John 4:1-26 (NIV)
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “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.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

CO-TEXT

JOHN 1
v14 - The Word becomes flesh and tabernacles with us (alluding to OT mobile temple)
v49 - Jesus "sees" Nathanael and he accepts: "“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
v50 - Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you... You will see greater things than that.”

JOHN 2
v1 - Jesus first miracle (sign) at a wedding: turning water into wine.
v13 - Jesus clears the temple courts.

JOHN 3
v1 - A teacher of the law (Pharisee) Nicodemus seeks out Jesus in secret at night (darkness).
v27 - John the Baptist replies, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven.”
v29 - John the Baptist uses marriage language to describe Jesus, the Christ (anointed Messiah).

CONTEXT

The Marriage Plot of Scripture:
Unmarried man by well, woman comes to draw water, the man asks for a drink. She offers him water. They get married.
Genesis 24:10-51 - Isaac + Rebekah
Genesis 29:1-30 - Jacob + Rachel
Exodus 2:15-21 - Moses + Zipporah

Samaritans (local Jewish enemies)
• After king Solomon, the tribes of Israel divided into two kingdoms: Jerusalem capital of southern kingdom.
• Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom, later conquered by the Assyrians.
• Samaritans became mixed with foreign nations, plus took in excommunicated Jewish people.
• They only believed in the Pentateuch (first 5 books of Bible).
• The followed God's blessing Mt. Gerizim as the one true temple site (Deuteronomy 11:29; 27: 11-26, and Jacob set up an altar there (Genesis 33:18-19).
• A Jewish leader destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim in 110 BC

Women in the 1st century (Mediterranean)
• Marriage was arranged between families.
• Value was in her dowry and childbearing.
• Married early (12+) to bear more children because of a high infant mortality rate.
• Ten + years younger than men when married (2nd father for many)
• The family or husband could divorce as women had limited rights.
• Widows were vulnerable as inheritance went to children.
• Hope for survival was often in marriage.
Note: If a woman was promiscuous, she was less likely to re-marry, or have influence. Though she would be broken, there is no mention of sin per se, like in other gospel stories. Instead, she was receptive and her community followed her. 

The Rest of the Story
John 4:27-42 (NIV)
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “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.”

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

Spiritual Sense in Scripture
This idea of spiritual perception is throughout Scripture—using sensory language to express the experiences of God.
• ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34:9, 1 Peter 2:3)
• David sings of ‘thirsting’ for God in longing and God’s hand upholding (Psalm 63:1)
• Prophets and others ‘hear the word of the Lord’ (Isaiah 1:10; Hosea 4:1)
• Jesus promises that ‘the pure in heart will see God’ (Matthew 5:8)
• Opening of the disciple’s eyes during the supper at Emmaus (Luke 24: 30–31)
• Paul prayers for ‘the eyes of your heart to be enlightened’ (Ephesians 1:18)
• Faithful inhale the ‘sweet aroma of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 2:15)

How do we cultivate our spiritual senses to perceive and receive like the Samaritan woman?

Evagrius Ponticus (345-399 AD) was an influential early Christian monk and spiritual theologian formed around the time of the Nicene creed. After serving as a deacon in Constantinople under Gregory of Nazianzus, he fled the city due to a romantic temptation involving a married woman and eventually settled among the desert monks of Egypt. In the desert, this turning point became a path of deep spiritual recalibration. Through prayer, practice, and learning from seasoned monks, Evagrius developed a keen understanding of how dis-ordered thoughts distort our perception of God. His writings offer practical guidance for (1) purifying unhealthy attachments (Letting Go), (2) cultivating the capacity to “see” and discern God’s work (Learning to See), and (3) growing in love as the natural outflow of communion with the God who first loved us (Living in Love, 1 John 4:19).

A person who worships in Spirit and Truth no longer honors the Creator because of His works, but praises Him because of Himself. –Evagrius

Let Go

Let go of unhealthy attachments—even good things that keep us desensitized to God's love and grace.

Learn to Taste and See

Learn to taste and see through awareness, discernment, renewal, integrating senses.

Live in Love

Live in love through secure attachment, abiding in God, becoming a natural spring of God's love to others.

Lent Guide to Cultivating the Spiritual Senses

Lent Guide PDF

(Re)Sources

• BibleProject.com/Videos/John
• The Samaritan Woman's Story, by Caryn Reeder
• Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, by Kenneth Bailey
• Finding Freedom in Constraint, by Jared Patrick Boyd
• Passions of the Soul, by Rowen Williams