Exemplary example of Jesus’ work – Samaritan woman at the water well

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The New Testament, with its work, provides countless examples of the practices and behavior of Christians who seek to lead others to the true faith. No one is better suited for this than Jesus Christ. A scene in the Gospel of John serves as a particularly appropriate example.

Jesus’ example – Not only in theory

Jesus Christ as our role model. This is universally recognized by Christians and is more or less internalized and taken to heart, let alone put into practice. It begins with Matthew and ends with the last chapter of the Gospel of John. The complete account of Jesus’ life, his ministry, his true nature, and his character. His first fruits can be experienced in the Acts of the Apostles. And the numerous letters of the apostles also provide incredible insight into Jesus’ nature, his actions, and the principle of the way of salvation opened for humanity. Precisely what constitutes the New Testament.

The circumstances during Jesus’ ministry were characterized by peculiarities. This particularly affected the people of Judah. ​​Enslaved by Roman domination and long trapped in their own rigid traditions, something Jesus Christ had to circumvent or break through, naturally in the face of corresponding resistance. Therefore, one scene from His ministry seems particularly suitable not only to reveal His approach to leading people to true faith, but also to illustrate the necessary nonchalance toward prevailing social rules: the encounter between Jesus Christ and the Samaritan woman at the water well.

“Of all places” to Samaria

Jesus and His disciples traveled to Samaria, of all places, because the inhabitants of Samaria (Samaritans) were an abomination to the Judeans. They didn’t maintain contact, and they avoided each other. At a place called Sychar, Jesus and His disciples rested right next to a water well. Centuries earlier, this area had been the land of Joseph, one of the sons of Jacob (Israel). While the disciples went into the city to gather food, Jesus remained at the well. A woman, a Samaritan, joined them.

Today, one would say these were particularly difficult circumstances, because the fronts between Samaritans and Judeans had hardened over the centuries.

Why Samaritans were the particularly “unclean”

The Judeans avoided all contact with the Samaritans, who they considered “unclean” and idolaters. The city of Samaria was once the capital of Northern Israel, consisting of the 10 tribes of Jacob. Judah and the small “island people” within it, Benjamin, formed Southern Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital. This division came about after Solomon, the last king of all Israel. King Jeroboam followed for Northern Israel and King Rehoboam for Southern Israel. At that time, the “domestic blessing” was already very strained. North and South were at times mortal enemies.

Northern Israel falls to Assyrians

After the division, northern Israel fell even further from God’s path, or rather, drifted even further downhill. Kings like Ahab ensured widespread idolatry by introducing the religions and cultures of pagan peoples, especially Ahab’s wife Jezebel, a Phoenician and the daughter of a Baal priest. God warned northern Israel repeatedly, but they did not listen. It happened as predicted. God withdrew His protecting hand from northern Israel and allowed Assyria to rage unhindered. Samaria fell, and with it the northern state of the 10 tribes of Israel (721 BC).

God still protected Jerusalem

Sennacherib, the then king of Assyria, also stretched his fingers toward Jerusalem. But here God still held His protective hand over it. Sennacherib marched toward the capital of Judah. ​​As they passed through the country, the Assyrians remained unmolested, but at Jerusalem, their advance ended. “For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.” said the Lord according to Isaiah 37:35. Within one night, an angel of the Lord passed through the Assyrian camp and struck down 185,000 soldiers (Isaiah 37:36). Sennacherib and those who remained withdrew and returned to Nineveh.

What did the Judeans learn from this?

What did the people of Judah learn from this? In principle, very little, and even then only temporarily. For the apostasy and the spread of idolatry also occurred in Judah, especially in Jerusalem. Indeed, they acted even worse than northern Israel. In Ezekiel 23, northern Israel and Judah are symbolically portrayed as the two sisters, Oholah and Oholibah, and their unspeakable fornication with the Gentiles. The sentence for Judah was even worse than for her sister Oholah:
“And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.” (Ezekiel 23:11)

Judah was not left unmolested either

Once again, as predicted, it happened. This time, not the Assyrians, but the Chaldeans. Under King Nebuchadnezzar, Jerusalem was besieged and subsequently plundered, and the people of Judah were taken into exile in Babylon for 70 years. This was followed by a “final period” of 490 years. A time for returning to the only true path of God. This period expired around 34 AD, 3.5 years after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In 70 AD, Jerusalem and the Temple were completely destroyed.

Jesus Christ therefore worked during the last years of this period of “70 weeks of years” (490 years – Info). Jesus, of course, knew this and even mentioned that He Himself was initiating the conclusion of this 490-year period. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:15).

False expectations

The Judeans and the dominant caste of Pharisees, Sadducees, and other scribes evidently kept the rescue of Jerusalem from the assault of the Assyrian king Sennacherib in their minds, as they were, after all, God’s chosen and specially protected people. Furthermore, the saving Messiah would come and raise the people of Judah above all the nations of the earth. Jesus ministered during the rather brutal occupation of Rome. Therefore, the Savior’s desire for the chosen people is all the more intense.

Struck with blindness

From a correspondingly self-exalted position, the Judeans looked down on the Samaritans. After all, their forefathers had been punished by God for their misdeeds and wiped out as a people. They themselves were the chosen ones. In their own self-righteousness, by practicing the completely absurd traditions of the religious leaders, they were closer to the Pharisees than to the Gospel, this assessment could not have been more wrong. Led as blind men by their blind leaders, they failed to recognize, first, that Jesus was the Messiah, and second, they repressed the prophecy in Daniel 9, especially verses 25 to 27, which was well known to the scribes.

