John 4:5-42 Commentary

The John lectionary narratives are especially long over the next few weeks. There is something lovely about simply sitting and reading a story together as a congregation and seeing what parts grab the community’s attention. In fact, that’s not a bad strategy for choosing where to put your focus as a preacher.

For me, the Holy Spirit highlighted the theme of welcome—inclusion where the threat of exclusion looms—throughout the many scenes of chapter 4. The theme first appears by way of allusion in verse 5: the well is “near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.” There is not a direct OT reference, but scholars connect the location to where Jacob settled when he came back home, after running away with his brother Esau’s birthright. Jacob’s worries about how Esau will receive him turn out to be the opposite of what he experiences; instead of hatred and violence, Esau welcomes him back with open arms. Thus, setting the scene for us, along with connecting us to an important patriarch in the Hebrew lineage, we are reminded of the entirety of Jacob’s story of unexpected (and perhaps unwarranted) welcome.

This is what the Samaritan woman and Jesus find in each other. They are not meant to be interacting in the way that they are: man and woman, Jew and Samaritan. Jesus has a need. He is hungry and thirsty. The disciples have gone to address the first, but this woman can help with the second because she has come to get some of the water in the well. She is surprised by the request, but does not seem opposed to offering him welcome by giving him something to drink. In fact, she engages Jesus with a question of her own. It’s as though she’s asking him to consider his request—does he really want to cross this line?

Jesus, of course, does. This is just the first of many lines Jesus will cross in order to extend his welcome. And it’s here that we leave the physical realm and enter the spiritual. Jesus describes the result of this welcome as “living water.” The woman’s next question is about who Jesus thinks he is: how does he expect to give something like that when he can’t even get his own water in the well?

Receiving Jesus’s welcome is like becoming a fountain of water; an endless supply always there to quench one’s thirst and to share with others. This is what it means when Jesus welcomes us in and we welcome him in in return.

Jesus and the woman continue their conversation, going deeper into matters of identity and the spiritual life, and Jesus describes to her a reality where people are welcome to worship God where they are as long as they are worshipping in spirit and truth. And all of this starts to feel very familiar to the woman to the point that she says what she’s thinking: the one who will make this welcome possible, the Messiah, is coming—that Messiah will proclaim these things in such a way that God’s people will heed them so that this sort of welcome is possible.

And just as Jesus says, “I am he,” the narrative tension ratches up a notch as the disciples come back with lunch. And we are reminded of the other side of welcome, the threat of exclusion. They are confused about the scene they have just walked in on, but they don’t say anything. Does the woman leave because of what Jesus has just said, or because these other men have showed up? She does not seem concerned that the welcome Jesus has extended to her is in jeopardy as she runs back to her neighbours and invites them to “Come and see” this possible Messiah. Astonishingly, they follow her back towards the well!

Meanwhile, the disciples choose to ignore what they just saw and act normal, urging Jesus to eat some of the food they’ve brought back. Jesus is too “in the zone” to eat (and you’ll notice that he hasn’t actually had a drink of that water yet), perhaps anticipating the crowd of people about to come back to the well. Instead of eating, he turns his attention to preparing the disciples to welcome the other Samaritans; it is time to reap the harvest that others have sown.

The summary at the end of the text is a beautiful picture of the mutual power of God’s welcome. The Samaritans, inspired by the one woman’s interaction, welcome Jesus into the community for a couple of days of further teaching. Their faith is sparked by the one woman’s testimony, but it becomes their own, “we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.” What a welcome!

Textual Point

The Samaritan woman’s invitation to her neighbours echoes Jesus’s own invitations to the early disciples. “Come and see,” they both say—as does Philip to Nathanael. And like Andrew tells his brother Peter, the Samaritan woman tells her friends- it’s the Messiah! Come, see, welcome and be welcomed by the Saviour!

Illustration Idea

We often think of Jesus’s humanness when the story begins as he is described as being tired, hungry, and thirsty. But the way he becomes hyper-focused and forgets (or stops caring for at least a little bit) about being hungry and thirsty is also a very human experience. I’ve heard from friends and colleagues with ADHD that this can be a regular pattern for them. It’s easy for us to imagine this happening in an emergency situation, but it can also be true when we’re doing something that we really like or is helping us express our sense of self and identity. I used to have a bad habit of skipping meals and not drinking enough water while writing chapters of my thesis, and on busy days of work I sometimes don’t clue into my hunger until I see someone else eating. I really enjoy thinking about Jesus becoming alive in this sort of way while he is welcoming the Samaritan woman.

[Note: For the Year A Season of Lent and leading up to Easter, CEP has, in addition to these weekly sermon commentaries, a special Lent and Easter Resource Page with links to whole sermons, commentary on Lenten texts, and more.]