A Life-Changing Conversation

Evangelism is never easy.

Talking to a stranger is hard enough on its own. Steering that conversation onto matters of sin, judgment, and salvation is more intimidating still, for many Christians. But that was never the case for our Lord. Jesus incarnate was a master at breaking the conversational ice. He engaged everyday people by discussing practical matters of first-century life, then smoothly transitioning to the weighty spiritual issues that plagued their consciences. Christ’s famous conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4 is one of Scripture’s most profound illustrations of this.

Their exchange started out simply and naturally—He asked her for a drink. The well was deep, and He had no way to draw water from it, so He said, “Give Me a drink” (John 4:7). He must have said it in a friendly enough way, but He phrased it as a command, not a request.

She certainly didn’t act offended. Instead, she immediately expressed surprise that He would even speak to her, much less drink from her vessel: “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am Samaritan woman?” (John 4:9). Gender taboos, racial divisions, and the class system would normally have kept a man of Jesus’ status from conversing with a woman such as she, much less drinking from a water container that belonged to her.

Bypassing her actual question, Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10). He was already hinting at the real message He intended to give her.

She immediately understood that He was making an amazing claim. She replied, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” (John 4:11–12).

As a matter of fact, He was greater than Jacob, and that is precisely the point He wanted to demonstrate for her. But once more, instead of answering her question directly, He continued speaking of the living water. Indeed, He assured her the water He offered was infinitely better than the water from Jacob’s well: “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13–14).

Now she was supremely curious, and she asked Him to give her the living water (John 4:15). By now she probably understood that He was speaking of spiritual water. Parables and metaphors were standard teaching tools in that culture. Jesus was obviously some kind of rabbi or spiritual leader. It is unlikely she was still thinking in literal terms; her reply simply echoed the same metaphorical language He had used with her: “Sir, give me this water, so I will not become thirsty nor come all the way here to draw” (John 4:15).

Christ’s next words drew her up short: “Go, call your husband and come here” (John 4:16).

This left the woman in a quandary. The truth about her life was so horrible, she could not admit it to Him. He seemed to be assuming she was a typical woman with a respectable home and an honorable husband. But she was nothing like that. So instead of fully exposing her disgrace to this rabbi, she told him a small fraction of the truth: “I have no husband” (John 4:17).

To her utter chagrin, He knew the full truth already. “Jesus said to her, ‘You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly’” (John 4:17–18). Notice that He did not rebuke her as a liar; on the contrary, He commended her for speaking truthfully. She wasn’t denying her sin. But she obviously wasn’t proud of it, either. So in order to retain whatever shred of dignity she could, she had simply sidestepped the implications of His question without actually lying to cover anything up.

No matter. He knew all about her sin right down to the infinitesimal details. When she later recounted her meeting with Jesus, this was the fact that left the strongest impression on her mind: He told her everything she ever did (John 4:29, 39). Moments before, she had questioned whether He was greater than Jacob. Now she knew.

It seems odd for a woman like this to so willingly engage with Jesus in an extended theological dialogue. It is marvelous to see how rich Jesus’ teaching could be, even in a casual context like this. (Just the few words Jesus spoke to this woman in verses 21–24 condense the heart and soul of everything Scripture teaches about authentic worship). It is astounding that her own sin was such a large issue in her own heart and mind (John 4:29), even though Jesus had only referred to it obliquely (John 4:18) and even though she initially seemed to try to dodge the point.

She acknowledged her own guilt with such low-key, almost droll simplicity: “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet” (John 4:19). He had unmasked her completely. Whoever He was, He obviously knew all about her. Yet far from spurning her or castigating her, He had offered her the water of life!

And as we’ll see in the days ahead, this obscure and uneducated Samaritan woman—in stark contrast with the religious elite of Israel—willingly received the precious gift Christ extended to her.