JOHN 4:1–6
JESUS AND THE SAMARITAN WOMAN: A JOURNEY THROUGH SAMARIA
BRIEF INTERPRETATION
Text – John 4:1–6
1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
2 (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, just his disciples),
3 he left Judea and returned to Galilee.
4 He had to pass through Samaria.
5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.
Historical and Jewish Context
Relations between Jews and Samaritans were deeply strained due to centuries of religious and ethnic division. Jews often avoided traveling through Samaria, preferring longer routes. John’s statement that Jesus “had to pass through Samaria” suggests not merely geographical necessity but divine purpose. Sychar, near Jacob’s well, recalls Israel’s patriarchal history and God’s covenantal promises. Wells in biblical tradition were often places of encounter, betrothal, and revelation. The detail that it was noon underscores the harshness of the setting and Jesus’ real human fatigue, emphasizing His full humanity.
Catholic Theological Perspective
This passage introduces a profound revelation of Christ as Savior of all, transcending boundaries of ethnicity, religion, and social status. Jesus’ weariness reveals the mystery of the Incarnation: the eternal Word truly shares human weakness. His deliberate journey through Samaria reveals God’s universal salvific will. Catholic theology sees here the beginning of a dialogue that will unfold into conversion, worship in spirit and truth, and missionary witness. Christ’s initiative shows that grace precedes human seeking.
Parallels in Scripture
Genesis 24:11–27 – A betrothal encounter at a well.
Genesis 29:1–14 – Jacob meeting Rachel at a well.
Exodus 2:15–21 – Moses meeting Zipporah at a well.
Isaiah 55:1 – Invitation to come and drink freely.
Luke 19:10 – The Son of Man seeking the lost.
Key Terms
Samaria – A place of division transformed into encounter.
Jacob’s well – Symbol of covenant history and promise.
He had to pass through – Divine necessity and mission.
Noon – A moment of exposure, truth, and encounter.
Jesus’ weariness – True humanity of the Incarnate Word.
Catholic Liturgical Significance
This passage introduces the Samaritan Woman narrative, proclaimed during Lent, especially in the context of baptismal preparation. The Church presents Christ as the one who seeks sinners and outsiders, inviting them to living water and true worship.
Conclusion
John 4:1–6 sets the stage for one of the most transformative encounters in the Gospel. Jesus crosses boundaries, shares human weakness, and positions Himself at a place of ancient promise, ready to reveal the living water that brings eternal life.
Reflection
Am I open to encountering Christ in unexpected places and people?
Do I recognize Jesus’ presence in moments of weariness and need?
What boundaries is Christ inviting me to cross in love and faith?
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, You journeyed through Samaria to seek the lost and weary. Meet me in my own places of thirst and fatigue. Open my heart to Your saving presence and prepare me to receive the living water You alone can give. Amen.
DETAILED INTERPRETATION
Background
After baptizing Jesus and introducing him to his listeners, John the Baptist continued baptizing in Aenon near Salim (Jn 3:23) until he was arrested by King Herod. Jesus, through his disciples, baptized those who came to him in the Judaean region of River Jordan. John gave his last witness to Jesus when John’s disciples complained that Jesus was also baptizing people. John confirmed Jesus as the Messiah and compared him as the best man of Jesus, the groom (Jn 3:29). John concluded, saying, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him” (Jn 3:36).
(Jn 4:1) The Pharisees heard that Jesus was attracting and baptizing more disciples than John.
The evangelist cites here the reason for Jesus moving from Judaea to Galilee. Even from the beginning of his ministry, Jesus faced challenges from the Pharisees, who were highly influential Jews. The popularity boost of Jesus alarmed them because they disagreed with his teachings and practices.
Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard
The Pharisees did not directly observe what Jesus did or listen to his “deviant” teachings. They learnt of it from others. Probably, they had sent emissaries to study the situation. Jesus got to know of their negativity by divine intuition. Or someone could have reported to him that the Pharisees were plotting against him.
Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
The Pharisees were apprehensive about John’s baptism of repentance. The Sanhedrin was the custodian of the Jewish ceremonies and rituals. John was baptizing without their approval. Only Elijah, a prophet, or the Messiah were supposed to do it. So, the Pharisees questioned John through their representatives, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?” (Jn 1:25) Besides John, there came Jesus, whose popularity because of his miraculous healings was phenomenal. So, more people came to Jesus for the Baptism of repentance based on his message. That also bothered the Pharisees.
Another issue of the Pharisees was the number of disciples John and Jesus were each gaining. However, they tolerated John because he disclaimed himself being the Messiah; he was not against the Law but was only asking people for a spiritual renewal. The heightening reputation of Jesus, his “deviant” teachings that went against their practices, the immense number of people gathering around him, the increasing number of people becoming his disciples, and their transformation of life through the baptism Jesus performed through his disciples bothered the Pharisees. Since John publicly introduced Jesus as the Messiah, his listeners and disciples were turning to Jesus. This movement of acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah would become a threat to the Sanhedrin and the Jewish aristocracy. So, they wanted to get rid of him before the situation got worse.
