Understanding the Woman at the Well

I: THE SCENE PICTURED

"Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well” (John 4:6)—that is, in a thoroughly exhausted condition, He sat down as if He could go no further, could do no more, and there it was that the Samaritan woman found Him. 

---How perfectly human all this proves our Lord to have been!

*Because He was perfectly and supremely God, His Godhead did not take away from Him His power to suffer and to be wearied.
*He was quite worn out, and thoroughly weary, and so, while they
went into Sychar to purchase provisions, He sat down on the well.

When our Lord was in the wilderness forty days, He hungered.
Q: Why did He not turn the stones into bread? 

He certainly could have done so, 

---but to do so was evidently quite out of order with Him who had come to be a servant, and to suffer as a man, the devil tempted Him to do it, which proves to us that it would have been wrong for Christ to do it.

Oh,

I never imagined how strong Christ was

till I saw His love hold back His deity!

PAINT A PICTURE,

and that picture is the portrait of a wearied Savior,

a Savior wearied by you,

worn out by you,

wearied, not with His journey,

but wearied with your sin....

the Lord has said it in Isaiah, “Thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities.”
*You have wearied Christ by doing wrong, and doing it again and again, and sinning against conscience and against light.

Now I want you to

STUDY THAT PICTURE 

I like the picture so, it seems to comfort me as I look at it, for albeit that He is very weary, yet I perceive that He is waiting.

The woman will be here soon, 

Jesus is very weary, but He still waits on.

Sinner, that is just the attitude of my Lord towards you.

Now I want to

ALTER THE PICTURE ON THE CANVAS

A woman must be put into the picture now, Mr. Painter.
There she is, and the Master is saying to her, “Give me a drink.” (John 4:7).
---Oh, to think that you and I can give satisfaction to the heart of Christ for all the anguish that He bore when He poured out His soul unto death!"
Charles Spurgeon

II: Gleanings for Your Soul at the Well

"Then she thought of a theological question that had troubled her ever since she was a little girl. 

---All her life she had heard the arguments about where was the proper place to worship. 

It was a question that defined her as a Samaritan, competing as they
were with the Jews in Jerusalem. 

---Worshiping in the “right” place and drinking from this special well had become an empty tradition, unable to purge her guilty conscience.

*So she posed this question to Jesus. “Where is the right location to worship?” She leaned forward slightly to hear the answer.
*Jesus fixed His truthful, gentle eyes on her. “Woman, true worship is not about having the right place; it is about having the right heart.”

Q: How is it with you? 

Q: Has your ecclesiastical tradition become just another hole in the ground that sustains your existence but hinders eternal life?

Lessons From This Story:
God is looking for you (But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. John 4:23).

His Word cuts into our soul (For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that Thou art a
prophet. v. 18-19).

You look up towards heaven, and say “I need a Savior” (The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. v. 25).

He reveals Himself and accepts you (Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He. v. 26).

Your priorities change (The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? v.28,29).

There are no human solutions 

to the deep needs of our life." 

Gerry Waggoner

III: Christ's longing at the well

"Not a very encouraging opening, 

---but beneath the exterior of superstition and ignorance, 

---Christ recognized the spiritual need 

---and longed to open to this benighted soul the treasure of the Father’s love.
*He did not ask her to come again when He would be feeling rested and refreshed, 

*or suggest that, if she could get together a sufficient congregation to make it worthwhile, He would speak to them on some very important truths, 

but to this single individual He proceeded to make known His work and character."

E.J. Waggoner

IV: Trust Awakens Trust

"The hatred between Jews and Samaritans prevented the woman
from offering a kindness to Jesus; but the Savior was seeking to find the key to this heart, and with the tact born of divine love, 

---He asked, not offered, a favor---

The offer of a kindness might have been rejected; 

but trust awakens trust."

E.G.W.

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Verse by Verse Analysis of the Discourse from the

 Commentaries of Adam Clarke, Matthew Henry, 

Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley and John Gill

4:7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give Me to drink.

There was great hatred between the Samaritans and the Jews. Christ's road from Judea to Galilee lay through Samaria. We should not go into places of temptation but when we needs must; and then must not dwell in them, but hasten through them. 

We have here our Lord Jesus under the common fatigue of travelers. Thus we see that He was truly a man. Toil came in with sin; therefore Christ, having made Himself a curse for us, submitted to it.
There cometh a woman of Samaria - Or "out of Samaria"; not out of the city of Samaria, but out of the country of Samaria; out of Sychar, a city of Samaria: her coming was not by chance, but by the providence of God. 

Jesus saith unto her, give Me to drink - that is, water to drink, out of the pot or pitcher, she brought with her, for he was athirst; which is another proof of the truth of His human nature, and of His taking it, with the sinless infirmities of it: though indeed this request was made, to introduce a discourse with the woman, 

He having a more violent thirst, and a stronger desire, 

after the welfare of her soul.

4:8 (For His disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

For His disciples were gone - Else he needed not have asked her.

