Questions for Reflection
Read John 4:1-23
- How have you been transformed by an encounter with Jesus?
- What in this story would have seemed strange, countercultural, or just plain wrong to people living in Jesus’ time and culture? Why do you think Jesus invites such an unconventional interaction with the Samaritan woman?
- Take a moment to read Jeremiah 2:4-5, 11-13. According to John 4 and Jeremiah 2, what is “living water”? What is the metaphor here?
- What did the Samaritan woman say in response to Jesus’ knowledge of her personal life (vs. 17-20)? Why do you think she changed the subject?
- Jesus tells the woman in verses 10-14 that he offers living water, a spring of water welling up to eternal life. But instead, we often try to quench our thirst and be satisfied by other things. What do you turn to, instead of Jesus, in order to make you feel whole and satisfied? What habits or attitudes do you need to let go of this week in order to take in Christ’s living water?
- Jesus crosses religious and cultural boundaries in this story in order to offer living water. What boundaries (social, cultural, political, generational) is God asking you to cross so you might also offer this living water? How might following Jesus require us to behave in ways that our culture finds strange or disturbing?
*Some of these questions were informed by N. T. Wright’s book, John: 26 Studies for Individuals and Groups.
Perry Hawkins