Single lesson
Jesus Meets the Samaritan Woman
John 4:1–42
In this lesson, children trace the whole account at the well, including Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman, his teaching to the disciples, and the way many people came to believe in him.
Before you teach
Jesus left Judea and travelled towards Galilee through Samaria. At Jacob’s well near Sychar, he spoke with a Samaritan woman about living water, worship, and who he is. After she went to the town, Jesus also taught his disciples about doing the will of the one who sent him and about the harvest, and many Samaritans believed.
Students will be able to place six main parts of John 4:1–42 in order and explain how the woman, the disciples, and the Samaritans each responded to Jesus.
Welcome: Listen for the responses
4 minAsk children to listen for actions and responses in the passage. Explain that Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well, speaks with her, then teaches his disciples, and many people come to believe in him. Tell the group they will follow the account step by step and notice what each person says or does.
John 4:6, John 4:7, John 4:27, John 4:39, John 4:41
Read and explain: Jesus asks for a drink and speaks of living water
7 minRead John 4:1–15. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat at Jacob’s well and asked the woman for a drink. She questioned why he, a Jew, would ask her, a Samaritan woman. Jesus then contrasted ordinary water, which leaves people thirsty again, with the water he gives, which becomes a spring of water to eternal life.
John 4:6, John 4:7, John 4:9, John 4:13, John 4:14, John 4:15
Discuss: Worship, truth, and who Jesus is
6 minRead John 4:16–26. Jesus showed that he knew the truth about the woman’s life, and she said he was a prophet. When she asked about worship, Jesus said the hour was coming when true worshippers would worship the Father in spirit and truth, because God is spirit. When she spoke of the Messiah, Jesus said, 'I am he'.
John 4:17, John 4:18, John 4:19, John 4:21, John 4:23, John 4:24, John 4:25, John 4:26
Make and respond: Six-part story sequence cards
8 minChildren make six sequence cards for the account in order: Jesus asked for a drink, Jesus spoke about living water, Jesus taught about worship and said who he is, the woman went to the city and said 'Come, see', the disciples urged Jesus to eat and he taught about his food and the harvest, and many Samaritans believed. Use action words from the passage on each card.
John 4:7, John 4:10, John 4:23, John 4:26, John 4:28, John 4:29, John 4:30, John 4:31, John 4:34, John 4:35, John 4:39, John 4:41
Closing: Jesus teaches the disciples and many believe
5 minRead John 4:31–42 to finish the account in order. The disciples urged Jesus to eat, but he said his food was to do the will of the one who sent him and accomplish his work. He told them to look at the fields, white for harvest already. Then review how the woman testified, the Samaritans came, and many believed because of his word.
John 4:31, John 4:32, John 4:34, John 4:35, John 4:36, John 4:37, John 4:38, John 4:39, John 4:40, John 4:41, John 4:42
Questions to explore
Why did the Samaritan woman question Jesus when he asked for a drink?
Use her own words and the note in the passage about Jesus being a Jew, her being a Samaritan woman, and Jews having no dealings with Samaritans.
John 4:7, John 4:9
What did Jesus say about the water he gives?
Compare Jesus’ words about the well water and the water he gives, and notice what he says that water becomes in a person.
John 4:13, John 4:14
What did Jesus mean when he spoke to the disciples about food and harvest?
Stay with the passage itself: Jesus said his food was to do the will of the one who sent him and accomplish his work, and he told them to look at the fields, white for harvest already.
John 4:31, John 4:34, John 4:35, John 4:36, John 4:37, John 4:38
Make, think or respond
Six-Part Story Sequence Cards
What you’ll need
- Plain paper or thin cardboard
- Pencils or textas
- Scissors
- Bible
Try it together
- Cut or fold paper into six cards.
- Draw and label six parts of the account: 'Jesus asked', 'Jesus said living water', 'Jesus said I am he', 'she went and said Come, see', 'the disciples urged him to eat and Jesus taught about food and harvest', and 'many believed'.
- Mix the cards and place them back in order using the Bible reading.
- Invite children to point to each card and say one action from the passage, such as 'Jesus asked', 'she questioned', 'she went', 'she said', 'they came', or 'many believed'.
This activity helps children follow the whole sequence of John 4:1–42, including Jesus’ teaching to the disciples in John 4:31–38.
Adapt for your group
- For younger children, prepare the six headings first and let them draw each scene before ordering the cards with help.
- For older or more confident children, ask them to add a short verse phrase to each card, such as 'living water', 'spirit and truth', or 'white for harvest already'.
An optional closing prayer
Proposed words: 'Lord Jesus, thank you for your words in this passage. Please help us understand who you are, listen carefully, and speak truthfully about you. Amen.'
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
John 4
1 Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
2 (although Jesus himself didn’t baptize, but his disciples),
3 he left Judea and departed into Galilee.
4 He needed to pass through Samaria.
5 So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being 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 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where do you get that living water?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his children and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’
18 for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
22 You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.
23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.”
27 Just then, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?”
28 So the woman left her water pot, went away into the city, and said to the people,
29 “Come, see a man who told me everything that I have done. Can this be the Christ?”
30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him.
31 In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33 The disciples therefore said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
35 Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.
36 He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
37 For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’
38 I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I have done.”
40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days.
41 Many more believed because of his word.
42 They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.
Source passages
Something to make together
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