A little embarrassed, she had to respond and the first thing she thought to say was “how is it that you being a Jew can ask a Samaritan woman for a drink?” You see, she was used to the hate between her culture and the Jewish culture that had existed for over 1,000 years after the kingdom was ripped in two by rebellion. Even though both her culture and this stranger’s culture thought they worshipped the same God. 

He answered her with a very unusual statement: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” She was taken aback and wondered how this man could even get water since he had nothing to draw water with. The next thing he said bordered on amazing. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst”. In fact, he continued, “the water I give him will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Now this gave her pause, what a profound pronouncement. Eternal life? Never be thirsty? -- Just what could he be offering her? She did what I would have done, practical woman that she was, she asked him for this water so that she would not have to make this trip to the well every day! 

There! Never a wall-flower, she came right out and asked him. Now what would he do about it? Unexpectedly there came a catch – he asked her to first go and get her husband! A bird fluttered in a bush nearby. In the distance she could hear the bleating of a lamb in the otherwise still air. Now what was she going to say? This was a source of great hurt in her life. She was very ashamed of her relationships with men. She simply lowered her head and answered, “I have no husband.” 

The silence was deafening. But when she looked up, the stranger didn’t pry, but responded with something that took her breath away. He said “You are right. In fact, you have had five husbands and the man you are living with now is not your husband.” 

It couldn’t be! “How could he know?” she wondered as her secret shame came crushing down on her once again. This had to be a man of God. “How can I respond?”, she pondered. “I can’t talk about my life – it hurts too much”.

Husband 4		Husband 5		Man Living With

At this point we see the woman, quietly inquire about one of the most confusing matters of her time and one that was hotly debated. She asked the stranger if they should worship God on the hill above her town or up in Jerusalem, where the Jews claimed worship should occur. 

I can feel the sincerity in her questions. Filling her water jug was long forgotten. She knew that something was not right in her heart and her life. And somehow, she was beginning to think that maybe this man could help her get it right. When he did answer, he didn’t even name a place to worship; he simply said that God was spirit, and that he must be worshipped in spirit and truth. 

This struck a chord with her. Something was beginning to make incredible sense. Worship of God didn’t have to do with how her culture had defined it, or anyone’s culture for that matter. She left her jug on one side of the well and slowly walked around to stand in front of him. As they both stood and faced each other, she said with a clear expression of hope, “I know that Messiah, called the Christ, is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 

Here is where I can come to tears as I look at this encounter many years after the fact. The man looked intently into her eyes and with an authority she had never heard from any man, he said, “I who speak to you … am he.” 

This was spellbinding. This was it. This was the Messiah!

They were interrupted as some other men came to the well, and with a look at the Messiah, and completely forgetting her jug, she turned and hurried back to her town. 

I don’t know just what she was thinking on this trip back to town but I can imagine her hurried pace and the tears welling up in her softened eyes. Her heart was so full it felt like it could burst at the thought of this awesome encounter she had just had. She wondered how she, a woman who in her own eyes thought she had done “everything wrong” in life could have just met and talked with the Christ, the hope of all mankind. “That was it!” – hope had come to her. Her darkest fears could be cast aside.  

Ah – the town at last. There were people everywhere she would normally avoid, but she started telling everyone who would listen what had happened and told them the stranger had told her everything she had ever done. She challenged everyone who would listen to believe that he was the Christ.

It didn’t take long for the word to spread and it appears that the whole town came out to the well to meet the Christ and invite him to stay with them. 

The account closes with us hearing the townspeople saying: “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” 

A town, adrift in the religious arguments of culture, had found nothing less than the Savior of the world. A lone woman, burdened with the weight of shame, was set free. She had found living water at her well – water that had welled up to eternal life.

Putting it all together…

I chose this historical account from the 4^th chapter of John in the Bible to illustrate that women are the same today as we were 2,000 years ago in Jesus’ time. We have the same needs – the need to be loved and forgiven of our mistakes. 

Let me spend just a little time discussing this wonderful revelation that The Woman at the Well discovered and that I have discovered in my own life. 

It’s a simple plan, this plan of the “Living Water” that Christ offers to us. It starts with us understanding that God exists. We all feel the “pull” or “gentle tug” toward this belief. We can’t help it. The Bible says “He has set eternity in our hearts”, and “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”. “I will be found by you,” declares the Lord. (Ecclesiastes 3:11; Jeremiah 29:13 & 14) 

We also have to realize we have a need to be forgiven of what the Bible calls our sinful nature. Yes, I know the words sound “biblical”. But let’s face it, we do wrong things at times. Some of us have done really wrong things, like the Woman at the Well and the many, many men in her life. She knew she was wrong but kept moving to another man to try and satisfy some unquenched thirst in her life. Little sins or big ones – they are all treated as sin in God’s eyes. The Bible says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:23) 

But let me talk a second about a popular myth that’s been around since mankind was created. The myth is buried deep inside every culture, including ours. It’s the mistaken thought that if we “do good things” we can balance out the “bad things” in life. Don’t believe it – it’s a lie. In fact, the Bible says “No one will be declared righteous in his sight (God’s sight) by observing the law (God’s laws)”. (Romans 3:20) 

Now that’s downright scary! “How can I ever be right with God?” Well thanks be to God himself, He sent us his son, Jesus Christ, to take away our sins for us. That’s precisely why he died on the cross, his sacrifice put the guilt of my sin on himself. (see Isaiah 53:5) And his resurrection from the dead proved he had the power to do the hardest thing in the world – forgive me for my sin. How did I receive this forgiveness of sin? Here’s the fantastic part - I asked him for it! The Bible talking about Jesus Christ says “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”; and “All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name”. (Acts 4:12; Acts 10:43) 

Woman at the Well rejoice! Woman of the world rejoice! This is the greatest news in all of history! Right now, today you can ask him for this forgiveness. In fact you could pray to him something like this: 

“God, I know I’ve done wrong in my life and I need your forgiveness. Please take away my sin and help me to live a life you want me to live. I believe you will do this for me through your son Jesus.” 

If you have prayed this prayer, either today or in the past, it is a time of great rejoicing! Jesus himself says in the Bible “For this is the will of my Father, that he who sees the son and believes in him shall have eternal life. And I myself will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40)  This is nothing less than the living water that The Woman at the Well found. This will quench our thirst forever.

If you have just asked God for the forgiveness above, I want to urge you to do a couple things right away. First, find a church where you can share and grow in your faith with other believers. Also, begin to read the Bible. You will find that it contains the living words of God himself. A very good place to start is in the book of John itself where we found the record of the Woman at the Well (John 4 verses 1-42 are found at this link where you can see the exact words from scripture). Another good thing is to talk over your decision with the person that may have shared this quilt pattern with you or pointed you to this website. If you have a minute it would sure be great to hear from you too (my email and address are on this link). I’d love to celebrate with you!