JOHN 4:7–15
THE GIFT OF LIVING WATER: JESUS AND THE SAMARITAN WOMAN
BRIEF INTERPRETATION
Text – John 4:7–15
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water?”
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
14 but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Historical and Jewish Context
The encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman breaks several social and religious barriers. Jewish men did not normally speak publicly with women, and Jews avoided contact with Samaritans due to longstanding hostility. Drawing water at noon suggests social marginalization, as women usually came in the cooler morning hours. In biblical tradition, “living water” referred to flowing water, symbolizing freshness and life. Jacob’s well held deep patriarchal significance for both Jews and Samaritans, linking the conversation to shared covenantal history.
Catholic Theological Perspective
This dialogue reveals Jesus as the giver of divine life. His request for water initiates a deeper exchange, moving from physical need to spiritual thirst. Catholic theology understands the “living water” as the gift of the Holy Spirit, communicated through Christ and sacramentally through Baptism. Jesus’ offer addresses the deepest longing of the human heart, which cannot be satisfied by material realities alone. The woman’s gradual openness shows how grace works patiently, leading the soul from misunderstanding to desire for salvation.
Parallels in Scripture
Isaiah 12:3 – Drawing water joyfully from the wells of salvation.
Jeremiah 2:13 – God as the fountain of living water.
Ezekiel 47:1–12 – Life-giving water flowing from the temple.
John 7:37–39 – Rivers of living water flowing from believers.
Revelation 22:1 – The river of life flowing from God’s throne.
Key Terms
Living water – Divine life given by Christ through the Spirit.
Gift of God – Grace freely offered, not earned.
Thirst – Humanity’s deep spiritual longing.
Spring of water – An interior source of eternal life.
Eternal life – Participation in God’s own life.
Catholic Liturgical Significance
This Gospel is proclaimed during Lent, especially in the context of baptismal preparation. The Church uses this passage to teach about Baptism, conversion, and the Holy Spirit. It invites the faithful to recognize their own thirst for God and to receive Christ as the source of true life.
Conclusion
John 4:7–15 reveals Jesus as the one who quenches humanity’s deepest thirst. By offering living water, He invites the Samaritan woman—and all believers—into a life that springs from God Himself and leads to eternal communion.
Reflection
What thirsts in my life do I try to satisfy apart from God?
Do I allow Jesus to reveal my deeper spiritual needs?
How do I respond to Christ’s offer of living water?
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, You offer living water to all who thirst. Draw me to Yourself, cleanse my heart, and fill me with the Holy Spirit. May Your grace become within me a spring of eternal life, and may I never cease to seek You. Amen.
DETAILED INTERPRETATION
(7) Now a Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
A woman of Samaria came to draw water
Why did the Samaritan woman come alone from a long distance to fetch water at noon? The women in Samaria would not allow her to get water from their wells because of her terrible reputation (Jn 4:18). Though the usual time to approach the well was in the morning or evening, she could reach there only by noon because of the long distance she had to walk. Another view is that she was not from the city of Samaria but a Samaritan living in the locality. Since other women abhored her coming with them to the well in the morning or evening, she might have chosen the noon time so as to be alone to fetch water without any nuisance posed by the presence of others.
Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink”
Jesus asking the Samaritan woman for a drink opened up a window for significant discussion and revelation of his mission. That also led to the entry of Jesus into Samaria, where the Jews detested and dreaded to enter.
If Jesus was thirsty, he could have performed a miracle for himself. He had turned water into wine and had multiplied loaves of bread and fish. However, he did not use his power for himself and depended on others expressing his need for help as a fellow human. He who said, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4), quenched his thirst not by drinking water from the woman but by sharing the Word of God with her. Another documented occasion when Jesus expressed his thirst was at his crucifixion. From the cross he cried aloud, “I thirst” (Jn 19:28).
(8) His disciples had just gone into the town to buy some food.
This clarifies why Jesus was alone, and why he asked for a drink from the Samaritan woman. Jesus, who multiplied food for his listeners, avoided doing so even for his disciples. That was also a lesson for the disciples that they must not misuse their power for themselves.
(9) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask me, a woman of Samaria, for a drink?” (For Jews, in fact, have no dealings with Samaritans.)
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
This question implied three concerns. “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan. Since the Jews hate the Samaritans, how come you are so nice as to talk to me, a Samaritan, so freely?” The woman could recognize Jesus from his dress and his dialect.
Another implied meaning was, “How come you a man, talk to a strange woman?” The Rabbis avoided talking to women in public because that could affect their reputation.
The third implication was, “You are asking for a drink from a Samaritan woman? Don’t you know the Jews will not receive any food items from the Samaritans?” The Jews considered Samaritan women as impure and so they did not drink from any vessel they handled.
