The Samaritan Woman: The Relationship That Changes Everything (John 4)

Introduction

"He has done great things for us." With these last words of the worship songs, the preacher at the Assemblée de Dieu de Montpellier Richter (EMR) opens the Gospel of John, chapter 4. He reads the first 26 verses: the story of a woman for whom Jesus did great things.

John is the only Gospel writer to report this encounter at Jacob's well, near Sychar. The woman's name is not given, and that is precisely what lets each of us see ourselves in her story. The preacher sees in it "the journey of faith," "the journey of salvation": we arrive with our ideas, our convictions, our religion. Not everything is false, but not everything is reality. And Jesus, patiently, peels away each layer, each false idea, until these words: "I am he, the one who speaks to you."

The message is about a relationship. "There is no relationship like the relationship you can have with Jesus Christ. There is nothing comparable to it." It is the most stable, the firmest and the deepest relationship a human being can live, the one that lasts through winds and storms. And it is exactly what this woman needed to live.

Outline of the Message

1. A Lonely Woman with Unstable Relationships

• She comes to draw water at the sixth hour, around noon. In Israel, people drew water very early in the morning, before the household chores, or at the end of the day. Midday was not the time for it. This woman chooses an hour when nobody is there.
• Young women did not go to the well alone. The preacher recalls Laban's daughters in the Old Testament: they go together, they talk with one another. This woman is alone. She has no friends to talk to, and at the well there is only one man sitting there, Jesus.
• Jesus brings her relationships into the light: she has had five husbands, and the man she is now with is not her husband. This situation puts her "in anonymity, in shame, in flight."
• These are unstable relationships. Five men were not enough, and the sixth does not fill the emptiness in her soul. "She thirsts for something." Each time it ends in failure, and she moves on to something else.
• She has no illusions: she will say it herself, "I have no husband." She knows exactly where she stands.
• Building relationships is hard, sometimes even within the family. This woman does not escape that. And yet the one who builds true relationships comes to meet her. He does not cover up her sin, nor does he judge her; he goes straight to the heart of the matter: "The root of sin, there is only one who is able to pull it out, and that is Jesus."

2. Jesus Does Not Stop at Sychar by Chance

• Jesus leaves Judea to return to Galilee. On the map, Samaria lies in the middle. "There is no coincidence."
• He tells his disciples: I am stopping here, there is a well, I will sit down, you go ahead. They go into the town to buy food.
• Yes, Scripture says he was tired from the journey. But humanly speaking, Jesus pushes on to reach this very place, because he knew that this woman would come at this hour, in these circumstances.
• "God knows you, my friend. The Lord knows you, and he is certainly giving you an appointment at this moment, at this hour, in the situation you are in."
• Tired and hungry, Jesus still takes the time to speak with this woman. God wants to give time to your situation. "Do not think you are a social security number, an unknown among the crowd. You are known by the Lord, by your name."
• He stops and waits patiently for this sad, weighed-down, unhappy woman to arrive.

3. Jesus Takes the First Step and Breaks the Chains

• By speaking to her, Jesus crosses a barrier that had stood for a long time: Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Everyone knows it, people avoid each other.
• Two things fall at that moment: the separation between the two peoples, and the fact that a man, a Jewish man at that, speaks to a woman, in a society where men were considered more important.
• "He has the power to break the chains that imprison us." He is able to set you free from your addictions, from your bad thoughts, from everything that weighs on your soul. "Religion cannot do it, but Jesus can."
• The Lord sometimes begins very gently in our lives, as with "a frightened bird," someone who has already been badly hurt and who says: never again, I do not trust. He draws us "with cords of love" (Hosea 11:4), then he undoes a first layer, a second layer.
• "What is holding you back, my brother, my sister? What thoughts have a grip on you? What lies have settled in?" The things you were told, that you listened to, and that have become your convictions.
• A young man once told the preacher: "No, God cannot save me. I have done too many terrible things." The answer: what is impossible with men is possible with God (Luke 18:27). "This is not a method of telling you positive things. I am speaking to you about real things."
• Jesus does not start by telling her what is wrong. He takes a step toward her. Religion says: you must do this, you must do that. The Christian faith says that God came all the way to us: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Behind this woman's story is the story of salvation.

4. "Give Me This Water": The Inner Thirst

• "Give me a drink." Jesus is thirsty, of course. But he knows that what dominates this woman's life is an inner thirst: thirst for life, thirst for peace, thirst for happiness. She is so thirsty that she has tried all kinds of things, without success.
• We have all done much the same: looking for happiness on our own, clinging to friends, to addictions, to drugs. We tell ourselves it will help, and we end up even more imprisoned.
• The woman raises every possible obstacle: I am a woman, you are a Jew, our peoples do not speak to each other. Jesus does not say to her, "take your water and go away." "The Lord does not let go. The Lord does not abandon her. The Lord does not stop at words. He looks at what is in her heart."
• "If you knew the gift of God..." She is still reasoning: you have nothing to draw with, the well is deep, are you greater than our father Jacob? Our reasoning can become obstacles. When I look at my life, at everything I have done and said, I tell myself that everything is blocked, that there is no way out. "Let the Lord work."
• Then Jesus puts his finger on what she needs: water that will spring up to eternal life. And she begs: "Sir, give me this water, so that I don't get thirsty." For the preacher, "it is despair crying out to God."

