, thirsty, and denied his request, Jesus offered her something. “If you had known the gift of God and who it was that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” His offer was too good to be true. The woman has spent her whole life up till now wishing she had easy access to something like living water, which was a way to refer to a fresh flowing spring. She would have loved to have found a source of life that didn’t leave her wanting more. She couldn’t find a stable marriage. And she couldn’t find anyone who loved her. But at this point she didn’t see the gift of God. She only saw just another Jew. She could tell he was an outsider. She saw some tired lonely stranger. Her mind was still on ordinary things.
That’s usually the way it is when you first try to introduce someone to Jesus. You tell them you’re a church member, that you worship the Lord, that you know the Bible, and they will only see a stranger. All it takes is one cultural barrier to divide. Although curious, she chooses to harp on the superiority of the Samaritans over the Jews. “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the water is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob who dug this well and drank from it?” Jesus had introduced the spiritual realm into the conversation. She only brings up spiritual matters into the conversation to boast about how she is a descendant of Jacob. “Our father” wasn’t meant to include Jesus. She was aware of the dividing line and wouldn’t just let it slide.
But the water of life flows past all boundaries and cultural barriers. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jesus himself is the source of blessing far greater than ordinary water. Jesus’ bold offer wears down the barriers of division. He points to himself as the source of eternal life for all people. Forget about cultural divides. Everyone needs what he offers. And he supplies living water for all who drink. “Everyone… whoever …”
This strange Jew who seemed to offer something extraordinary. Whether spoken in earnestness or not, the gospel had taken down a barrier. “Sir, give me this water so I won’t have to keep coming here to draw water to drink!”
Do you see in this woman someone familiar? You’ve probably witnessed this attitude before. You try speaking of spiritual things then some cultural barrier stands between you and that person. “Why should I talk with and trust you? You are from out of town, not of my generation, not of my social class, not like me.” And people just don’t want to talk about real spiritual issues. Jesusmust step across the barrier. He has to reach into her world. He does this by offering her something her world doesn’t give her: spiritual life. When you find a great cultural barrier or other hindrance that divides, point to Jesus as the source of life for all people. The gospel flows past all cultural barriers.
Cultural pride is one thing. But what about spiritual pride? Did this woman see her great need for what Jesus offered? “Go, call your husband and come back,” he said. She simply replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus saw her spiritually parched life. “You are right in saying you have no husband. In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you are now with is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” She had spent much of her life chasing after happiness but had always come up short. Jesus didn’t have to go into any details. Her heart was torn and broken. And before anyone can jump in and say that it was probably not her fault Jesus adds to her history: “the man you are now with is not your husband.” She has to confront the sins that plague her life. She knows the pains and the curse.
She should seem like someone familiar. She was living in a desperation and without lasting love. How many friends or family members have you known who have broken families? How many young people do you know who give up on marriage so that they are just living together outside of marriage and dishonor marriage? She was a mildly spiritual, misguided, lost sinner. Sound familiar? She was outside of the people of God. Jesus had no reason to speak to her. Apart from Jesus’ interaction with her she would have had no contact with him. She was one who God went out of his way to reach –even if it meant first exposing her sin. She should seem a whole lot more familiar when you consider her as a lost soul. She needed more than just water. She is just like you and me and everybody you meet at the water cooler.
Jesus tore down the barrier of cultural pride by using the gospel. Then he tore down the barrier of her spiritual pride by using the law to expose her sin. Another barrier stands: her misguided spiritual ideas. “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews insist that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” She sure does seem familiar! She is the person who when confronted with her sin, would rather just change the topic. She is the person who has been trying to find fulfillment in her own arrangements and her own pursuits, but always thirsting, wanting for more.
