Monday 31st August 2026

John 4:1-15 

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, ‘Jesus is making and baptising more disciples than John’— although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized — he left Judea and started back to Galilee.  But he had to go through Samaria.

So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 
The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 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.’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.

The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

Reflection

A man once travelled by train through the Great Thar Desert in Rajasthan, India.  While other passengers pulled down their window shades to escape the harsh sun, he kept his open, gazing at the barren land with a smile. Curious, another passenger asked, “What do you see in that wasteland that makes you smile?” He replied, “I’m in the irrigation business. If we could only bring water here, this desert would become a garden.” He alone saw the desert’s potential.

Friends, Jesus alone saw the potential in the Samaritan woman.  Jesus saw a heart that could be transformed once irrigated by the living water of the Holy Spirit. He crossed barriers of race, gender, and culture to reach her.

This conversation with the Samaritan woman might be viewed as unexpected.  A Jew debating theology with a Samaritan results in her becoming an evangelist.  Weary and thirsty, sitting by a well, Jesus revealed both His humanity and His grace – asking something from her so that he could offer what she needed.

Jesus never used His power for Himself. He did not perform miracles to satisfy His own hunger or thirst. Instead, He honoured human effort and embraced human weakness, fully committing Himself to our salvation.

The Samaritan woman was offered the water of life—not because she deserved it, but because Jesus is gracious. And that same water is offered to us today.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, 
we confess we are unworthy, 
like the Samaritan woman. 
Quench our thirsty souls with Your living water. 
Wash us clean, and make us new creations for Your glory. 
We come to You, Lord—empty, needy, and trusting. 
Fill us with Your Spirit and lead us into new life.
Amen.