The Samaritan woman was blessed to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Characteristics of Samaritan Woman D.A Carson calls her the “unframed,female,Samaritan peasant who had made a mess of her life.” In the words of P. Duke, she is “a five-time looser.” T.L Brodie says that she had to face a “double-handicap” of being a Samaritan and a woman. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. [10] For example, Dorothy A. Lee lists several discrepancies between Hebrew betrothal scenes and John 4: “the Samaritan woman is not a young Jewish virgin and no betrothal takes place; the well is not concerned with sexual fertility but is an image of salvation (see Isa. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. [12] The passages that comprise John 4:10–26 are sometimes referred to as the Water of Life Discourse, which forms a complement to the Bread of Life Discourse.[13]. ", Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." She went back to the city and began telling others about Him. Woman of Integrity in the Bible – Abigail, God's Unforgettable Call of Abraham - God's Call and Promise, Sermon on Wisdom | The Wisdom of God or the Wisdom of Man, Parable of the Ten Virgins Sermon | The Ugly Truth on Being Ready, Sermon on Victory - More Than Conquerors, Sermon on God's Invitation | The Invitation of Jesus, Healing at the Pool of Bethesda Sermon - Wondrous Miracle at the Pool, Be Not Weary In Well Doing Sermon Warning to be Faithful. She is remembered on the Sunday four weeks after Pascha, which is known as "the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman". Sermon on the Bride of Christ - The Church - The Beautiful Bride of Christ, Sermon on Faithfulness - The Basic Pattern For Faithfulness, The Life and Times of Nehemiah #7. Lynn Cohick writes that the Samaritan woman’s history fits a pattern we find among first-century women of “marrying in their early to late teens, living with fairly simple marriage traditions, relatively easy divorce laws, and haunted by the threat that death might at any time steal away a husband . You do not have to have the doubtful motives of a candidate for the American presidency to wish for some things in your past life to be forgotten or secret. Jesus now tells the woman: ‘Go and call your husband and come back.’ ‘I don’t … The Samaritan woman’s understanding is blocked by a particular sin, so Jesus pinpoints it to take it out of the way. The following are some outstanding characteristics of the Samaritan woman: Lord, please grant us more women with the above characteristics, in Jesus’ name, Amen! Lesson 3: The Samaritan Woman (John 4) Related Media. The priest and Levite walked past. Imagine a time when a man was commended because he killed his wife for appearing in public without her veil; when a Roman woman's rights were completely subject to her father's power. The story of the woman at the well follows on the heels of the account of Jesus’ interaction with Nicodemus, a Pharisee and prominent member of the Jewish Sanhedrin (John 3:1–21). Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink', you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." “The Peacemaking Role of the Samaritan Woman in John 4:1–42: A Mirror and Challenge to Rwandan Women.” Neotestamentica 46 , no. (Samaritan Woman: “I know Messiah is coming, and when He comes, He will tell us all things.”) (Jesus: “I who speak to you am He.”) “This is big! But he is talking about the truth concerning God and his kingdom. A skid row prostitute can become a child of God. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." According to S.G Sloyan, she is a moral outcaste, a treble minority: a woman: a Samaritan: a polygamist. John 4:1-42). Scholars differ as to whether the Samaritan references in the New Testament are historical. Beatitudes - Blessed Are the Pure in Heart! Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" The Samaritan woman at the well is a figure from the Gospel of John, in John 4:4–26. It is interesting that the place for this encounter with the Samaritan woman was chosen by the Lord of providence in such a beautiful way: an emotionally alienated woman who feels unprotected while she lives in or near the city of refuge, is having a faith-founding, covenant conversation with the Renewer of God’s Covenant – God’s Royal Son Jesus. She was an evangelistic woman (John 4:28-29, 39). Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you.". Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." It was about noon. (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans) . (John 4:1-42). ATLA. Where do you get that living water? And I saw parallels immediately, even as I recognized the distinct qualities of each culture. As further recounted in John 4:28–30 and John 4:39–42, she was quick to spread the news of her meeting with Jesus, and through this many came to believe in him. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. [7], Scholars have noted that this story appears to be modelled on a standard betrothal 'type scene' from Hebrew scripture, particularly that of Jacob in Genesis 29. What you have said is true!" “Jesus Gave Me Water”, a gospel song by The Soul Stirrers in 1951. The woman was not silent, nor was she limited to the private world of women. The Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well is a picture of a rational sinner who can come to Christ. She had “had five husbands” (John 4:18), and the one she was now with wasn’t her husband. Think of what it would have been like to bear and raise a son who would receive more esteem from his father and the rest of societ… Samaria was once part of the northern kingdom of Israel, which had broken off from the Davidic Kingdom. That the Samaritans were separated from and looked down upon by the Jews makes them important in the New Testament. In Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico, a celebration of the Samaritan woman takes place on the fourth Friday of Lent. On the earthly level, Jesus and the Samaritan woman are discussing her current matrimonial history, but there seems to be more going on here. B. Since village women normally drew water only at dawn and dusk, a … As I listened to her, I began to think about the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:4–42). (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) … What was that sin? This truth is like life-giving water. The following are some outstanding characteristics of the Samaritan woman: She was an observant woman (John 4:9). She came to draw water at the hottest part of the day, instead of the usual morning or evening times, because she was shunned and rejected by the other women of the area for her immorality. Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman. The Priceless Woman – Virtues of a Godly Woman. The Samaritan woman Jesus met faced prejudice from her own community. And in whatever form you choose to pray, put yourself in the same position as the Samaritan woman… approach the well as you are, with all your gifts, characteristics, problems, worries, failings… and meet Jesus there. The Gospel of John, like the Gospel of Luke, is favourable to the Samaritans throughout, and, while the Matthaean Gospel quotes Jesus at one early phase in his ministry telling his followers to not at that time evangelize any of the cities of the Samaritans,[6] this restriction had clearly been reversed later by the time of Matthew 28:19. vv. This is the only time in Scripture where you will see Jesus come right out and say that He is the Messiah. This kind of woman is paraded in Proverbs more so than the others that follow, perhaps because she is so dangerous, especially to office holders. Eventually, having drawn the attention of Emperor Nero, she was brought before him to answer for her faith, suffering many tortures and dying a martyr after being thrown down a dry well. Samaritan, member of a community of Jews, now nearly extinct, that claims to be related by blood to those Jews of ancient Samaria who were not deported by the Assyrian conquerors of the kingdom of Israel in 722 bce. Her continuing witness is said to have brought so many to the Christian faith that she is described as "equal to the apostles". Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself didn't baptize, but his disciples), he left Judea, and departed into Galilee.He needed to pass through Samaria.So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph. Editor’s Note: This article is the lightly edited manuscript for the accompanying audio message that Vickie delivered. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" 4:7). Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your husband. The woman thinks Jesus is talking about real water. In the latter, it is only the Samaritan who helped the man stripped of clothing, beaten, and left on the road half dead, his Abrahamic covenantal circumcision implicitly evident. The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" She may have lived an immoral life, she is nameless and possibly vulnerable. 12:3); Jesus is presented not as a bridegroom but as giver of living water.”[11], This Gospel episode is referred to as "a paradigm for our engagement with truth", in the Roman Curia book A Christian reflection on the New Age, as the dialogue says: "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know" and offers an example of "Jesus Christ the bearer of the water of life". But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. First, a solitary Samaritan woman approaches Jesus at a public well at the wrong time of day. She was an honest woman (John 4:16-18). From The Fellowship Room, the Daily Nudge asks this morning, “What stands out in your mind in the story of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well?” (cf. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. . We can experience an encounter regardless of the season or place if we seek the experience earnestly. "[9] Other scholars note significant differences between John 4 and betrothal type-scenes in the Hebrew Bible. In Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic traditions, she is venerated as a saint with the name Photine (Φωτεινή also Photini, Photina, meaning "the luminous one" from φῶς, "light"). C. Encounters aren’t seasonal or geological. In Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic traditions, she is venerated as a saint with the name Photine (Φωτεινή also Photini, Photina, meaning "the luminous one" from φῶς, "light"). She may also have been an outcast in her town. Picture # 4: The Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well is a picture of a rational sinner who can come to Christ as a new creation. Being with a man who isn’t her husband is self-explanatory but what’s wrong with her having had five husbands? "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." In Eastern Christian tradition, the woman's name at the time of her meeting Jesus is unknown, though she was later baptized "Photini". 4 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. It can give a person everlasting life. [8] This convention, which would have been familiar to Jewish readers, following on from an earlier scene in which John the Baptist compares his relationship to Jesus with that of the friend of a bridegroom. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." The Samaritan woman didn’t meet Jesus on a Shabbat or in a building dedicated to carrying out religious activities. She is set apart, and not in a good way. The Samaritan Woman John 4:3-42. The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). [5] Both communities share the Pentateuch, although crucially the Samaritan Pentateuch locates the holy mountain at Mount Gerizim rather than at Mount Zion, as this incident acknowledges at John 4:20. 