As we anticipate and prepare our hearts for Resurrection Day Celebration on Sunday April 9th, our new unit of lessons features some very unique and memorable characters in the gospel of John. Each of these people had a very special personal encounter with Jesus as He made His way to the cross of Calvary in Jerusalem. There is a lot for us to learn as we study these moments in the life of Jesus.  

Over the next six weeks, we will study:

John 4  the woman at the well

John 5  the lame man at the pool of Bethesda

John 8  the woman caught in adultery

John 9  the man born blind

John 19  the death of Jesus

John 20  the resurrection of Jesus 

I hope you will notice that these lessons move in chronological order in John’s gospel. Let that thought help you see and feel the determined steps of Jesus as He moves toward His final appointment in Jerusalem.  Notice also that He took the time to stop and care for people, meeting their needs all along the way.  Day by day, Jesus showed up just in time to fulfill all of His “Heavenly Father arranged” divine appointments. 

The Pharisees in Jerusalem had been giving Jesus a hard time.  He had been proving to them that they needed to follow the Lord, not live in their prideful traditions.  Jesus moved in this story from Jerusalem in the south toward Galilee in the north.  On the trip to Galilee, Jesus could take one of three main routes.  He could cross the Jordan River to the east and then head north.  He could head west toward the Mediterranean Sea, hug the coastline and then head east to Galilee.  

If you were a Jew, these were the preferred routes.  The final travel path took you due northward through Samaria.  Jews and Samaritans did not get along.  Since 722BC, they had developed a deep hatred for each other.  Jesus didn’t hate anyone!  A soul was a soul.  He had a soul to meet in the town of Sychar in Samaria.  He would set up his “office” beside Jacob’s well and wait… 

The area of Samaria was the Northern kingdom of Israel. The city of Sychar was near Shechem, between, the twin mountains of Gerazim and Ebal.  The well there had belonged to Jacob, one of the sons of Isaac.  At noon, Jesus sat down beside the well.  He was tired, in fact John said He was “wearied” from His journey.  

A woman appeared with her water pot.  Jesus asked her for a drink.  She was shocked by that request.  He was a Jew AND a man. This was inappropriate, culturally.  Immediately, Jesus began to reveal His true identity to her.  He was the living water of life.  She was not even ready for what was to transpire.  Especially displayed in John’s gospel, people were always thinking in shallow, physical, human terms while Jesus was attempting to draw them into deep, spiritual truths.  

Jesus said, “If you realized Who I am, you would ask for living water.” She replied, “Living water?!  This well is deep and you don’t even have a bucket!”  Jesus was drawing her toward the Father right then through the power of the Holy Spirit!  

She immediately attempted to divert the subject toward “religion” instead of relationship.  Jesus came to enter into relationship with a wanderer. She wanted this “living water” so she could stop coming to this well day after day after day.  Seeing the emptiness in the “well” of her life, Jesus dug deeper.  “Go call your husband,” Jesus said.  “I have no husband.”  Jesus confirmed that He knew she had been with five men (maybe husbands…maybe not!).  She was currently living with a man who was not her husband.  

Again, she tried to change the course of the conversation.  Jesus continued to press with a firm gentleness straight to the heart of her problem.  She needed the Messiah.  She had already been looking for Him to arrive.  To a woman, a Samaritan woman at that, Jesus declared Himself to be the Messiah.  

My favorite part of this story is that she left her water pot at the well to run into the city and announce Jesus to be the Messiah.  She sought out the MEN first to share this good news.  Jesus would remain there at the well and those men would come to see Him because of the witness of this woman.  Wow!!!  They invited Jesus to stay for a while.  He stayed two more days and “many” Samaritans came to know The Living Water Himself.  

Figuratively speaking, the bucket is STILL at the well to show that unless your bucket is filled with Jesus, it will always be empty!!!