I thought I was retelling a Bible story, but my literary mentor told me that I had written a dialogue. I wrote it in 2004, but I remember how much I enjoyed the work.
The Samaritan Woman at the Well
John 4
Stern faced, ashamed, and bitterly disappointed, she climbed alone up the rocky hill toward the well. With one hand, she gathered her white veil around her troubled face. With the other, she carried a large, empty pot.
It was the sixth hour of the day—noontime. Not the usual time for a Samaritan woman to fill her water pots on a hot summer’s day. Sunrise and sunset--that’s when the women of Sychar gathered at the well.
And most of them went to another well, which was on the other side of the village and closer to the town.
She had chosen this hour deliberately, and she had intentionally chosen this well—Jacob’s well. She wanted to draw water without encountering anyone.
From a distance, she saw him sitting on the stone wall that encircled the well. He slumped, an exhausted traveler.
She approached him cautiously. Occasionally, ill-intentioned men waited by the well at this time of day. They hoped to arrange an hour of pleasure with an errant Samaritan woman who had come for water at a time when respectable women were at home.
As she walked closer, she could see the fringe on the bottom of his robe, which told her he was a Jew. There was great hatred between his people and hers, and she felt blood rushing to her downcast face as resentment welled up in her chest.
However, she didn’t expect him to say anything. Typically, Jewish men did not talk to women when they were in public. When he spoke, she was startled.
“Please give me a drink of water,” he said in a Galilean accent that confirmed he was a Jew. His choice of words and tone of voice communicated urgency.
“Why are you, a Jew, asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” she asked, glancing uneasily at him.
She was guarded, but she was also intrigued.
He said, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you a free gift--fresh, living water."
She wondered what he meant by “fresh, living water.” She’d never heard of it.
“Sir,” she said, a hint of scorn in her voice, “this well is deep, and you have no bucket. How are you going to get this living water?”
What was the look that flickered across his face? Compassion? And why, in his presence, did she feel vaguely, uncomfortably aware of her sinfulness?
“Are you greater than our ancestor, Jacob?” she asked. Her tone was still challenging. “Tradition says that he gave this well to us, and he used to drink from it himself. How can you offer better water than he, his sons, and his cattle enjoyed?”
The man replied, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst--not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life."
The man’s conversation was a reference to spiritual life, but she didn’t understand, so she said, “Please give me this water so that I won’t have to come all the way from town to this well and draw water from it again!”
At this, the man said, “Go, call your husband. Come back here with him.”
Her curiosity changed to embarrassment. She bit her lower lip and backed away. “I have no husband,” she said.
“That was nicely put. ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and now you’re living with a man you’re not married to. Sure enough, you spoke the truth.”
She discovered, to her amazement, that he was able to describe every detail of her life.
“I perceive that you are a prophet,” she replied. She knew that he could not possibly have learned these things through ordinary means.
Samaritans believed that there were no prophets after Moses. However, they believed that God would one day raise up a great Prophet, a Messiah, who would be like Moses. In fact, they looked for this Messiah.
She began to wonder, “Is this the One we’ve been waiting for?”
However, she did not want him to expose more details about her chaotic personal life, so she tried to change the conversation.
Centuries before, her ancestors had built a temple at Mt. Gerizim. Here, they accepted the Jewish Pentateuch as their Bible and offered sacrifices according to the Mosaic code. This temple had rivaled the temple in Jerusalem and had produced a great controversy between Samaritans and Jews.
She wanted his opinion regarding the debate. However, she was much more interested in diverting his attention from her immorality.
“Please tell me this,” she said. “Our ancestors worshiped God here, at Mt. Gerizim, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship. Isn’t that correct?”
"Believe me, woman. A time is coming. In fact, it’s already here. In that season, it won’t matter what you’re called. It won’t matter whether you worship the Father here or in Jerusalem.
“Now, when you worship, you are guessing. You’re still in the dark. On the other hand, we who are Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation—the Messianic salvation that you seek--is made available through the Jews.”
She set down her water pot. Eyes lowered, she listened intently. She felt that his words had created a cord that tugged at her.
“The hour comes,” he said. “In fact, it’s already here. It is the hour of true worshippers.”
His words seemed to be alive. With each moment, they grew in size and intensity.
“The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth,” he said. Softly, he added, “The Father is seeking such people to worship Him.” She knew that he was inviting her to become one of these worshippers.
She said, “I know that the Messiah is coming. He is called the Christ, the Anointed One. Surely, when he comes, he will explain these things.”
He said to her, “I am He.”
His words were so powerful that she struggled to stay on her feet.
A group of men arrived. They were his acquaintances, his followers. They had been in the village, purchasing food. They looked intently at her but did not say anything.
Leaving behind her water pot, she departed quickly. Into the town she ran.
