The Well and The Mountain

[Read John 4:1-26]

Since we live in a world where things are constantly changing, things are constantly in flux, and things can often be dangerous or difficult, we are necessarily looking for hope and comfort and steadiness. We look for things to give us stability in the midst of change. We look for things to give us comfort in the midst of trials and difficulties. We look for things to give us hope in the midst of despair. However, we often look for all of these things in the wrong places. 

There’s something inside us that is constantly looking for comfort and stability and hope in the things we can see and touch. Many people find their stability and comfort and hope in a good, steady job. As long as they have that good, steady job they will be alright—things will be good. Other people find their stability and comfort and hope in their families. As long as their children are healthy and doing all right, everything will be alright. Or they find stability and comfort and hope by looking back at the generational faithfulness of their family. They can see generation after generation after generation doing good things, working good jobs, raising good families, and that gives them hope that they can do those things too. Other people find their stability and comfort and hope in finding a good church. As long as they are part of a good church community, then everything should be just fine. 

Until it’s not, right? When we put our stability and comfort and hope in these things, everything is just fine—at least it seems just fine—until these things are taken away. All of a sudden we lose that reliable job and find ourselves beginning to lose all comfort and stability and hope. All of a sudden one of our children begins to walk a path we never expected, and we begin to lose all comfort, stability, and hope. All of a sudden, there’s tension in the church community or things just change and look different, and we begin to lose that comfort, stability, and hope. This is why we can’t look for stability, comfort, and hope in the things we can touch and see, because they will always let us down. 

Thankfully, there’s another tendency, that when we begin to lose all stability, comfort, and hope in the things we can touch and see, we instinctively begin to look higher. We instinctively begin to look beyond the things we can touch and see—things that are fading away—to things that will last forever, to eternal, unshakeable, foundational things. We begin to realize that’s where we ultimately find stability, comfort, and hope. That’s really what this passage is all about. 

The beginning of this passage sets the stage for what’s about to happen. We read, “Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there…” (John 4:1–6, ESV). I know it was a while ago not, but remember where we left off in John 3. We left off with this interaction between John and his disciples. They were concerned that more people were going to Jesus than to John. Well, that reality is also alarming to the Pharisees. They start to see more people going to Jesus, and he instantly becomes a threat to them. So, Jesus gets out of town and heads for Galilee. Most likely, he does this because he knew the Pharisees were going to try to kill him but it wasn’t yet his time—to use the language of John’s Gospel, the hour had not yet come. 

So, as Jesus heads from Judea to Galilee has to pass through Samaria. That was the shortest, most direct path between these two cities. And in the middle of this journey, we read, “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.” (John 4:6, ESV). Jesus gets tired. He’s been walking and walking and walking. Now it was the heat of the day, the sun was high in the sky—about noon—and Jesus needs a break. So, he see’s Jacob’s well and sits down for a break and for some water. 

I don’t want to dwell on this too much, but I think it’s important to mention. This is all pointing us to the reality of Jesus’ humanity. He didn’t just float through life. Yes, he is truly God, but he is also truly human. He gets hungry and tired and thirsty, just like the rest of us. And the reason he is at the well, is because he is tired and thirsty. 

And while he sits at the well, worn out and thirsty and hungry, this Samaritan woman comes strolling up to get some water. Since Jesus’ disciples have gone into town to get food—most likely because they were hungry—and Jesus didn’t have anything to draw water with, he asks the woman to draw some water for him. 

Her response is somewhat expected: “The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)” (John 4:9, ESV). It’s important to know that this animosity goes both ways. The Jews weren’t the biggest fans of the Samaritans, and the Samaritans were not the biggest fans of the Jews. So, it’s very possible that she is thinking something like, “You can get your own water, Jew.” 

This tension between the Jews and Samaritans goes back a long way—like centuries. I don’t have time to get into all of it, but if you read the book of Ezra, you can see some of the beginnings of this tension and that was about 600 years before this. The people of God had finished their time in exile and had begun to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, but the people of Samaria were not excited about this idea. So, they use all of their political leverage to shut the temple building project down…and it works. Then, on top of all this, the Samaritans only accepted the first five books of the Bible—the books of Moses, or the Torah. So, they left them in an interesting place concerning worship. The Jews rightly believed that the Samaritans had corrupted the worship of God. It’s kinda like the Muslims and the Mormons today. They claim to believe in our Old Testament and follow its rules, but it’s all twisted and distorted from its original intent. So the Jews had a lot of animosity toward the Samaritans and the Samaritans replicated that animosity. 

