Deeper Reflection
AT LEAST THREE FACTORS POSE AS MAJOR BARRIERS TO the Samaritan woman when she considered having a conversation with Jesus: (1) “I’m a Samaritan. You are a Jew.” (2) “I’m a woman. You are a man.” (3) “I’m sinful. You are a holy man (rabbi).” First, the Jews despise the Samaritans as an impure breed because of their intermarriage with the people of other nations. No Jew would even want to step into a Samaritan town, let alone speak to any Samaritan. Thus, it came as a surprise to the Samaritan woman that Jesus – a Jew – would initiate a conversation with her.Second, culturally in those days, women faced discrimination and would not receive the level of respect that men do. Even Jesus’ disciples were astonished to find him talking to a woman publicly.¹⁴ How uncomfortable the Samaritan woman must have felt when Jesus – a Jewish man and a stranger – started to speak to her openly in public.Third, the Samaritan woman would have been ostracised by her community because of her string of relationships with six men, with the latest one not even willing to become her husband through marriage. People probably saw her as a loose and unwanted woman. Guilt, shame and rejection must have been emotions that she deeply felt every day as she went about her chores.¹⁵ Why would this Jewish rabbi – a holy man – want to speak with her?Yet Jesus graciously reached out to the Samaritan woman to offer her living water, so that she will no longer thirst for love and acceptance once she has received those from God through faith in Jesus.

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¹⁴ John 4:27. ¹⁵ It seems that the woman intentionally avoided the public eye by going to the well during midday when it was the hottest: Verse 6 “… It was about the sixth hour” would mean about noontime.