The Gospel of John: John 4.1-15

Read and meditate on John 4.1-15.
This story about the woman at the well offers a case study in how to give away the gift of God. I heartily recommend Paul Little’s book, How to Give Away Your Faith, as a deeper study into this conversation. We’re half way through it, and the best is yet to come.

          ¹When Jesus knew the Pharisees
had heard what He was doing, and that He
had baptized more disciples than had John –  
²although the Lord Himself baptized no one, 
but His disciples did – ³He left Judea,
departing to return to Galilee.
⁴And it was necessary that He through
Samaria should go. ⁵He came unto
a city there called Sychar, which was near
the plot of ground that Jacob on his dear
son Joseph had bestowed. ⁶Now Jacob’s well
was there. And Jesus, weary, sat a spell
beside the well. And it was almost noon.
⁷A woman of Samaria came soon
to draw some water. Jesus said to her,
“Give Me a drink.” ⁸(Now His disciples were
not present; they had gone away into 
the city to buy food.) ⁹The woman to
Him said, “How is it You, a Jew, ask me
to give You water?” (For the Jews, you see,
keep separate from Samaritans.) ¹⁰To her
then Jesus answered, “If you knew for sure 
the gift of God, and Who it is Who said
to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would instead
have asked Him, and He would have given you
the living water.” ¹¹Then the woman to
Him said, “Sir, You have nothing by which to
draw water, and the well is deep. How do
You plan to get that ‘living water’? ¹²Are 
You greater than our father Jacob, for
he gave this well to us, and drank from it
himself, and all his sons and livestock?” ¹³ Yet
said Jesus to her, “Anyone who of
this water drinks will thirst again. ¹⁴But of
the water I shall give, whoever drinks
of it shall never thirst, but it shall spring
up like a fountain in him, flowing to
eternal life.” ¹⁵The woman said, “Oh, do,
Sir, give this water to me that I may 
not thirst, nor come to draw here every day.”

- John 4.1-15

Reflect
1.  What stands out to you as most striking about Jesus’ approach to this woman? What can you learn from Him about being a witness in your own Personal Mission Field? Complete this prayer: Thank You, Lord, for showing and teaching us how we may…

2.  Man, woman; Jew, Samaritan – lots of hurdles to overcome here for the Lord in bringing living water. What are some hurdles you might expect to encounter as you work harder at being a witness for Christ? Whenever I confront an obstacle to sharing the gift of God, Lord, help me…

3.  Jesus switched metaphors with this woman. He didn’t talk about being “born again” but offered as the gift of God, living water, that could well up to everlasting life. How might you learn to adjust your presentation of the Good News to meet the situation, interests, or concerns of the people to whom God sends you? What role might prayer have in helping to prepare you? Lord, I’m not as ready as I want to be, but…

4.  Explain how Jesus took an ordinary, everyday, temporal thing and used it to launch this conversation onto a higher plane. Is it important that we learn how to do this? Why? Again, Lord, I need You to help me…

5.  We can highlight the main points along which this conversation has unfolded thus far: water, gift of God from Me (Jesus), this water/thirst again, living water/everlasting life. Jesus met this woman right where she was, and used her need and concern to proclaim the Good News of everlasting life. We will only work to learn how to do this when we love people as Jesus did. What do you need, so that you will love the lost people in your Personal Mission Field like this? Bring together into one prayer the prayers you composed for questions 1-4.

Summary
“Sometimes Scripture calls the grace of the Spirit ‘fire,’ other times it calls it ‘water.’ In this way, it shows that these names are not descriptive of its essence but of its operation. For the Spirit, which is invisible and simple, cannot be made up of different substances.… In the same way that he calls the Spirit by the name of ‘fire,’ alluding to the rousing and warming property of grace and its power of destroying sins, he calls it ‘water’ in order to highlight the cleansing it does and the great refreshment it provides those minds that receive it. For it makes the willing soul like a kind of garden, thick with all kinds of fruitful and productive trees, allowing it neither to feel despondency nor the plots of Satan. It quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” John Chrysostom (344-407 AD)

May the Lord help us to proclaim His Good News in such appealing and effective ways as Jesus did! We have the living water within us. How should we expect this to help us in fulfilling our witness (Acts 1.8)?

Closing Prayer
The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of Your enemies!
Your people shall be volunteers
In the day of Your power;
In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning,
You have the dew of Your youth.
…                                                                
The LORD is at Your right hand;
He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.
He shall judge among the nations,
He shall fill the places with dead bodies,
He shall execute the heads of many countries.
He shall drink of the brook by the wayside;
Therefore He shall lift up the head.

Psalm 110.2, 3, 5-7

Psalm 110.3-7(Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
Filled with the Spirit’s power, in holy robes of love,
From early morning’s hour, they serve their Lord above.
Christ reigns a priest forever, the King of Righteousness,
And King of Peace Who ever His chosen ones will bless.

The Lord at Your right hand, Lord, in wrath shall shatter kings,
When judgment by His strong Word He to the nations brings.
Then, all His foes defeated, He takes His hard-won rest,
In glorious triumph seated with us, redeemed and blessed!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series IV a and b: John, edited by Joel C. Elowsky, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Verse translation of John by T. M. Moore.