Though it was natural that travellers ask for drinking water at the well, the woman was excited at the humble request of a Jewish Rabbi. She did not deny the help to the stranger, but was thrilled that an unusual request came from this foreigner. So, while giving water to the Rabbi, the Samaritan woman was bold enough to clarify her curiosity. Her openness led to the salvation of herself and of the Samaritans in her locality.
(For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans)
This is an explanatory note from the evangelist to the reader who obviously does not know the rivalry between the Jews and the Samaritans. The reason for the disparity was the difference in faith, especially for erecting the pagan temple at Mount Gerizim as a rival to the Temple of Jerusalem. God had instructed the Israelites not to mingle with idolatrous worshippers to protect their loyalty to God. Even Jesus spoke of the Samaritan as a foreigner (Lk 17:16-18). However, Jesus appreciated their compassion for others and accorded them high esteem as in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37).
(10) Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift of God, and if you knew who it is that is asking you for a drink, you yourself would have asked, and he would have given you living water.”
If you knew the gift of God
Though vague for the Samaritan woman and even to a reader of the gospel, the gift of God can be Jesus himself or the Holy Spirit, because both are gifts of God to humanity. In his conversation with Nicodemus Jesus said, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). Paul presents Jesus as an incredible gift of God (2 Cor 9:15, Rom 5:15-17).
Jesus Christ promised another gift of God, the Holy Spirit. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always” (Jn 14:16). “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you” (Jn 14:26). The Acts of the Apostles presents the Holy Spirit as the gift of God (Acts 2:38; 8:20; 10:45; 11:17). In the present context, Jesus could mean the Holy Spirit as the gift of God, as he expressed in the following statements.
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him
This could mean, ‘Though I am asking you for a drink, you do not know who I am. If you had known that I AM, our roles would have reversed, and you would have asked me for the spiritual drink that I have.’
and he would have given you living water
Jesus reversed the role of the giver and receiver. What Jesus wanted was water for temporal thirst. Jesus has the spiritual drink that is essential for eternal life. While Jesus was thirsting for drinking water as a human, the Samaritan woman had the spiritual thirst that could be rectified by the living water that only Jesus could offer.
What did Jesus mean by the living water? On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus proclaimed in the Temple, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’ He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive” (Jn 7:37-39). So, when Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman of the living water that he would give, he meant the Holy Spirit. However, the woman could not understand the figurative sense Jesus used. She understood it in an earthly sense. She might have thought of flowing water from a stream that was better than the stagnant water in the well. Such misunderstanding for further dialogue was a style Jesus used in his discussion with Nicodemus also (Jn 3:1-21).
(11) The woman answered, “Sir, you have no bucket and this well is deep; where can you get this living water?
By addressing Jesus “Sir” instead of “you,” the Samaritan woman started showing him respect. She was thinking of Jesus giving flowing water to her from a deep spring there. So, she raised a practical question of how he could do it without a bucket when the pit where the water dropped was deep. Her curious interrogation led to further clarification on his living water.
(12) Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, together with his children and his cattle?”
The Samaritans were a mixed race of Jews and migrants from Chaldea (2 Kgs 17:24) after the Assyrian conquest. So, they worshipped Yahweh and the idols. Since the Patriarch Jacob had purchased the land they occupied “for a hundred pieces of money from the descendants of Hamor, the father of Shechem” (Gen 33:19) and had given it to Joseph and his descendants, they honoured Jacob as their father with high esteem.
This disdainful question could only elicit a negative answer: ‘You cannot be greater than our father Jacob. Jacob bought this land, dug this well, used it for years, and handed over to Joseph (Gen 48:22). His son Ephraim and his descendants inherited this. We are now occupying it. Can you find a location and well like this? Are you wiser than he?’ The well was valuable as an excellent source of water and because of its historical prominence. The Patriarch Jacob and his descendants had drunk from it, along with their domestic animals.
(13) Jesus said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will be thirsty again; (14) but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never be thirsty; for the water that I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Jesus did not give a direct answer to the Samaritan woman’s question about who was great. He did not claim his superiority over Jacob. Jesus continued teaching in the figurative sense on the need for the Holy Spirit for the soul, in contrast to the water needed for the body. The earthly water can satisfy the body only for a while. A person who drinks it will thirst again. The spiritual water that Jesus provides is the Holy Spirit that can quench the spiritual vacuum forever. It will provide a spring of grace that would lead to eternal life.
(15) The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may never be thirsty and never have to come here to draw water.”
The woman could not understand what Jesus meant because of his figurative presentation. She misunderstood Jesus and took his discourse in a physical sense. With that understanding, she asked for the special water from Jesus. Thus, instead of Jesus asking for drinking water from the woman, she turned out to be the requester of living and better water from Jesus.