Notice Jesus doesn’t change the message of salvation to make it more palatable for her. He doesn’t mix any dirt into the water of life. He wants her to know that anything outside the Scriptures given through the prophets of Israel is false. “Salvation is from the Jews.” Likewise, when we try to change our teaching or share God’s Word in a way that makes it more acceptable to our hearers, we can pollute the waters. Jesus puts it bluntly: “You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know.” You sometimes hear Christians saying, “We don’t really know for sure.” Jesus says the opposite. Do you have God’s Word? Don’t be ashamed to assert you have the truth!
And don’t get distracted from that truth! All outward worship practices are not supposed to be our main focus. All our outward practices are empty without the Spirit and truth! What good is worship it is very meaningfully to the heart, but it has no grounding in solid teaching? The worship principles set down by Christ are to worship in spirit and in truth.
Jesus broke down her cultural barriers by the gospel. He tore down her sinful pride by the law. And he pushed aside her spiritual confusion without any apology over God’s plan of salvation. God chose Israel. Salvation is from the Jews. Now she was also ready to look for spiritual truth from the right source. “I know that Messiah is coming,” she said, “He will explain everything.” That’s it! She was now looking in the right place– right at him! “I who am speaking to you am he!”
It always comes back to Jesus! From him we have the water that gives eternal life. That makes our worship far more meaningful than any outward setting or style of music ever could. Jesus changes our worship from merely “our fathers did this” to “this is most certainly true.” Religion may be popular in many ways today, but merely being spiritual isn’t enough. Worship in spirit and in truth -centered on Jesus. True worship involves confession and absolution because we come to the water for cleansing. We hear the words of forgiveness. We sing songs of praise to not just make a noise like an empty gong but because we are filled with thanksgiving. We listen to the Word. each week because it is truth. And in that Word, we hear of salvation from the Jews through the world’s Messiah. We come to Jesus’ table for the gift of the forgiveness of sins and communion with him. We pray together because we know this is God’s will and he promises to hear us. Instead of searching in endless paths of religion we find in Jesus that comforting truth, “I am he.”
Born of the Jews, he came to be God with us in human flesh. He came to explain all things and fulfilled the Scriptures. He loved the lost so much that no barrier would stop his love from flowing. He came not just to thirst as a man in Samaria, but to cry out on the cross, “I thirst” as his parched body took the punishment for our sins. All our cultural arrogance, all our exposed sins, all our spiritual confusion lies open and silence before his cross. By his death he brought forgiveness and unending life to us all. But his resurrection he provides eternal life to all who believe! “Everyone who drinks” will have life! All who believe find life everlasting in him. The Son pours out the Holy Spirit in baptism.
We don’t even know this woman’s name, but she carries on one of the longest dialogues recorded in Scripture with Jesus. He traveled directly through the land of Samaria. But we find out he didn’t take this route to save time. Quite the opposite. He took the time to take this short cut for her. After she ran off to tell others, Jesus gave in to their request to stay with them for two more days. She came seeking water, she left proclaiming the water of life.
How many times have you been too tired to start up a conversation about eternity and the Messiah? Thank God Jesus didn’t! In perfect love he broke down all the barriers and the waters flowed to you. Somewhere along the line someone said, “I’ll support a Christian school even if it’s hard work. I’ll make sure my children get time with the water of life even if I’m tired after a day of work. I’ll make sure my children are not only going to bed with a water cup, but with a bible story, a hymn and prayer. He did that for you and those close to you in faith. What about the rest of this world?
When you are tired, thirsty, and done with a long day you still have an awesome task. It may seem like the person you encounter would be the last to take religion seriously. And it may seem like they’d be the last to listen to your offer of truth. But Jesus saw in this woman someone thirsting, someone needing answers, someone needing a Savior. You’ll encounter the same everywhere you go. The person who seems the least ready and likely to drink in the water of life is the same person thirsting for it. The same person who has pride, sin, and misunderstanding about Scripture has need of Jesus. And the water of life breaks down the barriers of pride, of sin, and misguided worship practices. It breaks down and all other barriers to pour out the gift of God to thirsty hearts. Our Shepherd leads us to springs of living water. And the water of life flows past all barriers.
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