The Scandal of Grace at the Well

“Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from His journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour” (Jn. 4:6).

Yeshua’s journey through Samaria was no accident, as John records, “He had to pass through Samaria” (Jn. 4:4), not because of geography, but rather divine appointment. Jews avoided the ethnically mixed, religiously divergent, and socially despised Samaritans. Yet Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, sits at Jacob’s well and initiates conversation with a Samaritan woman, an ethnic, social, and moral outsider.

She comes at noon, the hour of shame, avoiding the crowds and further ostracization. But the One who knows all things waits for her. He asks, “Give Me a drink” (Jn. 4:7), breaking a well-defined social and cultural barrier. She is stunned: “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)” (Jn. 4:9). Grace begins here, at a well, in the scandal of divine pursuit.

Yeshua then offers her “living water” (Jn. 4:10), not just refreshment, but eternal life, spiritual renewal, and the indwelling presence of God (Jn. 4:10, 13-14). She misunderstands at first, thinking only of physical thirst. But He presses deeper: “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn. 4:14).

This is the water of salvation and renewal, of Spirit and true worship (Jon. 4:23–24), of messianic fulfillment. It’s not drawn from Jacob’s well, but from the pierced side of the Son of David. It’s the water that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), offered freely to the thirsty.

Yeshua reveals her life: five husbands, and the man she now lives with is not her husband (Jn. 4:18). Yet He does not condemn, He speaks truth to her. Her response? “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things” (Jn. 4:25). Yeshua then reveals His identity, “I who speak to you am He” (Jn. 4:26).

She leaves her jar, the symbol of her old thirst and life, and runs to her village: “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (Jn. 4:29). Her shame becomes her testimony. Her brokenness becomes the doorway to revival. “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did” (Jn. 4:39).

This story is not just her story, it’s your story. You may feel unworthy, ashamed, or disqualified. You may be the outcast. But Yeshua/Jesus waits for you at the well. He knows your past and still offers you living water. He crosses every barrier to meet you. He dignifies you with truth and invites you to worship in Spirit and truth (Jn. 4:24).

You are not too far gone. You are not too broken. Like the woman, you are seen, known, and loved. And like her, you are called to be a witness, to leave your jar and proclaim the One who knows your everything and still chose you (cf. Isa. 55:1; Rev. 22:17; Ro. 5:8; Ps. 34:5).

Maranatha. Shalom.

Bp. Justin