Week 2: Encounters With Jesus - "Woman at the Well"

Encounters With The Son- “The woman at the well”
John 4


1. The Well
About 100 feet deep. The well is not a spring well of water but a well fed by water that percolates and gathers. It is clearly so deep that you cannot get to the water unless you have you something to draw the water.

2. The woman
VS> 7
Three issues we see rising up in this encounter:
1- The Jews hated the Samaritans and the Samaritans shared the same feelings toward the Jews.

2- But it goes beyond hatred- The Jews had all the Old Testament and the Samaritans had only the first five books of the Old Testament. They were not too careful about the teachings in those books and let a lot of pagan superstitions creep into their religion. They did not go to Jerusalem to worship in the temple! They had their own place of worship in Samaria.

3- This woman was of Samaria and a Rabbi (teacher) was forbidden to greet a woman in public.

3. The Water
Read vs. 10-12
Now what is “living water?” The water of a flowing stream was referred to as “living water” but Jesus is not speaking of that. As water is to earthly life so this “living water” is to eternal life, the true life. Jesus did not refer to Himself as the “living water.” He is the one who has it and can supply it. Jesus is saying that His teaching is God’s revelation and it is the “living water” that can nourish and keep alive our soul.

Jesus is teaching this woman that He can give her salvation and eternal life

4. The Testimony
We now see the disciples returning with the food they had brought. They are surprised to find Jesus talking to this woman. They didn’t ask any questions and the woman left the water pot by the well and went back to the town.

She said vs. 29-30

The disciples had been in town but they made no effort to witness or invite people to Jesus. This woman with the bad reputation did that and people started coming to see Jesus. Jesus was talking to His disciples who were urging Him to eat and Jesus said He had some spiritual food to eat. As the people came toward Him, He told them vs.35.
They came because of this woman’s testimony and many more came to believe as he taught them. They said to the woman, “we no longer believe just because of what you said, we’ve heard His teaching and believe He really is the Messiah, The Saviour of the World.”