Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 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 has something in mind with this woman. He wants her to see the true way to heaven. But there are several obstacles that stand in the way. Jesus deftly removes them, one by one. The first and perhaps the one that will take the most effort is the Jew vs. Samaritan problem. At first it seems like Jesus is going to ignore it completely. But we’ll see that he’s just going to get at something deeper and then come back to it.
10 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.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?” (NIV)
When Jesus offered the woman “living water,” he used a term that could have been misunderstood. Although “living water” could mean water coming from a spring (the well they were at is fed only by rain), the woman was already catching on to Jesus’ deeper meaning by referring to Jacob and his twelve sons. The Patriarchs proclaimed the word of God to their families; Jesus is the Word of God.
“Living water” is life itself; eternal life. Jesus is the one who brings salvation. Believers in Old Testament times could make the same association between water and life, as one man said about the wisdom that comes from faith: “She (Wisdom) will feed him with the bread of learning, and give him the water of wisdom to drink” (Sirach 15:3).
The woman challenged Jesus’ authority by comparing him to Jacob. I wonder whether he smiled at this. Before taking on human flesh, the Lord himself had wrestled with Jacob who was “weeping and begging for his favor” on a ledge overlooking the deep gorge of the Jabbok on the other side of the Jordan (Genesis 32:22-30; Hosea 12:4). Jesus could also say, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58).
The living water offered by Jesus is not just for the children of Israel, and it is not for flocks and herds. It is for all mankind, and we are blessed by it, day after day. We can’t comprehend how the death of one man could do so much for our benefit, but God’s grace doesn’t depend on our comprehension any more than a car depends on the genius of the driver to get started. Just as the key is turned and the thing starts; so grace is offered, and eternal life is given. The engine of our salvation is purring; brought about by the genius and skill and grace of our Saving God, lubricated and fueled by the study and devotion to God’s holy Word.
Something extra:
Psalm 20:2
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.
David’s battle-prayer continues with a look to the recent victory of Mount Zion itself. Not only had God given David success against the Jebusites of Jerusalem, but now the tabernacle of God was established there, not very far (perhaps a few feet) from the very place where God provided a substitute when Abraham was willing to offer Isaac. It would be on the same hill that God would provide a better substitute, his own Son Jesus, for the sins of all mankind.
What better help from the sanctuary could there be than an end to all sacrifice for all time? In Jesus, we have life that will never end. In Jesus, we have the gift of heaven for all eternity.
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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