John 4:1-15 DAY 3

What is the writer saying?

How can I apply this to my life?

The sixth encounter is with the Woman at the Well, a Samaritan with emotional needs. She will prove to be everything that Nicodemus was not! The rulers, in this case the conservative Pharisees, were concerned about Jesus’s growing success and, unlike John the Baptist, were not happy. Unwilling to escalate the confrontation at this time, Jesus leaves the area of their concentration (Judea) and heads for safer, neutral ground in Galilee. Galilee was safer because ever since 930 B.C. the area was inhabited by non-religious Jews and then even Gentiles, starting in 722 B.C. Around 165 B.C. concerted effort was made by the religious authorities in Jerusalem to colonize the north (perhaps the reason for Jesus’s family living in Nazareth) but it was still the frontier in Jesus’s day. “Must” (4:4) is a moral necessity, not physical, as they could have done what religious Jews did when traveling north. They could have bypassed the area by crossing the Jordan River and traveling up the east bank. The sixth hour was high noon, normally too hot for the work of carrying water, but this woman avoided the other women of the city out of shame for her lifestyle. She has a smart mouth (v. 9), is argumentative (v. 12) and no doubt loud. She was accurate about the depth of Jacob’s Well. Archaeologists have uncovered it and it is 135 feet to the water table! Jesus does the unexpected and asks the woman for a drink. Note that John finds it necessary to explain that socially Jews would normally not stoop to speak to a Samaritan, much less a woman. Jesus crosses both boundaries to reach this woman. Jesus uses a known item, water, to introduce this woman to the unknown, spiritual life.

To catch fish, you have to go where the fish are! Christ takes the road less traveled and is busy doing His Father’s business. Jesus used things people knew and understood to unfold spiritual truth.

What is the writer saying?

How can I apply this to my life?