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“…grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
This is a quintessential portrait of Jesus and his ministry. He goes where no one wants to go (Samaria); to a group of people hated by his own (Jews hated Samaritans as half-breed traitors—long story); to meet a person whom no one else wants to meet (a woman going for water at mid-day suggests that she is excluded from the female community in the village, probably because of the circumstances around the five-plus husbands/lovers that she has had).
Jesus reaches across racial, gender, and religious boundaries and offers her unmerited favor in his gracious pursuit of her. He explains the truth to her in a way that draws her in, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty…” (v15). Along the way, he reveals more truth regarding his identity to this immoral, rejected, Gentile woman than he does to even the Jews. The contrast between Jesus’ interaction between Nicodemus, the religious leader, and this Samaritan woman is breathtaking. And to top it all off, he completely overlooks her sin.
Well, actually he doesn’t. Grace AND truth come through Jesus Christ. Moving towards her in grace isn’t gracious unless he treats her as a whole person. This means addressing the longings of her heart as well as the failures in her life.
From here, this woman’s experience of meeting Jesus becomes a revival. No miracles in this part of the chapter. This is just grace and truth and a person’s story of meeting Jesus in the middle of the day.
Study Notes: It is helpful to look at a map in order to understand this passage. Jesus was making a trip from the Judean countryside (3:22) to Galilee. Jewish people usually went far out of their way, crossing the Jordan River, in order to avoid the hated Samaritan population that dwelled between Judea and Galilee.
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