(2) although Jesus himself did not baptize but only his disciples,
As the evangelist specifies, Jesus was baptizing people through his disciples. Probably, Jesus had baptized the disciples and then let them take over as a part of their training. He delegated to his apostles the task of baptizing in his name for several reasons:
(1) He did not want to baptize in his name by himself.
(2) He wanted to train his disciples with hands-on experience for their future ministry.
(3) He did not want a division in the Church in the future caused by some people claiming that they had received baptism directly from Jesus (1 Cor 1:10-16).
(4) To teach us that the reception of baptism is important regardless of who confers it.
During his public ministry, Jesus concentrated on preaching and helping people with their ailments. Only after his resurrection was Baptism conferred with the Holy Spirit and fire (Jn 7:39) as John the Baptist had foretold (Mt 3:11). Before his ascension, Jesus authorized the apostles to go to all the nations, teach them all his commandments, make them his disciples, and baptize them in the Trinitarian formula (Mt 28:18-20). Though Jesus declared baptism as a requirement for salvation (Mk 16:16), the priority for him and the early Church was the preaching of the gospel (1 Cor 1:17).
(3) When Jesus became aware of what was being said, he left Judea and returned to Galilee.
Though Jesus came into the world to rescue humanity from the bondage of Satan, sin and death through his self-sacrifice in Jerusalem, he had several accomplishments to be achieved including preaching, revealing to the world who he was, to select and train his apostles to continue his ministry across all the nations until his Second Coming, and to institute the sacraments for his followers’ spiritual nourishment. Hence, Jesus avoided an early confrontation with the Pharisees in Judaea. He moved to Galilee, the northern part of Palestine via the middle territory of Samaria. Galilee was more receptive to innovative preaching than Judaea, because Galilee was amid the Gentiles and there was a mixed group of Jews and Gentiles living there. Judaea was a conservative Jewish concentration with the presence of the Temple and Sanhedrin. According to the calculation of the Bible scholars, Jesus was in Judaea for about eight months before he moved to Galilee.
The Samaritan Woman
He had to pass through Samaria (Jn 4:4).
Palestine, during the earthly life of Christ, had three divisions: Galilee in the north, Judaea, including Jerusalem in the south, and Samaria in between. The quick route from Galilee to Jerusalem was through Samaria, which some people used. However, most Jews avoided passing through Samaria because of the centuriesold rivalry between the Jews and the Samaritans. So, they journeyed double distance by travelling on the eastern side of the River Jordan. Moving through Samaria could cause confrontation between the two factions. Considering this sensitivity, Jesus had instructed his 12 apostles, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town” (Mt 10:5). During his last journey to Jerusalem, Jesus passed through Samaria. On the way, a Samaritan village did not welcome him because his destination was Jerusalem (Lk 9:52-53).
A sequence of historical events caused the hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Samaritans were the occupants of the territory formerly assigned to the tribes of Ephraim and the half-tribe, Manasseh. King Omri purchased a mountain from Shemer and built the city and named it Samaria after the previous owner, Shemer (1 Kgs 16:23-24). He made it the capital of Northern Israel. Later that region also got the name Samaria. When the Assyrians deported and scattered in captivity, the ten tribes of Northern Israel, “The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities” (2 Kgs 17:24). They intermarried with the remaining Israelites in the newly occupied area. The pagans who inhabited Samaria continued the worship of their idols. So, God dispatched lions among them that killed some people. The Assyrian king sent them an Israelite priest from exile to teach them the worship of the God of the land. They learned the books of Moses and worshipped the God of Israel, but continued their idolatry as well. “They were both venerating the LORD and serving their own gods” (2 Kgs 17:33). Because of these blended races and mixed worship, the Jews considered the Samaritans as “half-breeds” and detested them.
The animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans intensified because of several reasons: (1) When the Jews returned from Babylonian exile and started rebuilding the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem, the Samaritans opposed it and halted it for some time (Neh 6:1-14). (2) The Samaritans perpetuated their idolatrous worship by building a temple for the purpose on Mount Gerizim. (3) The Samaritans offered refuge for the outlaws of Judaea (Josh 20:6-7; 21:21). (4) While accepting the Torah, the Samaritans disregarded other Jewish scriptures and traditions. Hence, the Jews detested the Samaritans and blocked all contact with them (Jn 4:9; 8:48).
Then why did Jesus travel through Samaria? He might have used the shortcut to Galilee to reach there faster while fleeing Judaea. Jesus wanted to teach his disciples that animosity with the Samaritans would not help either factions. He wanted to approach the Samaritans with love and compassion because salvation per se was not just for Jews, but for all, including the Samaritans. Jesus might have the divine vision of making use of the Samaritan woman as an entry into the hearts of Samaritans. Hence, Jesus went through Samaria as a necessity to proclaim the Gospel even to the enemies of the Jews.
(5) And he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
The original name of Sychar was Shechem, between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, twelve km southeast of the city of Samaria and 48 km north of Jerusalem. It was en route the northern and southern Israel. The Jews, out of their contempt of Samaritans, later nicknamed it Sychar, which means drunkards (Isa 28:1) or liars.
