John 4:1-26
Key Verse 4:7

"When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Will you give me a drink?'"

Part I: Will You Give Me a Drink?

The crafty and jealous Pharisees heard of Jesus' popularity and began scheming to put political pressure on Jesus. However, it was not yet time for Jesus to engage in a struggle with them, so He left Judea. Judea was in the south, Galilee in the north, and the most direct route lie between them through the region of Samaria. Most Jews never traveled this route because there was bad blood between the Jews and the Samaritans. But Jesus had a divine Bible study appointment to keep, so He ignored human barriers and began traveling directly to Galilee through Samaria.

Thus, Jesus and His disciples came to the town of Sychar in the very heart of Samaria (Gen. 33:19, Josh. 24:32). Jesus was tired from traveling, so He sat down by a well to rest while His disciples went into the town to buy kim chi and sticky rice. This well had a special significance for the Jews because it was here that their forefather Jacob first met his beloved wife Rachel. It then became known as the Well of Romance. The well was a joyful place. Each morning and evening, the women of the town came out to draw water for their daily household chores. All the news they gathered during the day was exchanged at the well. The well was the Bible-time Information Superhighway – no gossip traveled faster than the gossip whispered around the well. As Jesus rested, a Samaritan woman came out from the town to draw water. Verse 6 tells us that it was the "sixth hour" Jewish time, which was about 12 o'clock noon – the hottest time of the day. As Jesus saw one solitary woman come out to draw water in the heat of the day, His heart was moved by compassion. He understood that this woman must be terribly lonely; otherwise, she would not come to draw water alone instead of joining the other townswomen each morning and evening. Indeed, this woman was the favorite object of gossip among the townswomen. Her life was like a soap opera – five husbands, five divorces, and one live-in boyfriend, [to be continued] tune in next time to find out what happens. The other townswomen despised this poor, lonely woman because of her corrupt and immoral life. Jesus wanted to help her, but how could He do it?

Verse 7 reads, "When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Will you give me a drink?'" Jesus humbly asked this despised woman for a favor. He reached out a loving hand to this woman by asking for her help. Most Jews would have rather died than accept anything from a Samaritan. Also, Jewish men never spoke to women in public. But Jesus humbly asked her, "Will you give me a drink?" Surprisingly, Jesus struck up a conversation with this corrupt, despised Samaritan woman. The woman was thunderstruck. She said, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" The real reason Jesus asked her for a drink was to establish a relationship between them and to help her open her heart so her soul could be saved. But Jesus did not answer her saying, "I asked you because I love you and I want to be your True Husband," or "I asked you because you need Me to be truly happy." If He had done so, she probably would have lobbed her water jar at His head and dashed back to the town. Instead, Jesus answered her very gently: "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." Jesus wanted to invite her to Bible study and give her the gift of God, which is Jesus Himself. Jesus' answer was so gentle and full of grace that the woman's cold heart was melted. Then she said, "Sir, 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 his sons and his flocks and herds?" She was puzzled and wanted to know more about how Jesus could give her this cool-sounding gift. Although the Samaritan woman's heart was slowly being opened, she was still spiritually blind. She could only comprehend on a physical level. But even though she looked like the most unlikely disciple candidate, Jesus took the initiative and invited her to Bible study. Then He spoke to her about spiritual things. He set a wonderful example of true, unconditional love by reaching past human barriers to help this lonely woman.

Jesus knew that the woman was soul-thirsty so He said, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The Samaritan woman did not recognize that the water from Jacob's well only comes from the ground while the living water Jesus offers gushes forth from the heavenly throne of God (Rev. 22:1). Jesus' beautiful words opened the woman's heart and she begged Jesus for a taste of His living water. The woman said, "Sir, give me this water so I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." Her words revealed the unquenchable, burning thirst in her soul and how tired she was of a mundane water-drawing life.

This conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well was like a beautiful love story between the Heavenly Prince and a sorrowful and lonely Samaritan woman.

Part II: Go, Call Your Husband and Come Back

The thoughts of living water and eternal life painted a very beautiful picture in the woman's heart. But her fairy tale image of happily-ever-after was suddenly shattered when Jesus told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." It must have been very painful for the woman to suddenly remember her appalling past. It must have also been very painful for Jesus to directly address the woman's deep sin problem. His words seemed too harsh. They seemed to violate her personal rights to privacy. But through them, Jesus revealed His deep divine love for her. Whatever it took, He wanted to reveal her sin problem that she could taste His living water. She answered Jesus' command by replying bleakly, "I have no husband." Then 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." Upon hearing these words, the woman's heart was flooded with warmth and peace. She finally found the one who understood her personal life problem. This woman's sin had been giving all her love, purity, devotion, and woman's faithfulness to men instead of to God. She had had five husbands, but not a single one of them was able to satisfy her deep-seated longing for understanding and unfailing love. Every last one of them failed her and her heart grew only more and more miserable. But Jesus' understanding words healed the deep wounds and loneliness in her heart. He was her True Husband.

