One hot day, Jesus was walking through a place called Samaria. The sun was shining bright, and the birds sang sweet songs. Jesus was tired from walking, so He sat down by a well. A well is a deep hole in the ground where people get water.
A woman came to the well to get some water. She was surprised to see Jesus sitting there. Jesus smiled kindly at her. “Please, give me a drink,” He said softly.
The woman looked at Jesus and said, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” Jews and Samaritans usually didn’t like each other. But Jesus wanted to be friends with her anyway.
Jesus told her, “If you knew God’s gift and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” Living water is like special water that never runs out and makes your heart happy forever!
The woman was curious. “Sir, where can I get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well?” she asked.
Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But the water I give will make you never thirst again. It will be like a spring inside you, giving life forever!”
The woman thought about this. She wanted that happy water. “Please give me this water,” she said.
Jesus smiled and said, “Go, call your husband, and come back.”
The woman was quiet for a moment and then said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus knew everything about her and said, “You are right. You have had five husbands, and the man you live with now is not your husband.”
The woman was surprised! She said, “Sir, you must be a prophet!”
They talked about God and where people should worship Him. Jesus told her that soon, people will worship God not just in one place, but everywhere, with their hearts.
The woman felt so happy and amazed. She left her water jar at the well and ran to tell the people in her town, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he be the Christ, the one God promised?”
Many people believed in Jesus because of what the woman said. Jesus stayed with them and taught them many things about God’s love.
Jesus showed us that He loves everyone, even people who feel lonely or sad. He gives us living water that fills our hearts with joy and peace forever.
Questions to think about
- Why was Jesus sitting by the well?
- What did Jesus ask the woman to give Him?
- What is living water Jesus talked about?
- How did the woman feel when Jesus knew everything about her?
- What did the woman do after talking to Jesus?
Message of the story
God loves everyone, no matter who they are. Jesus gives us living water that fills our hearts with joy and never runs dry.
Bible passage
John 4:1-42 (World English Bible)
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—
2 although Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples did—
3 so he left Judea and went back again to Galilee.
4 He had to go through Samaria.
5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
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 is it that you,