Dealing with “unclean”

The situation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the water well (John 4:1-42) is therefore particularly suitable as a prime example of Jesus’ approach to evangelization. Jesus, a Judean, and the woman, a Samaritan, were socially classified as a taboo encounter and, for most Pharisees, an affront anyway.

Jesus spoke first

Jesus asked the woman to give Him something to drink. She, however, acted very surprised, as she probably expected a stony silence. She realized that Jesus was a Jew and that He would ultimately consider her a “golem.” She spoke openly of this. But Jesus remained silent, contrary to expectations, and responded by speaking of God’s gift, which only needed to be recognized in order to ask God for “living water.” The woman remained pragmatic and countered that Jesus didn’t even have a bucket with which to draw water, let alone any “living water.”

Jesus explained to the woman what kind of living water she could receive from Him. She promptly asked for it. Jesus quickly spoke about her personal circumstances and probed her. He spoke about her husband. But she honestly explained that she didn’t currently have a husband, but rather, what we would call today, a life partner. Jesus knew that she had already had five husbands and revealed this to her clearly. This surprised her, because how did He know that?

Indication of proper worship

The woman pointed to Mount Gerizim, the holy place for the Samaritans at that time, as Jerusalem was more or less closed to them. She said: “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” (John 4:20). Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman how and who should be worshipped, and on what basis. He also included a statement with an “eternal clause”: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24).

The Samaritan woman, a descendant of one of the former 10 tribes of northern Israel, knew about the announcement of the Messiah’s appearance. Here, Jesus Christ revealed himself to the Samaritan woman: “I that speak unto thee am he.” (John 4:26).

Proclamation among other people

The woman immediately ran into town to tell everyone that she had met a man who must not only be a prophet, but could very well be the expected Messiah. A crowd rushed to the well to see Jesus with their own eyes. They invited Him to stay with them. Jesus and His disciples did so. They stayed for two days. These were obviously very enlightening days, since many Samaritans were convinced that Jesus must be the promised Messiah (John 4:39-42).

Social constraints

Well, at first glance, it’s already clear that one has to step out of one’s comfort zone to go against social rules if necessary. A purely “traditional” human view was (is) to call another person “unclean” and view them as a “golem.” Peter experienced this directly: “but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” (Acts 10:28). How could one ever lead Gentiles to faith if they are excluded from all contact and even frowned upon?

Jesus spoke clearly to the Pharisees about this: “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” (Luke 11:52)

Messed up the actual job

The task of the people of Israel from the moment they entered and distributed the land of Canaan was to walk in God’s way, thus serving as a model for the Gentiles, so that they could marvel at how fertile, peaceful, and prosperous the people were under the evidently true God. Teaching the truth of the gospel was, of course, also part of this. However, the opposite was the case. Over the many centuries, there was a recurring adoption of pagan customs, disregard for God’s law, and even the erection of an image of the “goddess” Asherah in the courtyard of the Temple.

After their release from exile in Babylon, this did not change much. But instead of fulfilling their mission, Judah more or less shut itself off in its own self-righteousness and became more and more entrenched in the idea that the coming Messiah would free the country from slavery, including from the Greeks (“Maccabean Revolt”) and finally from the Romans, rule as king and place the land of Judah above all nations.

Not without consequences

The hardening of stubborn traditions and the prevailing self-righteousness did not go without consequences. Jesus Christ also spoke directly about this: “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” (Matthew 21:43).
This was the case when the High Council stoned the apostle Stephen, three and a half years after Jesus’ crucifixion (Acts 7). The Pharisee Saul was present at the time and agreed (Acts 8:1). This Saul, who persecuted the early Christians, eventually became Paul.

Jesus showed no regard for traditions

It is clear that Jesus Christ showed no regard for the many entrenched traditions and views of the Judeans, who were ruled by the Pharisees’ iron grip. The anger hurled at Him was correspondingly unconcerned. His treatment of the Samaritan woman and His approach were correspondingly unconcerned and suitable as a model example..

In summary

• Jesus made the first move. To reach her, He began a conversation (John 4:4-7)
• Jesus moved on common ground (John 4:4-7)
• He aroused her curiosity and interest in spiritual matters (John 4:10-12)
• Jesus revealed her deeper need (John 4:13-18)
• He explained to her the right way of worship (John 4:19-24)
• Jesus revealed that He is the Messiah (John 4:25-26)
• She responded and subsequently testified, thereby arousing the interest of others (John 4:28-39; 39-42)

The usual practice of the opposite

Jesus acted completely differently than the kind of person who, in the very first sentence, slaps someone in the face that they will be dead forever (“or burn in hell” – Info) if they don’t accept their faith. Let alone threaten them and even execute severe consequences if the unity of their own community is declared to be at risk.

Conditions that the people of Europe had to endure in the most gruesome way for many centuries. The prophet Daniel and John (Book of Revelation) had more to say about the originator of these dark times (Info).

How did Jesus Christ handle persistent unbelief or rejection of the gospel? He simply let people go:

Bible verses from King James Version (1611)

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