The Odd Couple, Part 1

GETTING STARTED

She approaches the well like every other day, hoping no one else is around. She doesn’t want to be seen. Or judged by her community for what she’s done. But as she nears the well, she sees a stranger sitting there alone. Waiting for someone. Maybe he’s passing through Samaria on his way to Jerusalem. Or maybe he’s headed north to Galilee. One way or the other, he isn’t from here, and he’s looking her way. Then, Jesus speaks.

  • Describe the voice of Christ in your own life.

READ THE WORD: JOHN 4:7-10 (ESV) 

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 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.”

English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

DIGGING DEEPER

  1. Why might Jesus ask the woman to give him a drink? Why not get one himself?
  2. What was her main concern with his request?
  3. Slowly take in Jesus’ words in verse 10. What do you learn about both the woman and Jesus?
  4. How does it take courage to ask Christ for a drink of “living water”? Have you asked him for this?

RESPOND TO GOD

The restorative power of Christ is not limited to the transformation in our own lives. We must be mindful that he has also conquered racial discrimination and violence and bigotry of all kinds. The Samaritan woman was genuinely confused that this man was speaking to something greater than the hierarchal distinctions anchored in her culture. As a Jew, Jesus would have been expected to ignore or even discriminate against this woman. Instead, he began a dialogue that changed her life, and in so doing, changed an entire city. This is our God!   

  • Thank Jesus for being the one who seeks us out and restores our souls.
  • Pray today that Christ would give you the living water, the Holy Spirit (John 7:38-39).