2. A WOMAN AT A WELL John 4:5-19
Background: The Samaritans were people of mixed blood and was thus looked down on by the Jews. If this woman was in her early thirties at the time, it means that she had changed her partner just about every other year.
1. Why do you think this woman went to fetch water at noon and not at sunset as was customary for other women in Sychar? (How do you think this woman felt when going to the well alone every day?)
Whom could this woman keep company with?
What kinds of hopes and fears do you think she harbored for about the future?
2. Which is harder: to leave five lovers one after another, or to be left five times? Give your reasons.
What do you think it was like to start a new relationship for the sixth time, and this time with a married man?
How could she try to justify having stolen the father of some of the children of the village?
3. How do you think the woman felt about herself/ about men in general/ about love?
4. Jewish men avoided talking to women in public places and absolutely didn’t do it one to one. Why was Jesus not afraid of critique and rumors?
Why did Jesus start the conversation by asking a favor from the woman (7)?
5. In what way did the woman misunderstand the words of Jesus in verse 10?
What was it that this woman was thirsting after?
What do you most thirst after in your own life? (You can answer this in your heart.)
6. Read the words in verse 14 as Jesus’ words spoken to you personally. What do these words mean to you in your present circumstances?
What is the person like who has a well of living water in his/her heart?
7. Why does Jesus answer the request of the woman by saying: “Go, call your husband and come back” (15-16)?
What would have happened if Jesus had proclaimed verse 18 to the woman straight away without the exchange of words in verses 16 to 17?
Why does Jesus want to show us our sins before giving us living water?
8. How do you think this woman felt upon realizing that Jesus knew her whole life story?
How did the woman understand that instead of despising her, Jesus actually cared for her?
9. During the discussion that followed, Jesus revealed to the woman that he was the Messiah – a fact that he concealed from many others. Why do you think he did this (25-26)?
10. Look at verses 28 to 30. What practical consequences did it bring to the life of this woman that she had received living water from Jesus? (How did her attitude to her own sins change? What about her relationship with the village?)
GLAD TIDINGS: Jesus cried out on the cross: “I am thirsty!” (19:28). The owner of the well of living water had to experience excruciating thirst of body and soul. That is what he had to pay for the living water he is offering to us even today.
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