Lent Day 7: Samaritan Woman at the Well

A Note from Mandy:

The final words of today's "Ponder" section are the cry of my heart right now. For all of us who have felt "too far gone," I pray today is the day we listen and hear our Savior's voice.

Pause

Practice the spiritual discipline of silence before opening the Bible today. Spend a few minutes in prayer, praising and adoring God, confessing, interceding, and thanking Him. Then, sit before the throne in silence, meditating on God’s character.

Read & Journal

Open your Bible and read John 4:1-26. Journal your response to the passage by considering these questions:

• What does this interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well teach you about Jesus’ character? About His mission and purpose?

• How do you see Jesus entering into human brokenness in this conversation with the Samaritan woman?

• The woman came to the well in the middle of the day. While most women would have come early in the morning, this woman—an outcast and well-known sinner—came at noon. When have you felt like an outcast? How did Jesus enter in to that situation?

• Does Jesus’ treatment of this woman challenge how you regard those who don’t fit in, society’s outcasts or well-known sinners? Why or why not?

Ponder

To better understand this passage, it’s important to recognize that the Jews hated the Samaritans. This hatred is a key plot point in the story of the Good Samaritan. Most Jews avoided traveling through Samaria, instead opting for a longer route, but Jesus had led his disciples straight into enemy territory. This woman had a number of strikes against her, then: 1) She was a Samaritan, hated by the Jews; 2) She was a woman, with little to no standing in society; and 3) She was living in sin. For a Jewish man, particularly a rabbi, to talk to a woman in a public place was highly taboo. Consider that fact then add to it that this was the woman everyone in town knew was actively pursuing a sinful lifestyle. She lived in isolation, marginalized in every way she could be.

But Jesus spoke to her in public, when likely all she’d heard for years was whispers, slurs and condescension. Into her brokenness, this woman whose life was characterized by sin, Jesus offered hope. To the woman society had ignored and pushed aside because she was too far gone, too sinful, too damaged, too unrepentant, Jesus spoke and offered living water, hope, eternal life. No matter how hopeless you think you are or how isolated you feel or if you’re convinced you’re so deep in sin Jesus could never even look your way, listen for His voice.