Contemplative Bible Reading

John 4:39 (New Living Translation)

39 Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!”

Once there was a woman from the village of Sychar. This woman went to a well to draw water in the middle of the day.

She didn’t associate much with the other women in her town. Actually, the other women of the town didn’t associate with her. She had been married to five different men. Bad luck? We don’t know. Regardless of her marital status, she was okay financially because she found a man who would live with and support her.

Anyways, she happened to meet a Jewish man at the well. This Jew didn’t know how to act; he spent the while speaking with her. This Jew spoke of water that you drink once and were quenched for life. She wanted that, but the Jew was speaking in riddles. Those riddles, however, came back around to tell her things about herself that no one, especially a Jew, could know.

Despite all this mess and embarrassment, the Sycharian woman became a disciple. She discipled her entire town—even those women who looked down on her. She was one of the most successful disciple-making disciples recorded in the Bible, as she brought the entire town to meet this Jewish man, and they believed.