(a) How did Jesus use his encounter with the Samaritan woman to illustrate that he is the living water? (b) State twc lessons that can be derived from this ...

Answer Details

(a) Jesus and the Samaritan woman: the living water (John 4:1-26)

On his way from Judea to Galilee, Jesus passed through Samaria and came to a town called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, wearied from the journey, sat down by the well about the sixth hour, while his disciples had gone into the town to buy food.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." The woman was surprised, for Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus replied, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman noted that he had nothing to draw with and that the well was deep, and asked whether he was greater than their father Jacob who gave the well.

Jesus answered, "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst nor come here to draw."

Jesus then told her to call her husband, and when she said she had none, he revealed that she had had five husbands and the man she now had was not her husband. Amazed, she perceived he was a prophet and raised the question of the right place of worship, whether on the mountain in Samaria or in Jerusalem. Jesus taught her that the hour was coming when true worshippers would worship the Father neither on that mountain nor in Jerusalem, but in spirit and truth, for God is spirit. When she spoke of the coming Messiah, Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." Thus he used the ordinary water of the well to lead her from physical thirst to the spiritual, ever-satisfying gift of eternal life which he alone gives.

(b) Two lessons from this episode

• Jesus is the source of eternal life and true satisfaction: Only the living water he gives can permanently satisfy the deepest thirst of the human soul, unlike material things which leave one wanting again.
• The Gospel breaks down barriers of race, gender and sin: Jesus reached out to a Samaritan, a woman, and a sinner, showing that salvation is offered to all people without discrimination, and that God seeks true worshippers who worship him in spirit and in truth.