“Come, see a man who told me all things I ever did,” she said urgently to the townspeople she encountered. “He knows me inside out--even the shameful things. Could this be the Messiah? Surely this is the Christ, the Anointed One. Come out to the well. Perhaps He can take away your doubts.”
In the small town, word spread quickly. “Her demeanor has changed!” some said. “She actually claims that she has put her failures in the past. And she says that a man waits at Jacob’s well who is a spokesman from God.”
“Notorious as she is, how could an outsider know the details of her life? Perhaps this man really does have the special powers she talks about,” said others.
The townspeople were skeptical, but the woman’s statements intrigued them. The entire village walked up the hill toward the well in small, confounded groups.
Some received Him because of the woman’s testimony. Others embraced him because of the words He preached. They invited him to remain with them, and he stayed for two days, teaching and paying kind attention to them.
To the north lay Galilee, where the Messiah had grown up and where most of His miracles took place. He had a large following in Galilee, but the Galileans’ faith was weak, and the people in his hometown rejected Him.
Judea lay to the south, the home of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Jesus, the Christ, had followers in Judea, too. However, he faced persecution from the Judean religious leaders, who wanted to protect their power and influence by eliminating Him.
Between Galilee and Judea lay Samaria, the region of “the mongrels,” the despised. And the Samaritan woman, who had been rejected by her own people, was more reviled than most.
John Darby calls the Samaritans a “mingled race of strangers.” By Jewish standards, they were the least of the least. And yet Jesus found faith among them, a genuine understanding of the promised Messiah. Many of them became His followers.
More than two years before Pentecost, when Peter announced Jesus’ deity to the Jews, revival came to Samaria, and it began with the testimony of the woman at the well. “He is the Messiah,” she said. In a foreshadowing of the great move of Christianity into the Gentile world, the Samaritans embraced and acknowledged the Lord.
References:
Mark Perkins. “The Samaritan Woman.” Front Range Bible Church; Denver, Co.
http://gracenotes.info/topics/SamaritanWoman.html.
Wayne Jackson. “Jesus and the Samaritan Woman.” 1 November 2000
<>.
Finis Jennings Dake. Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, King James Version. Dake Bible Sales. Lawrenceville, Ga. © 1969, 1989.
Cfaith Bible study tools. BibleGateway.com. Message Bible. http://www.cfaith.com/FAITH/bible_gateway/1,3991,,00.asp.
Cfaith Bible study tools. Crosswalk.com. New American Standard Bible.
< http://www.cfaith.com/FAITH/bible_crosswalk/1,4034,,00.asp
The Samaritan Woman at the Well
John 4
Stern faced, ashamed, and bitterly disappointed, she climbed alone up the rocky hill toward the well. With one hand, she gathered her white veil around her troubled face. With the other, she carried a large, empty pot.
It was the sixth hour of the day—noontime. Not the usual time for a Samaritan woman to fill her water pots on a hot summer’s day. Sunrise and sunset--that’s when the women of Sychar gathered at the well.
And most of them went to another well, which was on the other side of the village and closer to the town.
She had chosen this hour deliberately, and she had intentionally chosen this well—Jacob’s well. She wanted to draw water without encountering anyone.
From a distance, she saw him sitting on the stone wall that encircled the well. He slumped, an exhausted traveler.
She approached him cautiously. Occasionally, ill-intentioned men waited by the well at this time of day. They hoped to arrange an hour of pleasure with an errant Samaritan woman who had come for water at a time when respectable women were at home.
As she walked closer, she could see the fringe on the bottom of his robe, which told her he was a Jew. There was great hatred between his people and hers, and she felt blood rushing to her downcast face as resentment welled up in her chest.
However, she didn’t expect him to say anything. Typically, Jewish men did not talk to women when they were in public. When he spoke, she was startled.
“Please give me a drink of water,” he said in a Galilean accent that confirmed he was a Jew. His choice of words and tone of voice communicated urgency.
“Why are you, a Jew, asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” she asked, glancing uneasily at him.
She was guarded, but she was also intrigued.
He said, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you a free gift--fresh, living water."
She wondered what he meant by “fresh, living water.” She’d never heard of it.
“Sir,” she said, a hint of scorn in her voice, “this well is deep, and you have no bucket. How are you going to get this living water?”
What was the look that flickered across his face? Compassion? And why, in his presence, did she feel vaguely, uncomfortably aware of her sinfulness?
“Are you greater than our ancestor, Jacob?” she asked. Her tone was still challenging. “Tradition says that he gave this well to us, and he used to drink from it himself. How can you offer better water than he, his sons, and his cattle enjoyed?”
The man replied, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst--not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life."
The man’s conversation was a reference to spiritual life, but she didn’t understand, so she said, “Please give me this water so that I won’t have to come all the way from town to this well and draw water from it again!”
At this, the man said, “Go, call your husband. Come back here with him.”