4:9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Then saith the woman of Samaria unto Him - In a scoffing, jeering way, how is it, that Thou being a Jew; which she might know, by His language and His dress: askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?

4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.

Jesus answered and said unto her - In a very serious manner, in a different way from hers: Living water - The Spirit and its fruits.

4:11 The woman saith unto Him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast Thou that living water?

Thou hast nothing to draw with - Ουτε αντλημα εχεις, Thou hast no bucket. and the well is deep; that which is now called Jacob's well, is by some said to be forty cubits deep, and by others thirty five yards:
from whence then hast Thou that living water? this she said in a sneering, scoffing manner.

4:12 Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

Our father Jacob - The ancient Samaritans were undoubtedly the descendants of Jacob; for they were the ten tribes that revolted in the reign of Rehoboam: but those in our Lord's time were not genuine Israelites, but a corrupted race, sprung from a mixture of different nations, sent thither by Salmanezer, king of the Assyrians. 

4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

Jesus answered and said unto her - In a mild and gentle manner, patiently bearing all her scoffs and flouts, and continuing to instruct and inform her, concerning this living water, showing the preferableness of it to all others.
whosoever drinketh of this water - meaning in that well called Jacob's well, or any other common water:
shall thirst again;- as this woman had often done,

4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Springing up into everlasting life - On this account he can never thirst: - for how can he lack water who has in himself a living, eternal spring? 

By this water our Lord means also his doctrine, explaining and promising the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, which proceed from Jesus Christ their fountain, dwelling in a believing heart.

4:15 The woman saith unto Him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

Up till now she has not imbibed a single idea from Christ. The Lord has spoken to her in parables, but she has not seen through the thin veil, so she has missed his meaning. Now he fires another shot, and deals with her in another fashion.

4:16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

Call thy husband - Our Lord appears to have spoken these words for two purposes:
1. To make the woman consider her own state.
2. To show her that He knew her heart, and the secret actions of her life; and was therefore well qualified to teach her heavenly truths.

4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:

The woman answered and said, I have no husband - Which was a truth she would not have spoke at another time and place, or to any of her neighbors; but Christ being a stranger, and no odium incurring upon her by it; and this serving a purpose to excuse her going to call him, she declares the truth of the matter:

4:18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

For thou hast had five husbands - Which she either had had lawfully, and had buried one after another; and which was no crime, and might be.

4:19 The woman saith unto Him, Sir, I perceive that Thou art a prophet.

I perceive that Thou art a prophet - And therefore thought Him well qualified to decide the grand question in dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans: but she did not perceive Him to be the Messiah.

4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Worshipped in this mountain - Probably pointing to Mount Gerizim, at the foot of which Sychar was situated. 

The patriarchs had worshipped here-Jacob built an altar on this mountain, and worshiped the true God: This was the place where the Samaritans used to worship in opposition to Jerusalem.

4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

The hour cometh, etc. - The time was now at hand in which the spiritual worship of God was about to be established in the earth, and all the Jewish rites and ceremonies entirely abolished.

It is not the place which makes the true worship; 

it is the heart.

4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

Christ justly preferred the Jewish worship before the Samaritan, yet here He speaks of the former as soon to be done away. 

--God was about to be revealed as the Father of all believers in every nation. 

--The spirit or the soul of man, as influenced by the Holy Spirit, must worship God, and have communion with Him.

4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.

The true worshippers shall worship the Father - Not here or there only, but at all times and in all places.

4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

God is a spirit - Or "the Spirit is God"; a divine person, possessed of all divine perfections, as appears from His names, works, and worship ascribed unto Him; must worship Him in spirit and in truth; in the true and spiritual manner before described, which is suitable to His nature, and agreeably to His will.

4:25 The woman saith unto Him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things.

I know that Messias cometh - as if she had said that all the Samaritans expected the advent of the Messiah.

4:26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He.

Jesus saith unto her, I - am He - Our Lord never spoke in such direct terms concerning Himself to His own countrymen; nor even to His own disciples, till a little before His death.

4:27 And upon this came His disciples, and marvelled that He talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?

Marveled that He talked with the woman - Because it was contrary to the custom of the eastern countries; and there are many canons, among the rabbins, against it.

So that blessed interview was broken up by Christ’s own disciples, 

What a set of blunderers we are! 

We sometimes come in between Christ 

and poor sinners whom He is going to bless.

4:28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,

Left her waterpot - She was so penetrated with the great truths which Jesus had announced that she forgot her errand to the well, and returned to the city without the water for which she came out!

4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

Come, see a man - An uncommon, an extraordinary man, a prophet, and, who Himself says, He is the Messiah, who is now at Jacob's well; come, go along with me, and see Him and converse with Him, and judge for yourselves, who, and what He is: she does not say, "go and see"; for she proposed to go along with them herself, that she might have more conversation with Him, and knowledge of Him: so such that have tasted that the Lord is gracious, desire more communion with Him.