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But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Jesus left Judea and departed again unto Galilee, and He must needs go through Samaria... There came a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus said unto her, Give me a drink... And Jesus answered and said unto her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me a drink, then you would have asked, and He would have given you living water. (John 4:3–10)

When Jesus meets a lost woman at a first-century watering hole, He shows us how our missionary God reaches the very people the world overlooks.

Four Portraits, One Intimate Gospel

The Gospel of John is a spectacular picture of our Lord Jesus. We are given four beautiful portraits of Him in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are very similar, but the Gospel of John stands alone in its own category. Unlike the first three Gospels, John lets us see intimate moments of Jesus communicating one-on-one with individuals—with Nicodemus in John 3, with Pilate in John 18 and 19, and here with the woman at the well in John 4. The Gospels reveal Jesus, and He is the gospel, the good news.

In John 3, Jesus speaks to a very religious individual. In John 18, He speaks to a very powerful man. But here in John 4, Jesus speaks to a woman in desperate need of who He is. She is just lost, just in need. And I think she is very similar to almost any person we would bump into out in our community day after day. The way Jesus speaks with her is insightful and instructive—it shows us how we ought to be when we meet people like her.

Jesus Goes Where No One Else Would Go

Jesus is leaving Judea, where He had been ministering in and around Jerusalem, heading back to Galilee, where most of His ministry took place. Between Judea and Galilee lay the region of Samaria. Most Jews in Jesus's day did not like to go through Samaria. They were called to appear before God in Jerusalem three times a year—at Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles—and the fastest route for those in the north was through Samaria. But the most religious Jews would cross the Jordan and go around Samaria entirely, so they wouldn't have to pass through it.

The reality is, there is a Samaria in every one of our lives—those places we just don't want to go. The Jews looked down on the Samaritans. They felt that passing through would taint their holiness. But what we see in this story is that Jesus went to the places no one else wanted to go, seeking to reach people no one else would reach. That's an insight into the character of our God, and it's an instruction for us: God often calls us to step out into places where, at first, we may not want to go.

A Tired, Hungry, Gracious Savior

Verse 4 tells us He must needs go through Samaria, and He came near the parcel of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph, where Jacob's well was. Jesus was weary in His journey and sat on the well at about the sixth hour—about noon. Although He is fully God, He was fully man as well, and in His humanity He suffered the same weariness we suffer. Verse 8 tells us His disciples went into the city to buy food, so we know He was both tired and hungry.

Now, how many of us will be honest and admit that when we're tired and hungry, we're a little cranky? We all tend to default back to our carnal nature in those moments. That's why short-term mission trips are great—they bring us to that place. By the time those sixty kids and leaders reached Costa Rica, they were probably tired, hungry, and out of their comfort zone, with every temptation to be cranky with each other. But on a mission trip you can't be; you're there on behalf of God, and so you have to die to that.

Could you imagine Jesus? He stepped out of heaven, down into humanity, taking the form of man. If He were like you or me, He would have walked around with a chip on His shoulder—and with all the power of God, that could have been dangerous. But there is Jesus, full of grace and full of truth. He is not short with this woman. He simply says, Give me a drink. He positioned Himself where needy people were and sought to minister even when tired and hungry, when we might say, "Now's not a good time."

The Outcast at the Well

When Jesus asks for a drink, the woman responds in a very interesting way: How is it that you, a Jew, ask of me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink? He was clearly Jewish by his appearance, dress, and speech. A Jewish man in the first century would never interact one-on-one with a woman who was not his wife or close relative—and not only is she a woman, she is a Samaritan woman. The Jews had no dealings with Samaritans; they hated them. Their racism was wrong, but it was real. Yet Jesus, full of grace and truth, reaches out with the love of God to the unlovely.

It's notable that she came to draw water alone, in the middle of the day. Many commentators say—though it is speculation—that she was likely an outcast in her community. The women of that day went in groups, early in the morning. This woman comes by herself at noon, indicating she was very possibly an outcast. And Jesus wants to reveal something great to her.

First-Century Starbucks

The place where they met is essentially like a Starbucks—the well, the watering hole. Jesus met her in the community. Most non-believers are not going to come to a beautiful building with great music on a Sunday morning, but we will interact with them at Starbucks, out and about in our community. The problem is, that's out of our comfort zone. It's easy to talk about Jesus here, but out there we're rushed, tired, hungry, and cranky, and we're not ready to interact.

I was in a Starbucks recently, and a girl making drinks looked up and said, "Pastor Miles!" I'd never met her, but she'd been coming to our church. The man about to take my order looked at me like I was some sort of criminal: "You're a pastor? A pastor of a church?" It's amazing how throwing out that word—or telling someone you're a Christian—can stop people cold. So there is Jesus, at a first-century Starbucks, striking up a conversation with a barista: Can I get a drink?

Refusing the Political Distraction

Note something here, because it happens to us too. She tries to bring Jesus into a political discussion: Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. When you talk with people about Christ, they often want to talk about the politics of religion, and we're so quickly grabbed into it. But Jesus is not distracted by the political drama, and that is instructive for us. In John 18 He tells Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world. We have bumper stickers and even jeans that say "not of this world," but do we really recognize that we belong to another kingdom? The enemy often uses political debate to pull us off what is truly important. Jesus simply continues on with what He has to say.

