Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
The story of the woman at the well is simple: A woman was led to repentance by Jesus. But by choosing to tell us this story of the dozens or hundreds of incidents like it, the Holy Spirit used John’s pen to teach us something. It isn’t just that we can lead people to repentance—John the Baptist had already shown that to us. It isn’t just that a sinner could be shown his sin—Jesus taught us that by flipping tables over in the temple. Now we are taught that we shouldn’t hold the Gospel back from anyone. This woman was “undesirable” to Jesus’ followers. She was part of a different culture, a different denomination, and she was part of a race that they considered enemies.
But Jesus reached out to her, and as she took one of his hands he pointed with the other to fields, ripe for the harvest.
4 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
We were told earlier that this was happening in Aenon, not that far from the Jordan and probably opposite the River Jabbok. Why did Jesus leave? The best explanation I have heard is that with John’s time of ministry coming to an end, Jesus asked his disciples to help baptize the hundreds and hundreds of people arriving every day to be baptized; the help John finish his work. Jesus himself didn’t baptize anyone—it’s likely that this was so that nobody could claim to have a “superior” baptism, as if being baptized by Jesus himself would be superior to being baptized by John or Thomas. Even a baptism by Judas Iscariot washed away sin, since it is the power of the Word of God with the water that gives baptism its sacramental power.
However, the Pharisees were beginning to say that somehow what Jesus’ disciples were doing was dividing or lessening John’s work. It was a lying, incorrect and sinful statement, but Jesus would have no other reason to stop. God only makes a change in his actions or plans when the sins of mankind make it necessary. Here, the lie of the Pharisees—whatever it was—caused Jesus to pull up stakes and leave.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. (NIV)
Sychar is on the foot of Mount Gerizim, less than a mile from the rounded dome of the summit. This well can still be visited today (although a church stands over it now). There are steps leading down to a low access shelf around the well, which is really a 7½ foot-wide cistern fed by rainfall. The walls lining the upper shaft of the well are lined with smooth masonry. Deeper down the shaft is lined with rock. It penetrates at least 75 feet and probably much lower, but today the bottom is filled in with rock and rubble. It gives much better water than any of the nearby streams or springs. When Jesus would later speak of a better source of water, the woman was amazed—it was the best water source in all of Samaria.
Normally people drew water at the end of the day, as Moses says: “evening, the time the women go out to draw water” (Genesis 24:11). But Jesus arrived at the well at noon, “the sixth hour.”
The first lesson we learn about reaching out with the gospel is that sometimes we need to go when the time is right for someone else, and not for us. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be stewards of our time; but sometimes the needs of other people need to come before our own.
Something extra:
Psalm 20:1
For the director of music.
A psalm of David.1 May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
Psalm 20 was written by David, probably for his men before they went out with him to battle. Verse 1 is a blessing, a reminder that the name of the Lord is better than any armor.
The name of the Lord is stamped on us at our baptism; it comes upon us in with a trickle of water, and together they wash away our sins. What better protection do we have than our faith? Armor gives its protection, but it cannot save the soul. Warm clothes give protection against the frost and the ice, but they cannot save the soul. It is faith that saves out eternal souls, and it is our faith that we need to keep strong.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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