Her curiosity changed to embarrassment. She bit her lower lip and backed away. “I have no husband,” she said.
“That was nicely put. ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and now you’re living with a man you’re not married to. Sure enough, you spoke the truth.”
She discovered, to her amazement, that he was able to describe every detail of her life.
“I perceive that you are a prophet,” she replied. She knew that he could not possibly have learned these things through ordinary means.
Samaritans believed that there were no prophets after Moses. However, they believed that God would one day raise up a great Prophet, a Messiah, who would be like Moses. In fact, they looked for this Messiah.
She began to wonder, “Is this the One we’ve been waiting for?”
However, she did not want him to expose more details about her chaotic personal life, so she tried to change the conversation.
Centuries before, her ancestors had built a temple at Mt. Gerizim. Here, they accepted the Jewish Pentateuch as their Bible and offered sacrifices according to the Mosaic code. This temple had rivaled the temple in Jerusalem and had produced a great controversy between Samaritans and Jews.
She wanted his opinion regarding the debate. However, she was much more interested in diverting his attention from her immorality.
“Please tell me this,” she said. “Our ancestors worshiped God here, at Mt. Gerizim, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship. Isn’t that correct?”
"Believe me, woman. A time is coming. In fact, it’s already here. In that season, it won’t matter what you’re called. It won’t matter whether you worship the Father here or in Jerusalem.
“Now, when you worship, you are guessing. You’re still in the dark. On the other hand, we who are Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation—the Messianic salvation that you seek--is made available through the Jews.”
She set down her water pot. Eyes lowered, she listened intently. She felt that his words had created a cord that tugged at her.
“The hour comes,” he said. “In fact, it’s already here. It is the hour of true worshippers.”
His words seemed to be alive. With each moment, they grew in size and intensity.
“The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth,” he said. Softly, he added, “The Father is seeking such people to worship Him.” She knew that he was inviting her to become one of these worshippers.
She said, “I know that the Messiah is coming. He is called the Christ, the Anointed One. Surely, when he comes, he will explain these things.”
He said to her, “I am He.”
His words were so powerful that she struggled to stay on her feet.
A group of men arrived. They were his acquaintances, his followers. They had been in the village, purchasing food. They looked intently at her but did not say anything.
Leaving behind her water pot, she departed quickly. Into the town she ran.
“Come, see a man who told me all things I ever did,” she said urgently to the townspeople she encountered. “He knows me inside out--even the shameful things. Could this be the Messiah? Surely this is the Christ, the Anointed One. Come out to the well. Perhaps He can take away your doubts.”
In the small town, word spread quickly. “Her demeanor has changed!” some said. “She actually claims that she has put her failures in the past. And she says that a man waits at Jacob’s well who is a spokesman from God.”
“Notorious as she is, how could an outsider know the details of her life? Perhaps this man really does have the special powers she talks about,” said others.
The townspeople were skeptical, but the woman’s statements intrigued them. The entire village walked up the hill toward the well in small, confounded groups.
Some received Him because of the woman’s testimony. Others embraced him because of the words He preached. They invited him to remain with them, and he stayed for two days, teaching and paying kind attention to them.
To the north lay Galilee, where the Messiah had grown up and where most of His miracles took place. He had a large following in Galilee, but the Galileans’ faith was weak, and the people in his hometown rejected Him.
Judea lay to the south, the home of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Jesus, the Christ, had followers in Judea, too. However, he faced persecution from the Judean religious leaders, who wanted to protect their power and influence by eliminating Him.
Between Galilee and Judea lay Samaria, the region of “the mongrels,” the despised. And the Samaritan woman, who had been rejected by her own people, was more reviled than most.
John Darby calls the Samaritans a “mingled race of strangers.” By Jewish standards, they were the least of the least. And yet Jesus found faith among them, a genuine understanding of the promised Messiah. Many of them became His followers.
More than two years before Pentecost, when Peter announced Jesus’ deity to the Jews, revival came to Samaria, and it began with the testimony of the woman at the well. “He is the Messiah,” she said. In a foreshadowing of the great move of Christianity into the Gentile world, the Samaritans embraced and acknowledged the Lord.
References:
Mark Perkins. “The Samaritan Woman.” Front Range Bible Church; Denver, Co.
http://gracenotes.info/topics/SamaritanWoman.html.
Wayne Jackson. “Jesus and the Samaritan Woman.” 1 November 2000
<>.
Finis Jennings Dake. Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, King James Version. Dake Bible Sales. Lawrenceville, Ga. © 1969, 1989.
Cfaith Bible study tools. BibleGateway.com. Message Bible. http://www.cfaith.com/FAITH/bible_gateway/1,3991,,00.asp.
Cfaith Bible study tools. Crosswalk.com. New American Standard Bible.
< http://www.cfaith.com/FAITH/bible_crosswalk/1,4034,,00.asp
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