The Gift and the Giver

Then comes the important verse: If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me a drink, then you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water. Jesus tells this unnamed woman she is ignorant of two things: first, the gift of God; and second, the giver of that gift. Over the next verses He strategically reveals the gift, brings her to a place where she wants it, and then reveals who He is.

This is what God has called us to as well—at Starbucks, on State Street, at work, at play—ready to bring people the knowledge of the gift and the giver, because the world desperately needs both. As Hebrews says, without faith it is impossible to please Him. Notice, too, that Jesus wasted no time identifying her problem, and He didn't worry about offending her. We live in a climate so focused on political correctness that we don't want to ruffle feathers, but He straight out tells her, You are ignorant of something extremely important.

"Are You Greater Than Jacob?"

In verse 11 she says, Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well? The answer, of course, is yes—but Jesus reveals the gift before revealing His identity. She ascribes her own limitations to Him, thinking He means an earthly source. But this gift is not of this world. There are many worldviews and religions claiming where fulfillment and salvation come from, but this gift cannot be found there.

"Are you greater than Jacob?" is another question we face when sharing Christ. People say, "Are you so arrogant to claim your way is better than mine? You have your truth, I have my truth." We live in a pluralistic culture where everyone has their own truth. But is your truth equally valid, or is there one way and one truth as the Scriptures reveal? Jesus doesn't take the bait. Some of you have had the same circular conversation with friends or family for years, trying to prove your way is better. In reality, we need to show the gift and the giver. None of the other ways of this world bring everlasting life. They may bring satisfaction or pleasure for a time, but there is only one way.

Water That Never Runs Dry

Now Jesus reveals the gift. Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again—every well of this world will leave you unsatisfied—but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well springing up unto everlasting life. We must have earthly water to sustain physical life, but without the water Jesus gives, there is no spiritual, everlasting life. Whoever drinks what He gives will never thirst again; it satisfies the deepest need.

So the woman says, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw. In verse 10 Jesus said if she asked, He would give—yet here He doesn't give. Why? Because she's thinking at a human level: she just doesn't want to carry that heavy pot a hundred feet up out of the well anymore. I believe the reason is found in James 4:3: You ask and you do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you might consume it on your own desires. She asked for the wrong reason.

Revealing the Giver

So Jesus turns to reveal the giver. Go, call your husband, and come here. That's a problem. She gives a quick answer: I have no husband. You've had that happen—you push a button with a non-believer and they say, "We're not going there." I find this often happens when I ask, "Have you had an experience in church before?" "I don't want to talk about that."

Jesus could have called her a liar, but instead He commends her truthfulness: You have well said... for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. She replies, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. She senses He is something more than a man hanging out by a well. She gives Him a prophet's test: Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say Jerusalem is the place to worship.

Jesus answers, Woman, believe me, the hour comes when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father... But the hour comes, and now is, when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Here Jesus reveals the great difference between the old and new covenants. Under the old covenant, you could only worship in one place and one way; under the new covenant, God opens the doors. We don't have to go to Jerusalem—we can worship Him in Santa Barbara.

"I AM Speaks to You"

The woman says, I know that Messiah comes, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus answers, I that speak unto you am he. In the original Greek it reads, I AM speaks unto you. In Exodus 3, when Moses asked God who he should say sent him, God said, Tell them I AM sent you. And here, by this well in Samaria, Jesus says to this woman, I AM.

Look what happens. The disciples return and marvel that He talked with the woman, but no one challenges Him. The woman leaves her water pot—she came for water, yet now she leaves it—and goes into the city saying, Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? And the people came out of the city to Him.

He had not revealed Himself as the Christ to Nicodemus, the religious leader. He had not yet revealed Himself as the Christ even to His own disciples. But to a sinful, outcast woman of Samaria, He says, I am God. She left what she had been looking for. It doesn't mean she never needed physical water again, but she found what truly answers every heart's cry. And she instantly became an evangelist—the first indication that she was wholly saved. This is what God has called us to as well: knowing the gift and the giver, we go into a lost world saying, Come and see the One who is the source of everything truly needed.

Broken Cisterns and the Fountain of Living Water

One last thing. About 500 years before Jesus came, the nation of Judah was about to be judged. God sent Jeremiah with the indictment. In Jeremiah 2:13 He says:

My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

That is the testimony of this world. It has forsaken the well of living water—God, the only source—and cut out other wells, other containment devices that look something like living water but are broken and cannot bring eternal life.

Our commission is to go out to Starbucks—yes, the pastor is telling you to go to Starbucks, it's not a bad thing—but while you're there, tired, hungry, in a rush, share with people about the well of living water: Jesus Christ, the righteous. Amen.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Father, we are thankful for the great grace You have given us. Thank You that You have graced us with Your Word and revealed Yourself to us, desiring that we would know You, Your nature, and Your character. As we have worshiped You through song, we worship You now through the study of Your Word. Here You reveal Yourself, and we see You glorified in all Your grace and truth. By Your Word, stir us to be in awe of You today—the way You work and who You are. We ask this in Jesus's name, and all God's people agreed, saying, Amen.