That’s why Jesus’ response to her animosity is pretty beautiful. He says, “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.” (John 4:10, ESV). Herman Ridderbos does a great job explaining Jesus’ response to the woman. He says, “If she knew the gift of God and, in that connection, who the stranger was who was speaking with her, she would no longer trouble herself about problems between Jews and Samaritans but would ask him for water and he would give it to her: living, running, water (again, whether she was a Samaritan or not).” (Ridderbos, 155).

And I think her response to Jesus, tells us a lot more than we typically think. She says, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” (John 4:11–12, ESV). That line in the middle is really important. Are you greater than our father Jacob? He’s the one who gave us this well. He’s the one who watered his animals here and generations of people. All of this is pointing to something deeper going on with this Samaritan woman. She is putting her stability, comfort, and hope in this well and in the man who dug that well—Jacob—and in the generations that have used this well. And Jesus has the audacity to claim that he is better than Jacob? Than the well he made? Really, she is saying, “Who do you think you are? Do you really think you are better than this well? Do you really think you are better than Jacob?”

Jesus basically answers, “Yeah. I do.” He does that by explaining himself. He says, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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.” (John 4:13–14, ESV). Jesus tells her that this well and this water will only satisfy temporarily. You have to keep coming back to it over and over and over again looking to have your thirst quenched and satisfied. He is offering her something more. He is offering her some stability and comfort and hope that transcends this temporal well—this temporal blessing from Jacob. He is offering her living water that will well up within her and give her ultimate satisfaction, ultimate stability, ultimate comfort, ultimate hope, ultimate life—eternal life. 

Jesus is getting at a problem that God’s people have always struggled with—that we all struggle with. He’s addressing one of the problems of God’s people that resulted in them being sent off to exile. Here’s what Jeremiah tells God’s people—the people of Jacob in particular. He says, “Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:12–13, ESV). My people have committed two evils. The first evil is turning away from God—who is the fountain of living waters. The second evil is trying to find that water in broken wells that hold no water. This is an image of trying to find life and hope and satisfaction and comfort and stability in all the wrong places—trying to find water in a broken well where there is no water and REFUSING to look to the one who can give you true, living water. 

It seems like this is the point Jesus is making with the woman at the well. He’s telling her, “You have relied on Jacob, but not on God. You have relied on Jacob’s well, and the water that comes from it, but not on the fountain of living water—God. You’ve put your hope and trust in this well and this people and this ancestor, but not in the one who blessed your ancestor and the work of his hands. You’ve been seeking water from all the wrong places, rather than looking to the fountain of living water—rather than looking and trusting and embracing your God.” 

And it seems like this resonates with her. I don’t think this is a sarcastic response from her. I think she genuinely says, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” (John 4:15, ESV). I think she is cut to the heart and wants what Jesus is offering. She hears what he has to say and responds by saying, “I want that! That’s what I’ve been searching for my whole life. I want it.” And in an interesting turn of events, what began by Jesus saying to the woman, “Give me some water,” she now responds by looking at Jesus and saying, “Give me this water.” 

Then, as he typically does, Jesus responds in an unexpected way. It seems like he has her right where he wants her. She’s seen the beauty of this living water and is desiring this living water and has requested the living water. You would think Jesus would just tell her how to get the living water, right? But that’s not what he does. 

Instead, he makes things really uncomfortable. He says, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” (John 4:16, ESV). Now, as we go through the rest of this interaction, I think it’s really important to remember this is Jesus’ response to the woman’s request for living water. She says, “Give me that water;” Jesus says, “Bring me your husband;” which leads to this interaction: “The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.” (John 4:17–19, ESV). Things get awkward, right? All of a sudden, her mired and dirty past is brought out into the light. She knows that Jesus knows what has happened in the past, and what is happening right now. We don’t know for sure if the other five husbands died or were divorces, but we know she is currently committing adultery and we can maybe assume that the other five husbands divorced her because of adultery. And Jesus brings all of this into the light. 

The question is: Why? Why does Jesus respond this way when she asks for the living water? Why does Jesus bring up her mired, sinful past and present? I think one of the answers comes from Isaiah 55. In Isaiah 55 we see both of these things coming together. It begins by saying, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!” (Isaiah 55:1, ESV). Sounds like what Jesus is saying to this woman, right? These calls to come and drink and eat and be satisfied eventually show us how we do this: “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6–7, ESV). That’s how we drink the living waters, by turning from our sinful ways—by forsaking our sinful ways—and seeking our God. When we do that, he has compassion and will abundantly pardon and will give us the living waters that we seek. 

