The Way
The Well at Sychar
Noon at the well, two thirsty people
Story
On the way from Judea to Galilee, Jesus passed through Samaria and came to a town called Sychar. It was near the land Jacob had long ago given to his son Joseph, where Jacob's well was. Tired from the long road, he simply sat down by the well. It was around noon, with the sun hanging overhead. His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
Then a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said, give me a drink. Startled, the woman asked back, you are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink? Jesus answered. Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst again. The conversation turned to her five husbands, and then to the question of where one ought to worship.
The woman said, when the Messiah, the one called Christ, comes, he will explain everything to us. Jesus said, I am he, the one speaking to you. The woman left her water jar behind and ran into the town. There is a man who told me everything I ever did. The Samaritans came out in crowds and begged him to stay, and he stayed there two days. The people confessed. This man truly is the Savior of the world.
Walk this scene on the map →His Words
Whoever drinks this water will thirst again. Whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst; it becomes in them a spring welling up to eternal life.
God is spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.
My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to carry his work through to the end.
Come and see! There is a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: Jn 4:1–42
Background
Samaritans worshiped on Mount Gerizim rather than in Jerusalem, and there was deep hostility between them and the Jews. Jacob's well, which still survives near modern Nablus, is said to be about 40 meters deep.
Pause and Reflect
What is the thirst in my heart that nothing seems to satisfy?