Jesus Offers Living Water

John

John 4:1-42

JHN_008

NET Bible Text

4:1 Now when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was winning and baptizing more disciples than John 4:2 (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), 4:3 he left Judea and set out once more for Galilee. 4:4 But he had to pass through Samaria. 4:5 Now he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 4:6 Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon. 4:7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me some water to drink." 4:8 (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.) 4:9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you - a Jew - ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?" (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) 4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, 'Give me some water to drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." 4:11 "Sir," the woman said to him, "you have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this living water? 4:12 Surely you're not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock." 4:13 Jesus replied, "Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. 4:14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life." 4:15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water." 4:16 He said to her, "Go call your husband and come back here." 4:17 The woman replied, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "Right you are when you said, 'I have no husband,' 4:18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!" 4:19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 4:20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." 4:21 Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 4:22 You people worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. 4:23 But a time is coming - and now is here - when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. 4:24 God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." 4:25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (the one called Christ); "whenever he comes, he will tell us everything." 4:26 Jesus said to her, "I, the one speaking to you, am he." 4:27 Now at that very moment his disciples came back. They were shocked because he was speaking with a woman. However, no one said, "What do you want?" or "Why are you speaking with her?" 4:28 Then the woman left her water jar, went off into the town and said to the people, 4:29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can't be the Messiah, can he?" 4:30 So they left the town and began coming to him. 4:31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something." 4:32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." 4:33 So the disciples began to say to one another, "No one brought him anything to eat, did they?" 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work. 4:35 Don't you say, 'There are four more months and then comes the harvest?' I tell you, look up and see that the fields are already white for harvest! 4:36 The one who reaps receives pay and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. 4:37 For in this instance the saying is true, 'One sows and another reaps.' 4:38 I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have labored and you have entered into their labor." 4:39 Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the report of the woman who testified, "He told me everything I ever did." 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking him to stay with them. He stayed there two days, 4:41 and because of his word many more believed. 4:42 They said to the woman, "No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one really is the Savior of the world."

Simple Summary

Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and turns a request for water into a conversation about eternal life, true worship, and the Messiah. He speaks truthfully about her sin, not to crush her, but to bring her into the light. He reveals that he is the Christ, and many Samaritans come to believe in him.

What This Passage Means

Jesus leaves Judea and goes toward Galilee through Samaria. At Jacob’s well, he asks a Samaritan woman for a drink. This is surprising because Jews and Samaritans did not normally associate, and she is also a woman. Jesus uses the moment to speak about a better gift than ordinary water.

He tells her that if she knew the gift of God and who was speaking to her, she would ask him for living water. He means the life he gives from God. Ordinary water can satisfy only for a short time. But the water Jesus gives becomes a spring inside a person and leads to eternal life.

Jesus then shows that he knows her life. He tells her to call her husband, and she admits that she has none. Jesus reveals that she has had five husbands and is now living with a man who is not her husband. He speaks truthfully about her sin. This is part of bringing her into the light.

The woman then asks about worship. Her people worshiped on Mount Gerizim, while the Jews said worship belonged in Jerusalem. Jesus says a time is coming, and now is here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Worship will not be ruled by one sacred place. It must fit the nature of God and the truth he has revealed. Jesus also says that salvation is from the Jews, showing that God’s saving work came through Israel.

When the woman says the Messiah will explain everything, Jesus tells her plainly that he is the one speaking to her. She leaves her water jar, goes back to town, and tells others to come and see him. Many Samaritans come, and Jesus tells his disciples that the fields are already white for harvest. Many believe because of the woman’s testimony, and many more believe after hearing Jesus for themselves. They confess that he is the Savior of the world.

Important Truths

• Jesus crosses ethnic, social, and moral barriers to bring life.
• The living water Jesus gives is a gift from God and leads to eternal life.
• Jesus does not ignore sin; he exposes it truthfully as part of his saving work.
• True worship is not tied to Gerizim or Jerusalem, but to worship of the Father in spirit and truth.
• Salvation is from the Jews, showing Israel’s place in God’s saving plan.
• The arriving Samaritans picture a ready harvest.
• Faith grows deeper when people hear Jesus for themselves.
• Jesus is the Messiah and the Savior of the world.

Warnings, Promises, or Commands

• Warning: do not reduce “worship in spirit and truth” to mere sincerity or vague spirituality.
• Warning: do not make the woman’s sin the main point of the passage; it serves the larger movement toward revelation and faith.
• Warning: do not cancel Jesus’ statement that salvation is from the Jews by overemphasizing the universal scope of his mission.
• Promise: whoever receives the water Jesus gives will never be spiritually thirsty in the same way again, because it leads to eternal life.
• Command: worship the Father in spirit and truth, not by rivalry over holy places.
• Command: come to Jesus honestly, even with hidden sin, because his truthful word leads to light and life.

How This Fits in God's Plan

This passage shows God’s saving plan moving through Israel and then beyond it. Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, brings the life promised by God and gathers true worshipers from an unlikely people group. The Samaritan confession that he is the Savior of the world points ahead to the wider reach of the gospel.

Simple Application

Do not think any person is too far from Jesus. Bring people to hear his word, not just to notice the messenger. Let your worship be shaped by the Father as he is revealed in the Son, and come to Christ honestly, even with sin that needs to be brought into the light.