Lamaritan Woman At The Well

Her day is like most days. She goes to the well to draw water for her daily chores, for cooking, and for bathing. Why at noonday, though, when the typical first-century practice was to go in evening’s coolness, is anybody’s guess. Some scholars surmise she was a social outcast, given her scandalous life.

Here she chances upon a stranger who she immediately discerns, perhaps by His clothing and accent, to be a Jew passing through the area. Thus begins the incredible encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well.

This interaction in John 4 is one of Jesus’ longest conversations in the Gospels. It also