Joh 4:7-8 | KingComments | STEP | While the Lord is sitting there, resting, a woman of Samaria comes to draw water from the well. We become witnesses to an extraordinarily meaningful encounter of a lonely, poor, sinful woman with the Judge of the Living and the Dead. He opens the conversation with the question whether she wants to give Him, the eternal God, the Creator of heaven and earth, a drink. As Man, He depends on this woman for a sip of water. He Who has provided food and drink for an entire nation in a wilderness for forty years, He Who has turned water into wine and feeds a hungry crowd, asks someone else for a drink. He utters no command, but He takes the place of a humble Questioner toward a woman who lives in sin. Thus the Lord begins the conversation with this woman He knows through and through. He knows how to approach her in order to finally give her the full blessing He has for her. This encounter has been meticulously prepared by God. When the Son of God and the woman meet, no one is present. The disciples had to leave and make room for her. They know nothing of this grace. The woman too comes to the well alone. She is not with the other women. In her solitude, she meets the Savior of the world through the wonderful guidance of God Who brought her there. What a meeting! Two lonely people meet each other. But Who was lonelier than He? The conversation is between Him and her personally, without possible interference or distraction from others. The Samaritan woman is most astonished by the Lord’s question. She sees that He is a Jew. She knows that in the eyes of the Jews she is ‘only’ a Samaritan woman and therefore has no significance. The contempt of Jews for Samaritans is great, so great, in fact, that Jews completely ignore the Samaritans. Jews are acting as if they don’t exist. There is no relationship whatsoever with them. That is why she is amazed at how it is possible that He, Who is for her at the moment no more than “a Jew”, is asking her for a drink.

‏ John 4:7-8

An Encounter at the Well

While the Lord is sitting there, resting, a woman of Samaria comes to draw water from the well. We become witnesses to an extraordinarily meaningful encounter of a lonely, poor, sinful woman with the Judge of the Living and the Dead.

He opens the conversation with the question whether she wants to give Him, the eternal God, the Creator of heaven and earth, a drink. As Man, He depends on this woman for a sip of water. He Who has provided food and drink for an entire nation in a wilderness for forty years, He Who has turned water into wine and feeds a hungry crowd, asks someone else for a drink. He utters no command, but He takes the place of a humble Questioner toward a woman who lives in sin. Thus the Lord begins the conversation with this woman He knows through and through. He knows how to approach her in order to finally give her the full blessing He has for her.

This encounter has been meticulously prepared by God. When the Son of God and the woman meet, no one is present. The disciples had to leave and make room for her. They know nothing of this grace. The woman too comes to the well alone. She is not with the other women. In her solitude, she meets the Savior of the world through the wonderful guidance of God Who brought her there. What a meeting! Two lonely people meet each other. But Who was lonelier than He? The conversation is between Him and her personally, without possible interference or distraction from others.

The Samaritan woman is most astonished by the Lord’s question. She sees that He is a Jew. She knows that in the eyes of the Jews she is ‘only’ a Samaritan woman and therefore has no significance. The contempt of Jews for Samaritans is great, so great, in fact, that Jews completely ignore the Samaritans. Jews are acting as if they don’t exist. There is no relationship whatsoever with them. That is why she is amazed at how it is possible that He, Who is for her at the moment no more than “a Jew”, is asking her for a drink.