5. The Key: A True Heart

• So Jesus goes deeper: "Go, call your husband." She has to speak truthfully. She tells the truth, and Jesus answers her: "This you have said truly." Something has changed in her heart: she had started out defensive, suspicious, and the shell is slowly coming apart.
• "The key that lets us see God's grace, that lets us receive this living water into our hearts and our lives, that key is a true heart."
• "God does not ask you to pretend. God does not ask you to show yourself in your best light." He wants you to tell him what is wrong, even if what is wrong is called sin.
• This is what the Bible calls confessing our sins. To confess means to declare, to agree with. "To confess my sin is to acknowledge my sin. It is to admit my sin," without shame, before the one who knows me better than I know myself, who knows my falls, my struggles and my battles.
• This woman broke the silence, "that code of silence she had locked herself into," because she felt welcomed by the one who says to her: I can change your life. What allows God to work in your life is that you are honest with him. "Lord, forgive me, I need you so much."
• Jesus does not name the five men one by one. He does not throw her past in her face: "you see, you see, you see. That is religion." He only needed her to acknowledge where she stood, and he tells her: yes, I know.
• He does not cover up, but he welcomes the one who is sick, wounded, suffering. The Lord did not come for the healthy (Mark 2:17), nor for those who say "I am righteous" and think they have no need of the one who justifies. He came for those who say: "Lord, I know I cannot do it on my own, I need you."

6. Jesus Reveals the Father: Worshiping in Spirit and Truth

• One last obstacle remains: her beliefs. She has a religion. You say we must worship in Jerusalem, we say we must worship on this mountain.
• Jesus reveals something extraordinary to her: he speaks to her about a Father. "Jesus the Savior came to introduce us to the Father." He will say: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).
• Someone might have wanted her to sit down first and explain who, what, how, which way. No: the Lord introduces her to the Father and tells her that she can worship him, in spirit and in truth. These are the worshipers he is looking for. "The truth is right there. You have just expressed it. So, worship the Father."
• When we come into this state of worship, an immense love fills the heart and the life. "These are the living waters overflowing from this woman's heart, from the very depths of her being."
• "You can worship the Father, you can love the Father because he loved you." And this woman is overwhelmed by this reality.

Key Takeaways

• Jesus does not stop at the well by chance: he knows you by name and gives you an appointment right where you are, at the hour you are there.
• God is the one who takes the first step. Religion says "you must do"; the Christian faith says that Christ died for us when we were still sinners.
• Jesus breaks the chains one by one: cultural barriers, reasoning, shame, beliefs. What people cannot do, he can.
• The key to receiving living water is a true heart: acknowledging before God what is wrong, without pretending.
• Jesus came to introduce us to the Father. Worshiping him in spirit and in truth is the strongest and deepest relationship there is.

Personal Application

1. At what "unexpected hour" do you also come, to avoid other people's eyes? What puts you in loneliness or in flight?
2. What thoughts, lies or reasonings are holding you back and have become your convictions ("God cannot save me," "everything is blocked")?
3. What are you thirsty for right now, and what have you clung to in order to try to quench that thirst?
4. Is there something you have never truly told God? What would happen if you confessed it to him this week, without pretending?
5. Do you worship the Father in spirit and in truth, or does your relationship with God remain a religion, a list of things to do?

Verses Cited

• John 4:1-26
• Hosea 11:4
• Luke 18:27
• Romans 5:8
• Mark 2:17
• John 14:6

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the Samaritan woman come to draw water at noon?

The text speaks of the sixth hour, that is, around noon. In Israel, people drew water very early in the morning or at the end of the day, never at this hour. Young women went together. This woman chooses a moment when nobody is there: the preacher sees in her a lonely woman, living in anonymity, shame and flight.

What does "a true heart" mean in this message on John 4?

When the woman admits that she has no husband, Jesus answers her: "This you have said truly." For the preacher, this is the key to receiving living water: not pretending, not presenting yourself in your best light, but telling God what is wrong. This is what the Bible calls confessing our sins, that is, acknowledging and admitting our sin before the one who knows us better than we know ourselves.

Why does Jesus speak to the Samaritan woman about the Father?

The last obstacle to remove is her beliefs: worshiping on this mountain or in Jerusalem. Jesus does not first ask her for explanations. He introduces her to the Father and tells her she can worship him in spirit and in truth. Jesus the Savior came to introduce us to the Father, and worshiping the Father means an immense love that fills the heart: these are the living waters overflowing.