Like this Samaritan woman, I too had a deep longing to be understood and known intimately. The cursed desire for love and emotional intimacy drove me to enter a sour relationship with my boyfriend. I had ugly sins in my heart that I had sworn to never reveal. In a desperate search for love and understanding, I spent many nights filling my mind with lustful thoughts and dreams of love, none of which satisfied my deepest need. Last spring, I ran away from exactly what I needed most, which was one-to-one Bible study. I entertained a critical spirit and lost sight of the value of personal Bible study. After leaving this ministry, I started down all kinds of love-hungry paths. Looking back, I am shocked at what can happen so quickly when we reject the Word of God in our lives. I immediately renewed my serious lust problem which I had overcome while studying the Bible. I stayed up all night long reading romance novels. I abandoned my lifetime pattern of dressing super-modestly in favor of more popular styles which would attract male attention. My friend and I each met one guy online and together arranged to meet them in person at Disneyland's California Adventure theme park. After that, we had a serious problem trying to get rid of the guys we met! I tried every polite way I could to get rid of this guy, but nothing worked. Eventually, I resorted to desperate cruelty saying, "Do yourself a favor and stop calling me!" My life had become so hopeless and confused.

Mercifully, Jesus saw my lonely, corrupt heart and had compassion on me. Like the Samaritan woman, I was spiritually blind and would not have been able to accept a direct invitation to the Word of God, so God sent His precious servant Shepherd Chris Kelly to ask for my help. Sh. Chris was preparing the nametags for all the foreign delegates and Chicago coworkers for the 2001 ISU International Summer Bible Conference. He had trained me on the software he used in 1999, so he asked for my help, just like Jesus asked the Samaritan woman, "Will you give me a drink?" During my visit with him and his family, God prepared the perfect time for us to study John 3 one-to-one by allowing us to become accidentally locked out of the house one evening. At that time, I received God's word from John 3:19-21a: "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light..." Although I didn't admit it at that time, I was so ashamed of my sin and my eyes were opened to clearly see my problem: I loved the darkness and was afraid to stand in the light of Truth. Even during Bible study, we sat outside in the dark shadows with only a few small candles around us, flickering like miniature hell fires, instead of inside the brightly lit house; it was a perfect model of the condition of my heart. This realization rocked my view of the world and shook me to the core. I was horrified to find myself willingly living in such a horrible position of deep darkness and sin. Through this impromptu Bible study, God slowly began to melt my cold and lonely heart and He poured His divine love, peace, and joy into it. Later God sent another one-to-one Bible teacher to bring me 1 John 1:8-9. "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." When I read this passage, I felt as though I were reading my own death sentence. I immediately knew that God wanted me to confess my sins openly, but I had made a firm vow to myself to never reveal the blackest corners of my heart to anyone. Most of my friends and family thought I was a very good girl without any major problems, and I thought I couldn't bear to break their image of me. I was afraid they might give up on me if they knew my sin. But I could not deny the power and truth of these verses, so by God's strength, I repented of my love problem through writing my life testimony for the 2001 Fall Bible Conference. Then, Jesus' warmth and peace and a great sense of purity and freedom flooded my soul like never before! I finally met Jesus who is my true Husband and the source of everything I need!

In verse 19, the woman said, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." When she accepted Jesus' divine love, her spiritual eyes were opened. Then, her first desire was to worship God, so she brought up a very obvious Samaritan problem: where to worship. Long ago, the Samaritan ancestors had separated from the Jewish ancestors and set up a new place of worship. Jesus taught her that the place of worship is unimportant. What is important is that she worship God in spirit and in truth from a sincere heart. Jesus also taught about God's shepherd heart for wounded and corrupted Samaritan-like women. God is like a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep in the open field and goes in search of the one lost sheep (Matt. 18:12-14; Luke 14:3-7). The Samaritan woman was God's one lost sheep. God sent Jesus all the way to Sychar in Samaria to find her and initiate this beautiful one-to-one Bible study.

After His message on worship, the Samaritan woman responded to Jesus by saying, "I know that Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us." She identified Jesus as the Messiah and recognized that He is everything to her. Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am He." When God sent Moses to deliver His people from Egypt, He revealed His name saying, "I AM who I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you" (Exodus 3:14). Jesus is this same God, I AM. He is the Messiah, and the only source of all good things. Only Jesus who is God could satisfy the deep longing and thirst in the Samaritan woman's soul. Only Jesus could be her true Husband -- the Creator of her soul who understands her intimately. Only Jesus can fill my heart with love and peace and hope for the future. I thank God for Jesus who gently invites us to Bible study and becomes our everything! And just as Jesus has helped me through one-to-one Bible study, I pray to also be used as a one-to-one Bible teacher so that many thirsty Samaritan-like students may meet Jesus as their True Husband.

One Word: Will you give me a drink?