The town is historically important and associated with Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph.
1. When Abram came from Haran to Canaan, the LORD appeared to him at “the sacred place at Shechem” and said, “To your descendants I will give this land. So Abram built an altar there to the LORD” (Gen 12:6-7).
2. The Patriarch Jacob encamped here on his way from Paddanaram, and bought it “from descendants of Hamor, the father of Shechem” (Gen 33:19).
3. Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, defiled Jacob’s daughter Dinah. Her brothers retaliated against the men of the city here (Gen 34:1-31).
4. Jacob buried here all the foreign gods and earrings his people were holding (Gen 35:1-4) and committed himself and his family to the God of his forefathers.
5. Joseph came in search of his brothers here when they were pastoring the flock. They sold him to the Ishmaelites, who took him into slavery in Egypt (Gen 37:12-28).
6. The Israelites brought the bones of Joseph from Egypt and buried them in Shechem (Josh 24:32).
7. After the conquest of Canaan, Joshua brought the Israelites here and arranged half of the tribes facing Mount Gerizim and the others Mount Ebal. Then he “read aloud all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, exactly as written in the book of the law” (Josh 8:33-34).
8. The tribe of Ephraim settled in Shechem (Josh 21:21).
9. At the end of Joshua’s life, he gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem (Josh 24:1) and renewed their covenant with God promising, “We will serve the LORD, our God, and will listen to his voice.” Joshua also made statutes and ordinances for Israel there (Josh 24:25).
10. Gideon’s son “Abimelech fought against the city. He captured it, killed the people who were in it, and demolished the city itself, sowing it with salt” (Judg 9:45).
11. The division of Israel into north (Israel) and south (Judah) took place at Shechem. Jeroboam reigned over the northern section (1 Kgs 12:1-20), started idolatrous worship at Bethel and Dan (1 Kgs 12:29), and fortified Shechem (1 Kgs 12:25).
12. The Samaritans made Shechem their central city and built their temple on Mount Gerizim. Jesus might have purposefully selected this historically prominent city to evangelize the Samaritans.
(6) Jacob’s well was there. Tired from his journey, Jesus sat down by the well; it was about noon.
Jacob’s well was there.
On his way from Padanaram, Jacob and his family encamped at Shechem and bought that land “for a hundred pieces of money from the descendants of Hamor, the father of Shechem” (Gen 33:18-19). He might have dug a well there and the availability of water might have been a reason for that purchase. Since Jacob was a great patriarch of Israel who owned the property and dug the well, it was known in his name. Hence, the Samaritan woman asked Jesus, “Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” (Jn 4:12)
This well was at the foot of Mount Gerizim, dug in solid rock of limestone with about nine feet in diameter and 100 feet deep. It contained several feet of water fed by abundant springs (Deut 8:7). That well is now dry, maybe because of natural reasons like deviation of the springs due to an earthquake.
During Biblical times, the well made for an informal gathering place for people because many came there to fetch water. According to the Bible, some historical turning points have indeed taken place at the well. Abraham’s senior servant met Rebekah at a well and chose her as wife for Isaac because she provided water for him and his camels (Gen 24:10-51). Rachel met Jacob, her future husband, when she went to water her father’s flock (Gen 29:1-14). Joseph’s brothers, who planned to kill him, changed their mind, threw him into a dried well and later sold him to the Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt (Gen 37:19-28). Moses met his future wife at a well in Midian (Ex 2:15-21). According to the Protoevangelium of Saint James, Mary was at a well with her pitcher when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her. Because water is a life sustainer and the well is a source for it, the well is a symbol of new life events.
Jesus, tired from his journey
Jesus, though God incarnate, was also human like us. Thus, that he shared our weaknesses, except sin, is clear from the exhaustion Jesus experienced. He was always walking on foot even for a long-distance journey, except for his triumphant entry into the Temple for his last Passover observance.
sat down there at the well
Jesus was so weak after walking from Judaea that the disciples let him rest while they went to purchase food. There must have been seating facilities for passersby at the well, maybe under the shade of trees for rest, so that they could also avail of water to drink from the well.
It was about noon
The evangelist specifies the time, noon, to let the reader know Jesus had by then had a half day walk that day. The heat was high by noon. So, he must have been exhausted, hungry, and thirsty by that time. Since it was the time for the meal, the disciples had gone to buy food for them and Jesus.
MESSAGE
1. Though John the Baptist and Jesus were converting people, gaining disciples, and baptizing them, there was no competition between them. John’s motto was, “He must increase; I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). John prepared the way for Jesus, introduced him as the Messiah to the public, guided his disciples to Jesus, and receded from the scene by becoming a martyr for his moral teaching. Like John and Jesus, let us work as a team for evangelization with no jealousy or competition.
2. Though the Jews avoided the direct road between Judaea and Galilee, Jesus used it to meet the Samaritans without prejudice, intending to save their souls. Keeping up hatred or hostility towards anyone is against Christian morals. Do
we behave with disgust or prejudice towards anyone?