Jesus Offers a Samaritan Woman Free Water (John 4:5-42)

Memory Verse

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!" (Isaiah 55:1)


Teaching Aids

1) Poster - have kids draw or color two pictures; one showing Jesus talking with the woman at the well and the other showing Jesus on the cross. Glue these pictures to a poster (or banner) which has these words written on it: The Cost of "Free" Water.

2) A cooler containing bottles of ice-cold water.


Read and Discuss

1) In the previous chapter, Jesus had just spoken the most famous words in all of scripture. What did He say? (John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world... etc.")

2) What was the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans? Between men and women?

3) Why was the woman drawing water at, "the sixth hour" (ie, at noon, in the heat of the day) instead of at the customary time in the evening? (Because the other women of the village didn't want to associate with her).

4) Jesus (ie, God) experienced fatigue (vs 6) and thirst (vs 7) just like us! He experienced an even greater thirst on the cross (see John 19:28).

5) The woman rightly understands that Jesus is offering her free water (vs 15), even though she won't find out until later in the story what kind of water Jesus is really offering.

6) Jesus lovingly points out this woman's sin (vs 16-18). He's here to meet a need deeper than her physical thirst.

7) Why didn't Jesus come to the well when the "good" women were drawing water?

8) Are we more like the Samaritan woman (who needed Jesus) or the "good" women (who didn't)?


The Main Point

I brought you some ice-cold water today, and I'm going to give it to you for free. This water is free for you, but it wasn't free for me was it? I had to pay for it... Somebody always has to pay, don't they?

What did the woman come to the well with? (her sin)
What did she leave with? (eternal life)
How is that possible?
What about her sin?
Who paid for this "free water"?

We get the answer to this question from the other place in the bible that speaks of free water... Does anyone know about this story... Where God's people got free water... water from a rock?

Look up and read Exodus 17:1-6: "... and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink."

Who is this Rock that was struck so that these ungrateful people could drink?

Look up and read 1 Corinthians 10:1-4: "... and the Rock was Christ."


The Gospel

Jesus Christ, the only perfect person who ever lived... the only person who didn't deserve to "thirst" or to be "struck", went to the cross and made Himself thirsty... made Himself the Rock that was struck... for us... instead of us... so that we would never be thirsty again... so that we would never be struck... so that we could drink freely and be satisfied.

Handout the ice-cold water and drink.

Gospel Consequences

For Ourselves: Radical "un" self consciousness (vss 28-29)

For Others: Abundant harvest (vss 35-42)

Gospel-Centered Children's Curriculum by Yancey C. Arrington

Simply put, gospel-centered curriculum is material which demonstrates how the entire Scripture ultimately highlights the beauty, worth, centrality and supremacy of God's saving action in Jesus' Person and Work. It reveals how Jesus is the ultimate end of every story, every book and every letter of Scripture. Gospel-centered curriculum takes seriously the approach Jesus took to the Bible when he demonstrated to his disciples in Luke 24:14, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” In Jesus' mind, the Bible was about him. Gospel-centered curriculum capitalizes on this idea by responsibly demonstrating how everything in the Scriptures points to Jesus, promises Jesus, parallels Jesus, prefigures Jesus, proclaims Jesus, etc. Hopefully, as the listener/ learner witnesses the glory of the gospel, his affections will be deeply and profoundly moved for Christ. Put another way, the individual's heart will grow for Jesus!

Unfortunately, this gospel-centered emphasis appears to be a rare commodity in children's curriculum which far too often devolves into mere moralism – Sesame Street with a little Jesus sprinkled on top. Every Sunday in churches all across America kids are given the impression by children's ministries that the main reason God gave the Bible is to teach them “how to” live – how to tell the truth, how to obey mommy and daddy, how to work hard and make good grades, how to develop the right friends – instead of it being the story of how God has come in Jesus to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves (i.e., the gospel).

... the children's lesson usually is a biblical story that has been ripped from its redemptive historical context. This isolated story is then boiled down into a morality tale – a biblical Aesop's Fables, if you will – where children are called to do the right things.

... Could it be that the things we often focus on in teaching children Bible stories are secondary truths, supporting details instead of the main idea? Could it be that instead of giving our kids the life-giving truth of Jesus each week, we have mistakenly given them moralism; something that never grows a heart for Christ but does quite the opposite.  Are we giving kids the good news or just good advice?

... a gospel-centered Bible story will seek to demonstrate how it ties into the bigger story of Redemption in Jesus. This means the teacher seeks to go “up” from the smaller, individual Bible story into the “Big Story”.  Discontent with giving another moral lesson for children, gospel-centered curriculum understands the Bible ultimately reveals one story – the story of redemption in Jesus. It seeks to help the learner understand how the specific Bible story contributes to God's plan of salvation through Christ. How does this story “move the ball down the field” for the gospel? Do we see any types or prefigures of Jesus in this story? Does this story set up a scenario that Christ fulfills to a greater degree? Etc. A question I like to ask myself before I preach would also help here: Why did Jesus have to die for today's message?

... we should always attempt to put that exhortation within the frame of the gospel. For example, how does the gospel inform my seeking to be truthful? Well, for starters, people often lie because they want others to accept them. But, through the work of the cross, I should realize that I have been made acceptable to God. Thus, in continuing to trust the gospel, I can be freed from the desire to find acceptance in human approval. As a result, my desire to lie to others weakens. Therefore, gospel-centered curriculum isn't anti-moral exhortation, it is anti-moralism.

We cannot simply tell children (or adults for that matter) to simply stop worshipping whatever idol to which their heart is given. The idol is too powerful. To remove it we must replace it with something greater. We need the expulsive power of a new affection. The gospel, not mere moral exhortations, is that power

... When the gospel becomes secondary and treated like it's only the front door for the faith instead of being the room we live in, we are placing our children on the fast track for either being very religious (read: rule keeper) or rebellious (read: rule breaker). Both of those groups will be far from God.

(Read the full article at Gospel-Centered Children's Curriculum by Yancey Arrington)