The Woman at the Well

And Jesus, Part 2

John 4:19-42 ESV

A Story of Love

We learned that the woman at the well was hiding a secret and Jesus knew her secret. Jesus told her he knew she had been married several times and the man she was living with was not her husband.

You’d think that was her secret, right?

I don’t think it was. I think her secret…her shame was that she had been unable to produce a male heir.

She married husband one and didn’t give him sons. She could have given him 3 daughters but that wouldn’t have mattered. He needed sons, so he divorced her to get a new wife who would give him sons.

Having a son was part of the deal.

Husband number two married her to have sons. Once again she had no sons. She may have had two daughters, but no sons, so he put her away (divorced her) so he could marry a woman who would give him sons. At this point, the women in town probably started talking about her.

By now she was starting to feel terrible about herself because she had not produced a male heir, but she did marry again a third time, hoping she would have a son this time. But, she didn’t produce a son. She could have had a daughter, but that didn’t count. Husband number three divorced her. The women in town were talking about her.

And then a fourth time she married, hoping she would finally have a male heir. The women in town were definitely talking about her now. They were convinced something was definitely wrong with her.

Even though she had not produced a boy child, a fifth man agreed to marry her. I don’t know why, but maybe he thought it would be a challenge. After a while when she didn’t produce a male heir, he divorced her. The women in town were now convinced she would never have a male heir.

Because the Samaritan woman had no male heir and no male relative, she had no one to care for her. The sixth man could have had compassion on her because she couldn’t produce a male heir, or he could have needed a free housekeeper. He could have taken this older woman in because she was living on the street, or because he knew her sister. We don’t know why this man gave her shelter and let her live in his house. What we do know is that Jesus knew the truth.

Ironically what we know today is that the sex of a child is not determined by the mother. It’s determined by the father (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081211121835.htm).

Jesus would have know it at the time.

Even if that wasn’t the case, Jesus knew the woman deserved love and compassion. Because of the cultural norm at the time it makes sense that she had been divorced because she had not produced sons.

We pick up the story of the Samaritan Woman at the well in John 4:19-30. “The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.”

Once the Samaritan woman realized there was something different about Jesus she told Him she knew a Messiah was coming who would reveal all things.

Then Jesus, who IS TRUTH told her the truth. He told her, “I am he (the one)”. When Jesus’ disciples came and found Him speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well, they questioned Him, asking why He was speaking with a Samaritan Woman???

While they were questioning Jesus about His right to speak with a dreaded Samaritan (who by the way was a) woman, the Samaritan woman left her jug (which no one ever did) and she ran to town. She RAN to tell the people she had been hiding from, “Can this be the Christ?”

The woman who had been hiding from the other women in town was the one who became an evangelist for Sychar in Samaria.

Then we learn in John 4:31-38, “Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

At this point, the Jesus’ disciples found Him and they were trying to get Him to eat something, but Jesus told them he had eaten food they didn’t know about. So, the disciples (in true form) wanted to know who took food to Jesus!

Jesus had to be thinking, “Really??? How long will it take you to catch on?” But because Jesus is patient and kind, He gave them a lesson about the harvest. He told His disciples the field was ready for harvest (the field being people and the harvest being souls for The Kingdom of God). Then Jesus compared the reapers and the sower to those who seek souls who need eternal life with God.

This portion of scripture does not tell us that the twelve who followed Jesus day and night caught on to the big picture that Jesus was talking about.

In John 4:39-42 we DO learn that because of the Samaritan woman, “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

The Samaritans believed. They believed because the woman believed and TOLD them to come and see. Then, once they heard Jesus teach, they truly believed He was the Savior of the world.

I would like to think the Samaritan Woman was able to live the rest of her days, telling other Samaritans about Jesus, her Savior and the Savior of the world!

Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Ask God to Show you

Ask God if there is someone you can encourage today by telling them God loves them. Listen and wait for God’s answer. The Spirit will show you the way and give you the words to say.

In God, Deborah

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