That’s what Jesus is doing with the woman at the well. She hears his beautiful offer of living water and she says, “Give me that water.” So, Jesus responds by revealing her sinful past and present, as a way of showing her that she must turn from these things—forsake her sinful ways—and seek the Lord while he is near. Then, she can receive the living water that she desires. 

Now, I used to believe the woman’s response was an attempt to change the subject because she felt so uncomfortable—kinda like, “Well, I’m done talking about that, let’s talk about something else”—but I’m not so sure about that any longer. I think she is asking a genuine question of Jesus because she recognizes there’s something different about him. She recognizes, at a minimum, he is a prophet. He has not only revealed things about her that she tried to keep hidden, but he has also opened her eyes to a greater need that she hadn’t thought of—a need beyond the well. So, it makes sense for her to ask him another question, about another important aspect of her life—worship. 

She says, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” (John 4:20, ESV). Worship has been one of the primary tensions between the Jews and Samaritans. So, she wants some clarity on this struggle. Where should she worship? Where should she find this stability, comfort, and hope? If not in the well, maybe in the right temple on the right mountain? 

Jesus answers this question the same way he answered the question at the well: It’s not about the well. It’s not about the mountain. He says, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.” (John 4:21, ESV). It’s not about the mountain. He goes on to explain why this is the case. He says, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24, ESV). Since God is spirit—we can’t touch him or see him—our worship isn’t about physical things either. Our worship must also be in spirit and in truth. It’s not about the mountain or the temple, it’s about something much deeper than that. It’s about spirit and truth. That’s why Jesus says, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (John 4:23, ESV). True worship is not about the where, but about spirit and truth. That’s why it’s not about the mountain. 

And I love how he ends it by telling the woman that the Father is seeking such people to worship him—kinda like her. It’s an invitation for her to worship the Father in spirit and in truth—even as a Samaritan, even as a woman caught in adultery, even as a woman with a messed up past. Jesus is telling her that she can worship God truly—not by going to the right mountain, not by trusting in Jacob, not by relying on herself—but by turning from her sin and grabbing hold of God—turning from the broken cistern and grabbing hold of the fountain of living water—and worshiping Him in spirit and truth. That’s how she can rightly worship. That’s how she can receive the living waters that will well up within her to eternal life. 

And the ending of this part of the story is the best part. It really ties everything up nicely in a bow. We read this beautiful interaction between Jesus and the woman: “The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”” (John 4:25–26, ESV). What’s beautiful about this is that the Samaritans knew a Messiah was coming and their understanding was that the Messiah would come and teach them all things—he would correct all of the wrong things they believed. They also believe the Messiah would come with buckets overflowing with water. So, they were waiting for him to do these things. 

And Jesus responds to her expectations of the Messiah and says, “I’m the guy and I’m much better than you’ve ever expected.” You expected someone to come with buckets full of water. I’m here with you now and I have more than buckets full of water, I have more than a fountain of water, I AM the fountain of living water. You expected someone to come and show you how to worship rightly and correct your faults. I’m here with you now and I’m going to do more than teach you and correct your faults, I’m here to make a way for you to truly worship—a way that transcends all place and time, a way that is much higher than the things we can see an touch—worship that is in spirit and truth. I’m here seeking you, calling you, to turn from your sinful past and to turn from putting your hope in things that will not provide hope—putting your hope in wells and mountains. I’m here calling you to put your hope in me, the fountain of living water, the true temple of God, the one who will ultimately cleanse you, forgive you, satisfy you, and open a way for you to truly worship your God. Put your hope here. 

This is truly the call that goes out to every one of us in this room. It’s the call that Jesus gave to religious Nicodemus. It’s the call that Jesus gave to the irreligious woman at the well. Stop placing your hope and trust in things that will continually let you down. If you try to find your stability and comfort and hope in a good job—and not in God—it will let you down. If you try to find your stability, comfort, and hope in a good family—and not in God—it will ultimately let you down because it’s a broken cistern. If you try to find all of these things in a church—and not in God—it will also let you down. Stop trying to drink from wells that are broken and have no water. They will ultimately leave you unsatisfied and will let you down. Rather, turn around. Turn from sinfully seeking hope and peace in broken cisterns and look to the fountain of living water. Seek our God while he may be found. Look to him, rest in him, be cleansed by him, be satisfied by him, and then worship Him in spirit and in truth.