The gospel is very long, it is more practical to read it from your own Bible.

This story is found only in the Fourth Gospel. The first four chapters of this Gospel address the different “constituencies” of the Gospel’s readers: followers of the Baptist (1:19-51), the Jews (2:1-12), the Pharisees (3:1-21), the Samaritans (our Gospel today) and the Gentiles (4:46-54). The story is symbolic of the journey of faith, using marriage symbolism from the Old Testament.

KIND OF WRITING This story is a symbolic narrative, typical of John’s Gospel. There may be a remote historical basis, but as it stands it is not historical. Typically for this Gospel (i) there is a one-to-one encounter; (ii) the person encountered makes a considerable journey of faith

POINTERS FOR PRAYER

1. Jesus leads the woman along a wonderful journey towards a deeper and fuller life. You can enter the story with Jesus, the ideal leader, parent, teacher, or spiritual guide. Notice how he meets the woman where she is, needing her assistance, how he is patient with her, but also challenges her to grow to what she is capable of. Perhaps you have been such a teacher, or you can recall people who were.

2. You can also enter the story from the perspective of the woman’s journey. Notice the steps along the way: suspicion, distrust, curiosity, misunderstanding and conversion. Her journey was one in which a very human motivation attracted her to Jesus: the thought of having water in such a way that she did not have to come and draw it from the well. What have been the human motives that have attracted you to faith, prayer, religion, church and which have been stepping-stones to a deeper personal relationship with Jesus? Perhaps we can also see the same movement in the growth of some of our human relationships.

3. The woman’s final tactic is to attempt to buy time before responding (v. 25) —it will all happen sometime in the future. Jesus points out that the time for a faith response is NOW. How have you discovered the importance of the NOW moment?

Today we are greatly helped by the wonderful Gospel of the Woman at the Well. On the third attempt, Jesus finally gets through to her but after that there is no stopping her. As Augustine teaches, she represents us: what do I thirst for? What is the most important thing in my life? Where do I now find God? By relentless challenge and resolute honesty, we too can be led to that encounter with Jesus, which changes everything, “giving life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” May we come to believe because we have heard him ourselves and we know that he really is the saviour of the world.