John 4:5-9 “Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”

Let’s look today at the beginning piece of the account of Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman.

The first two verses simply set the stage showing where Jesus was, and why He stopped where He did, and what time of the day it was. He had been traveling, was tired from the travel, and sat down at Jacob’s Well. And we are told that it was about the Sixth hour of the day. If you’re familiar with the “hours” listed in the Word of God you’ll remember that there are two main times of day used. For the most part, we see the Jewish times of day used which was not set in stone (until about the 18th century) but was based on the daylight hours. However, John wrote using the “Roman” times of day which is what we today are more familiar with, based on 12AM and on. So the time that this occured was about 6 AM.

We see now, the beginning of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman. The woman was at the well getting water. Most people understand that she was alone getting water at that time of the day rather than getting water at the normal time with the rest of the women of Samaria, because of her reputation. As the phrase often says: “The Lord is never early, and never late. He’s always on time.” Jesus just happened to be there when this Samaritan woman who was largely rejected by the majority, happened to be getting water from the well. We’ll see later on why she was largely rejected (verse 18).

Take note of Jesus’ example here on talking with “strangers” (literally for him, as Samaritans were called “strangers,” figuratively for us when thinking of talking to people we don’t know). He introduces conversation by talking about what is around Him, and what is happening with the woman. Many Christians want to go up to people and “cold call” them to Jesus by going up to a complete stranger and saying, “Do you know Jesus?” Akin to the stereotypical Jehovah’s Witness who knocks on the door and says, “Excuse me sir/ma’am, do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Saviour?” This may be fine for some circumstances and some situations where the topic is already on the Lord. However, even Jesus didn’t do that to non-religious people! He begins by requesting a glass of water because He was thirsty and she was getting water! We need to learn how to talk to people, and understand how NOT to scare people away by “cold calling” them so to speak by throwing them into a spiritual conversation while they were simply walking their dog, shopping, or playing baseball in the park with their friends while talking about the game.

We see that, just as the Lord knows what He is doing, He is alone with this woman and “has” to ask her because His disciples were out getting food. So there’s no excuse for her to not have a conversation with Him by having one of His disciples get the water instead. This is how the Lord likes it: personal!

Then the woman replies with some obvious confusion/shock in her tone I’m sure, asking why He’s talking to her when the law of the land and the culture of that time was that Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. The short background of Samaritans and Jews is this: God told the Israelites to set up the places of worship in a specific place. He warned them not to go to any ol’ place they chose for themselves, but rather to worship where HE says. Then some of the people decided it was too far to go there and instead chose their own places to worship. This was a recurring theme for Israel where they refused to do the very simple instructions of the Lord and opted instead to do as they pleased. Samaritans were among those who decided they had the better idea for places of worship. And the rules became, “Jews, don’t mingle with those who willingly choose to disobey God.” And from the simple rule to not fellowship with the rebellious, people’s hearts twisted it into prejudice. This was the Biblical example of racism. This is why the woman, being a Samaritan, asked Jesus why He asked her for a drink when He, being a Jew, shouldn’t be having any dealings with them at all. It was enough to get her attention, and exactly what the Lord wanted in order to reach her. We’ll begin looking at the conversation Jesus had with her next time.

I hope and pray that your day is blessed in the Lord, and I pray that each passing moment the Lord draws you closer to Him. Please continue to pray for the Body of Christ worldwide, especially for discernment, a hunger and thirst for righteousness and His Word and His Presence, as deception is surely increasing and far too many even who claim to be Christians are being dragged away with these deceptions. We truly need to hold each one of us in prayer that we remain in the Lord no matter the tactics of the world or the devils. God is able. He just wants us to join with Him in walking in His Will! I love you all dearly, and will see you again soon.

Love always in Christ,
Your friend always,
And brother,
Michael