“So (Jesus) came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.” – John 4:5-19
The story of the woman at the well is fairly well-known among Christians. When these verses are studied and discussed, it is usually for reasons such as Jesus bridging the gap between Samaritans and Jews, who did not associate with one another during that period in history. Or how Jesus showed compassion by conversing with a woman who, at that time, was considered an outcast by society. (Most women congregated together and drew water from the well early in the morning to avoid the heat of midday, but this particular woman was visiting the well by herself at noon.)
Yet, there is much more to unpack from this story about Living Water.
Out of a longing and yearning from the deepest part of your heart, have you ever settled for something that you knew was not God’s best? Did you believe that having something was better than having nothing?
The woman at the well had been married five times, and the man she was currently living with was not her husband.
Jesus revealed this insight to her in the most profound yet non-judgmental way.
How did the Samaritan woman arrive at this station in life?
I borrowed the following insight from “WESTMONT MAGAZINE: Taking a Deeper Look into the Woman at the Well” – “According to Jewish law, only husbands could initiate divorce, which required no explanation or justification. Widowed or divorced women were expected to remarry, and cohabitation was an acceptable alternative to marriage in the first century… When Jesus talks to people identified as sinners in the Book of John, He calls them to repent. But John 4 lacks any mention of sin or repentance.”
While society may have labeled her an outcast based on her marital history and current living arrangement, it was possible that she was simply a victim of relational circumstances beyond her control. If her being promiscuous had been a factor in her divorces, Jesus would have likely mentioned the need for repentance during His conversation with her, yet He did not do so. It is possible that her husbands either passed away or initiated divorce for reasons unrelated to marital unfaithfulness on her part.
While all of the details of the woman’s past are not fully known, what we can venture is that during their encounter, Jesus saw into the deepest part of who the woman was. He recognized that she desired to be loved, to be safe, and to be made to feel secure.
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.“
Jesus was offering Himself to the woman at the well.
She had either been abandoned by, divorced by, or made a widow by previous husbands. She was living with a man who was not maritally committed to her, even if cohabitation was permitted during that time in history.
Both literally and figuratively, she visited the well every day. With each passing year and with each decision she made to ensure her own survival at that time, she continued to thirst, relationship after relationship.
God created the marriage union. Marriages between believers who are equally yoked and marriages centered around Christ can be beautiful and God-honoring. For those called to marriage, God created men and women to complement one another and to humbly serve one another.
But even the healthiest relationships will fall short of perfection because of human limitations. Placing our faith in worldly things, even a Godly marriage, will disappoint us time and again. Psalm 118:8 reminds us, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in other people.”
Despite the earthly longings of our heart, may we remember that in God alone, we find our peace, our identity, our wisdom, and our salvation. Only through a relationship with Him, will we never thirst again.
“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” – Psalm 62:5-8.
