Key text: John 4: 4-42 (NIV)
Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in
Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given
to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he
was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to
her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into
the town to buy food.)
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.)
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.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and
the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 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?”
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.”
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.”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the
town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me
everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came
out of the town and made their way toward him.
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know
nothing about.”
Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have
brought him food?”
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me
and to finish his work. 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. 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. Thus
the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 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.”
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him
because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I
ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged
him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because
of his words many more became believers.
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.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no
husband. 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.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our
ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim
that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when
you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we
worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is
coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
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?”
resonate · issue 29 · page 6
Using this Bible study resource
› › Small groups
Read the passage and discuss the questions
together. As a group, choose to support a Global
Interaction cross-cultural worker or project as
part of your giving to mission.
› › Personal reflection time
Meditate on the Bible verses, journal your
responses to the discussion questions and
challenge yourself to learn more about the
people around you and overseas who need to
hear the message of Jesus.
› › Church leaders
Visit the May Mission Month page
www.globalinteraction.org.au/mmm to find
sermon ideas, children’s activities, ministry video
clips plus extra resources that will help you
involve your congregation.