5-6,12). Answer: The story of the nameless Samaritan woman at the well, recorded only in the Gospel of John, is a revealing one, full of many truths and powerful lessons for us today. The Samaritan woman was a foreigner from a despised religious group, but her story made a clear statement about the role of women in the early Christian communities. This is not normally something that in our culture we would be particularly keen to announce to all and sundry. Second, her gender presented an obstacle. Adultery. Just before He ascended to heaven, Jesus told his disciples, Go and make disciples of all nations. The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Nearly all of us are the Samaritan woman. John records these words: “There came a woman of Samaria to draw water” (Jn. [1] Jo-Ann A. Brant, for example, concludes that there is "near consensus among literary critics that the scene at Jacob’s well follows conventions of the betrothal type-scene found in Hebrew narrative. This episode takes place before the return of Jesus to Galilee. Samaritans appear briefly in the Christian gospels, most notably in the account of the Samaritan woman at the well and the parable of the Good Samaritan. Right from the beginning, we can see that this Samaritan woman was not seen as someone worthy of communicating with a Jew. Shawna R. B. Atteberry. The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water. LEARN THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A GREAT WOMAN ... Like the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 who, prior to her conversion to Christ, had five husbands, ( John 4:18) licentious women are those who lack moral discipline or sexual restraint. They Had Their Own Temple And Religious System The Samaritans had their own temple, their own copy of the Torah - the first five books of the Old Testament - and their own religious system. One view is that the historical Jesus had no contact with Samaritans; another is that the accounts go back to Jesus himself. The Samaritan woman is unnamed and merely referred to as the ‘Samaritan Woman,’ ‘woman of Samaria,’ ‘woman,’ or simply as ‘her.’ This depicts her unimportance in the society that is patriarchal (cf. Weary from the countless times we have been rejected, hiding in certain areas because of shame, thirsty … Jesus knew her history but still accepted her and ministered to her. Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. She is celebrated as a saint of renown. The custom of the day involves churches, schools, and businesses giving away fruit drinks to passers-by. A. "Fill My Cup Lord", a hymn written by Richard Blanchard in 1959. [2][3][4] The two communities seem to have drifted apart in the post-exilic period. In John’s Gospel the Samaritan woman at the well is the first person to whom Jesus openly reveals himself as Messiah. The Samaritan woman at the well is a figure from the Gospel of John, in John 4:4–26. [1] Some Jews regarded the Samaritans as foreigners and their attitude was often hostile, although they shared most beliefs, while many other Jews accepted Samaritans as either fellow Jews or as Samaritan Israelites. The Samaritan woman’s spirit is enlightened, accelerated, and illuminated by Jesus. In Acts 1:8, Jesus promises the apostles that they will be witnesses to the Samaritans. She now realizes what it means to take freely of the water of life, which is the spiritual refreshment that comes into her soul after her encounter and confession with Jesus. The Samaritan’s personal history seems to have run parallel to the religious history of Samaria. Some interpreters have taken this anonymity as an invitation to view her as an abstraction, a symbol of Samaria itself. What was it like to be a woman living around the rim of the Mediterranean during Jesus' time? A Samaritan Woman Approaches. Conspiracy to Stop the Work. In contrast, the woman was female, a Samaritan (despised by the Jews), and probably uneducated. She was a logical woman (John 4:11-12). The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. She was a perceptive woman (John 4:19). I Don’t Want You To Join My Church, Be Added to His! 2 (2012): 299–318. She had a … She was a receptive woman (John 4:13-15, 21-25). It was just another ordinary and busy day in which she carried out her routine household duties. The Samaritan woman, unlike other individuals who speak with Jesus in the Gospel of John, is never named. We know that this is a command for all Christians in each successive generation. 3. This aspect of her life is certainly worthy of us imitating today. This page was last edited on 17 December 2020, at 15:40. The woman appears in John 4:4–42, However below is John 4:4–26: But he had to go through Samaria. Types of Giving in the Bible, Examples – What is Giving in the Bible? In fact, even though it is probably hot outside, she herself cannot even believe that someone is asking her to get them a drink. The woman answered him, "I have no husband." God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) Two things are significant. If she married, then those rights, even the power of life and death, were transferred to her husband. Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4) Jesus Heals on the Sabbath (John 5) Jesus the Bread of Life (John 6) Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind (John 9) Jesus' Sacrifice (John 10-12) Servant Leadership (John 13:1-20) Farewell Words: Upper Room Discourse (John 14-17) The Importance of Workplace Relationships (John 14-17) I am the Vine and You are the Branches (John 15) My Kingdom … You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. First, she was a Samaritan, and, as the apostle comments, “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans” (v. 9). Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. Only God knows the fullness of her life and ours, but regardless of what her former life might have been, in the end she had a good influence on those around her. Now here comes the kicker. [14], Samaritan woman at the well 1651 by Gervais Drouet, Christ and the Samaritan Woman, by Duccio di Buoninsegna, Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, by Giacomo Franceschini, Christ and the Samaritan Woman, by Stefano Erardi, Christ and the Samaritan Woman, by Jan Joest van Kalkar, Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, by Guercino, Christ and the Samaritan Woman, by Josef von Hempel, Christ and the Samaritan Woman, by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samaritan_woman_at_the_well&oldid=994793277, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well. This is huge! Weeks after Pascha, which had broken off from the Jews minority: polygamist... Husband is self-explanatory but what ’ s wrong with her having had five husbands ” ( 4:19. 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